Martina Edmondson, Update on Earth Day, April 22, 2024
How fitting that this update on Martina’s creative activities since 2020 should happen on Earth Day. A self-described intrepid hunter-gatherer searching for nature’s treasures, Martina continues to collect and exhibit her award-winning fibre arts.
October 10, 2023 - January 14, 2024.
World of Threads Festival: Amorphous at the Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre in Oakville, Ontario.
The World of Threads Festival is a leading international showcase of contemporary fibre and textile art. Martina’s installation Clouds referencing Joni Mitchell’s song Both Sides Now (1966) was chosen for the main group exhibition Amorphous. She travelled to the Opening in October 2023. Photos from the Opening include one with her daughter Genevieve Swayze-Edmondson.
World of Threads Festival: Amorphous at the Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre in Oakville, Ontario.
The World of Threads Festival is a leading international showcase of contemporary fibre and textile art. Martina’s installation Clouds referencing Joni Mitchell’s song Both Sides Now (1966) was chosen for the main group exhibition Amorphous. She travelled to the Opening in October 2023. Photos from the Opening include one with her daughter Genevieve Swayze-Edmondson.
Upcoming in 2024
June 6 - August 31, 2024, All that Moves Us, Alberni Valley Museum, Port Alberni, BC
June 6 - August 31, 2024, All that Moves Us, Alberni Valley Museum, Port Alberni, BC
Previous shows and awards:
2022, Emergence: New Works, New Beginnings, Alberni Valley Museum, Port Alberni, BC
2021, Forest: Breath of Life, Cowichan Public Art Gallery, Duncan, BC
2021, Sooke Fine Arts Show, on-line exhibition.
2021, Sooke Fine Arts Award Winners show at Sooke Arts Council Gallery, in-person exhibition for award-winners.
Sooke Fine Arts Awards: Award of Excellence for Acorn Catchers
Juror's Choice Award for Acorn Catchers.
View her award-winning Acorn Catchers on the following webpage, completed in 2020.
2022, Emergence: New Works, New Beginnings, Alberni Valley Museum, Port Alberni, BC
2021, Forest: Breath of Life, Cowichan Public Art Gallery, Duncan, BC
2021, Sooke Fine Arts Show, on-line exhibition.
2021, Sooke Fine Arts Award Winners show at Sooke Arts Council Gallery, in-person exhibition for award-winners.
Sooke Fine Arts Awards: Award of Excellence for Acorn Catchers
Juror's Choice Award for Acorn Catchers.
View her award-winning Acorn Catchers on the following webpage, completed in 2020.
Martina Edmondson presents Loss at the Gage Gallery
November 10-29, 2020.
November 10-29, 2020.
The home-studio of Martina Edmondson hums along like a laboratory. In the kitchen pungent odours rise from a bubbling dye bath. The liquid is dark and frothy and what is trussed up inside the pot remains a mystery. The walls and work area hold creations and curios in various stages of completion. Bottles, jars, books, paint, brushes and string stand ready to assist her creative ventures. “I am a hunter-gatherer stalking the natural world,” she says, “for all kinds of gifts and treasures.” It’s in the process of experimenting that her ideas either come together or get recycled
Edmondson studied Material Art and Design, Fibre at the the Ontario College of Art and Design. For the past two decades, she’s participated in many solo and group shows across Canada and abroad. She is a member of the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild. For the past two years, two of her artworks traveled across Canada in their Art of the Book exhibition. One of her juried works titled Tree Poems received the Colophon Book Arts Award. The heartfelt verses in Tree Poems celebrate the special properties of trees.
Loss is Edmondson’s third solo show at Gage Gallery since moving to Victoria in 2015. The theme of “loss” arose initially from the demise of a beloved Garry Oak in front of her home. The diseased tree was cut down by city work crews in 2018.
However, as 2020 unfolded, world events made the loss of a single tree appear less significant. “The pandemic has forced us to re-evaluate our lives,” she says, “and change our perspective.”
However, as 2020 unfolded, world events made the loss of a single tree appear less significant. “The pandemic has forced us to re-evaluate our lives,” she says, “and change our perspective.”
