An art form that rarely gets the spotlight it deserves will get people talking this weekend.
An art form that rarely gets the spotlight it deserves will get people talking this weekend.
The Leighton Art Centre is hosting an informal group discussion called Textile Arts – An Artist Panel Discussion to get artists and the public talking about fibre arts on Sept. 17 at 2 p.m. The discussion is part of the Leighton Art Centre's Contextural Meets Barbara exhibit that opened Aug. 6 and features a dozen pieces of founder Barbara Leighton's fibre arts creations and the artistic response of 17 Calgary area textile artists to the historical collection.
“They looked at artwork done by Barbara Leighton and did a piece in response to that,” said Stephanie Doll, curator at the Leighton Art Centre. “They looked at the techniques or used that technique as a starting point. None of them look the same.”
Artists featured in Contextural Meets Barbara, as well as keepers of Barbara's textile archive, participated in workshops with Barbara and are from the heyday of Barbara's textile arts production, will participate in a roundtable discussion to talk about their inspirations and techniques.
“We are trying to get a big group of people from all walks of life to talk about it,” said Doll, who will lead the discussion. “It's going to be a chance for the artists to discuss their journey, methods and inspirations and why working in the residency is important to their artistic practice.”
Contextural Meets Barbara gained a lot of attention during the last five weeks, said Doll.
“It's been one of our more popular ones,” she said. “It's a change for people to see fibre works. We don't usually have a lot of Barbara's work on display at any given time.”
The show is based on the relationship between Barbara's pieces and those of the artists so Doll said it was a great opportunity for the artists involved and others who work in textile arts to discuss the pieces so the public can learn more about the fibre arts.
“Textiles is such a time consuming art,” she said. “A lot of the fibre artists don't have the opportunity to exhibit their art. When you get everybody out it's a nice community feeling to sit and talk about their methods and inspirations.”
Doll said she will also lead a discussion around why textile art is important in Alberta so those in attendance can gain a better understanding of the art culture in Alberta and what artists who don't paint are up to.
“The public is welcome to ask questions,” she said. “It's an opportunity to meet some inspiring artists and it's an opportunity to glean some information on how these artists work.”
The discussion celebrates a big part of the Leighton Art Centre.
Doll said Barbara's first classes were in the fibre arts when she opened the centre northeast of Millarville in 1974.
The pieces range from vintage velvet tie-dyes to a type of weaving called macramé, she said.
“She was way before her time – the colours she used are really trendy now,” she said. “Macramé is coming back - if you take workshops in Calgary at some of the trendy places. It's these old traditional art forms that are coming back that will be super popular.”
On Sept. 18, Contextural Meets Barbara artists Susan Fae Haglund and Dana Bush will host a fibre arts workshop on the textile art batik – a technique that uses multicoloured layers of dye and unique cracking - from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those interested in signing up can get more information at leightoncentre.org
