Residency project: 2020 Hindsight

Artist residencies can mean many things to many people. At their most basic, they are a time spent in a different studio away from home and outside distractions. The residencies can occur in galleries, museums, schools and elsewhere. The artist has the opportunity to explore new pathways, materials and techniques in their art, can reflect on their practice and often, but not always, get a boost to their artist profile through advertising, word of mouth and (in these days) social media. Almost always, there is some project that is started during the residency - the parameters of which are defined by the artist.

My goal for this residency is to work on a project that has been on the back burner for a good part of the year. In April, a good friend and I had plans to go to Quilt Canada 2020 in Edmonton. We had not spent much time together in many years, and this would be a fabulous way to reconnect, visit and catch up on the news, while also exploring the world of quilting and art quilts. I think we all know what happened to those plans...

However, Quilt Canada also had months before, put out the challenge of making fabric postcards for auction. When I read about that, I was intrigued - a fabric postcard? Will it even go through the mail? I made one, and, lo and behold, it did (even if Canada Post didn't cancel the stamp). Although I didn't manage to make a card for their auction, I took the idea and started to create postcards that celebrated or recorded some significant happenings in our lives. The postcard size, I found, was great for experimenting with different techniques - no big time commitment for  each one and yet a little piece of art came out of each experiment.

Well, life got busy and the project was put aside for a future date, after only a few postcards were made.

When the opportunity came for the residency at Omineca Arts Centre, I thought - here's my chance. I have so many ideas I want to try, and also want to respond to the happenings in our lives in 2020. After all, it will probably be the only year where "2020 Hindsight" as a title will have literal meaning, and I'll get to play with and develop my stitching techniques while creating the mini-artworks.

My intention, then, for the month, is to start going through the list of events I made and pair them with techniques of interest. While I may not finish responding to my list in the time I have at Omineca, I can continue into January at home,  for the 2020 hindsight part. Experimentation with techniques will be a life-long activity.

I'll be sure to post occasional updates on my progress. I'm as curious as you probably are to see what comes out of this residency.

In other news, don't forget to mark your calendars for the upcoming official opening of the residency and accompanying exhibition:

Hope to see you there! If you cannot make it, it will be posted to the Omineca FB site for viewing later.