Loss includes a variety of mediums: installation, sculpture, wall hangings and assemblage. There are exuberant Tree Spirits fashioned from wood and twigs. Whimsical Small Offerings are made from driftwood, bark, animal bones and feathers. Look for a miniature bound book with a garry oak bark cover. Many artworks feature eco-printing, earthy tonalities on paper and cloth. Eco-printing is a complex process In which plant materials and found objects are placed on a prepared ground. Materials used include blossoms, plant cuttings and bits of rusted metal. The bundle is tightly bound and placed in a dye bath. The resulting colour transfers are unique and subtle, including soft yellows from onion skins and rosy red hues from fuchsia flowers.
For the Trees is an elegant vertical assemblage of 15 wooden slats covered with eco-printed silk fabric. Each covering was carefully sewn then turned right side out to fit exactly over the slat. The final outcome is a tribute to the artist’s skill and patience. Viewers can appreciate the stately two-dimensional suggestion of a forest.
Untitled is wall-hanging made from one-inch square pieces of cloth, machine stitched. The fabric was eco-dyed, showing dark patterns made by rusted metal shapes. Hand sewn stitches in a tight spiral pattern bring to mind tree rings, a labyrinth or secret journey. The tension of the stitches caused the middle of the quilt to push out slightly. The artist used wire mesh to hold the shape in place. The unexpected burgeoning at the centre, adds a sense of mystery to the two-dimensional work.
Edmondson created three standing sculptures to represent Tree Spirits. Anitu is a lively sculpture with windblown hair-roots shadow dancing in the spotlight. The word Dryad originates from Greek Mythology, Drys means “oak” in Greek. Dryads are connected with oak trees and often personified as a young woman. Sage is one of the four sacred plants of Indigenous teachings, along with tobacco, sweetgrass and red cedar. Sage the Tree Spirit Is wearing a fashionable eco-print and holds aloft a mysterious bundle in outstretched arms.
A recycler by nature, Edmondson re-purposes her own artworks to incorporate her ever-evolving ideas. One example of this is Clouds. The installation of eco-printed papers attached to threads appears to flutter and drift through the air. The eco-papers in Clouds came from a previous artwork, All of Us - Manipulated, shown in 2018 at Gage Gallery. In Manipulated, the papers were stacked on a rod and placed on an a plinth. All of Us - Manipulated appeared on the cover of Preview magazine (Nov 2018, photo by Kate Cino). For Clouds, Edmondson carefully stitched up the holes while attaching the hand-dyed threads.
Clouds makes reference to the Joni Mitchell song Both Sides Now. “We have lost much during Covid times,” the artist says, “but gained some things as well.” Our “losses” have resulted in improved environmental conditions, she notes. And a new appreciation of life’s essentials: health, safety, friends and family.
Acorn Catchers is a poignant reminder of the loss of the Garry Oak. The installation features 50 miniature crocheted receptacles. The crochet thread was dyed with acorn cap liqueur. Each could hold a life-giving acorn, but now are empty. Devoid of life, the pouches sag in this repetitive lament.
Edmondson is hopeful we can learn to live in a more humane and sustainable way. “We need to look at the inequalities in our society,” she says, “and make positive changes.” She quotes author Elin Kelsey in Hope Matters: “Hope is what sustains us to keep fighting for social and ecological justice.” The author believes a positive attitude gives us the energy and flexibility to forge creative solutions. And thanks to creatives like Martina Edmondson, there will always be original art and ideas to keep us inspired as we move forward.
Martina welcomes your interest. Please email: [email protected] Artist will be in attendance at the Gage Gallery on the following dates: Tuesday Nov 10, 2-5pm; and Sunday Nov 15, Nov 22, & Nov 29, noon-4pm. Gage Gallery Arts Collective, 2031 Oak Bay Ave, Victoria, V8R 1E5, 250 592-2760 Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 5pm. Sundays, noon-4pm. |
Web Design and Content by Kate Cino Arts writer published in Focus on Victoria, Yam and Boulevard. History in Art degree and Public Relations certificate from the University of Victoria This website and its content is copyright of Art Openings, 2009. All rights reserved. Written permission is required for reproduction of photos or text. [email protected] 250 598-4009 |