Donna Clement

HOME/WORK: Creating Connections

2021-02-09T16:52:00.002-07:00

First ever Contextural online member exhibition. Starting as a thematic art challenge, the intent was to keep members connected, engaged and creative during the summer months of an exceptional 2020.

The challenge was to create an 8″ x 8″ piece using any materials on hand, that would show how members were staying connected to their community, family, friends and creative practice during a time of restrictions and for some, isolation. Enjoy!

Click on the link to view. HOME/WORK

Woven In Place Nov 5 to Dec 6, 2020

2020-11-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

This show was originally to be in April but Covid managed to shift everyone's schedules. Finally it is hanging in the gallery at cSPACE.

Various items I will have at the Contextural sale this year...

2019-11-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

HANDMADE BOOKS

(with Resist-Clamped dyed Wool covers,

6" square and 4.5" square and 5" by 7",

all $50 each)

INDIGO DYED SILK DEVORE SCARVES

(various sizes averaging 14" by 70",

with and without fringed ends,

flat or raised velvet finishes,

$70 each)

Indigo dyed Shibori silk scarf

KEEPSAKE POUCH necklaces

( 2"x3" bags filled with semi-precious stones.

Done in waxed Irish Linen, using a needle and thread and 2000 stitches,

the technique is called "nalbinding", and ancient knotless looping stitch which predates knitting by centuries. Many different colours and decorations available. $70)

VASES

Pyrography and Watercolours on Watercolour papers

(Original artwork.

6" square and 8" square, mounted on canvas frames,

$60 and $70)

NATURAL DYED SILK DEVORE SCARVES

with pomegranate, logwood, cutch, fustic and more

(average size 14" by 70",

with and without fringed ends,

flat or raised velvet finishes,

$70 each)

NEWBORN AND INFANT SIZED COTTON TOQUES

(Hand dyed and illustrated,

$25 each)

Time for the yearly Contextural Artisan Sale!

2019-11-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

I've spent the fall dyeing silk scarves and am thrilled that my indigo ones were put on the invitation!

If you're in Calgary, come by and say hello - I will be there all weekend.

Connected Heritage ART

2019-11-12T00:00:00.001-07:00

I did five pieces for the exhibition in Gimli that ran for all of July and August 2019.

MESSAGES TO BEYOND
Viking runes are viewed as more than just the letters of an alphabet; they are powerful symbols with potent metaphysical virtues that can be used as a means of communication between the natural and supernatural. Carved into stone or wood, they are used to commemorate events of great importance.

VESTUR ISLENDINGAR
In 1875, the world changed for Icelanders. After years of detrimental Danish rule and then an unusually long freeze that crippled the fishing industry and blocked arrival of vital supplies, the Askja volcano erupted, ruining farmland. Almost one-fifth of the population left the island, and New Iceland, Vestur Islendingar, was established on the shores of Lake Winnipeg, giving a new beginning to the immigrants.

VIKINGS AMONG US

With such a large settlement, the colonists recognized a need for order and conceived a constitution based on the Althing in Iceland. With that in place, the government of Canada granted an Icelandic Reserve for the settlers at New Iceland giving them full jurisdiction over immigration, taxation, and legal matters. They self-governed until 1887, when they were incorporated into Manitoba and all became Canadian citizens.

VINAR TERTA

Every culture has its food icons, and for the

Icelandic diaspora, it is a delicious cake made of alternating layers of spice-infused plum jam and almond or cardamom-flavoured shortbread. While little known in Iceland today, the immigrant community in North America holds tightly to this culinary time capsule, a cultural touchstone of their home country.

LUCKY ME, LUCKY YOU

Scattered along the shores of Lake Winnipeg are unique stones with natural holes, known locally as Lucky Stones, but also know as Odin Stones or Hag Stones. These are widely considered lucky finds, as they are believed to be imbued with special healing properties and to provide protection. If you find one, hold on to it!

Connected Heritage INSPIRATION 2

2019-11-11T23:49:00.000-07:00

More time exploring in Gimli, Manitoba. Now getting to the Viking roots...

Famous Icelandic cake - Vinar Terta

into the museum for some history

the boats in town still fly the Icelandic flag

a visit out to Hecla Island

and Grassy Narrows Park

then a field of sunflowers on the way back to Winnipeg

and we couldn't leave Winnipeg without a visit to the architecturally stunning Canadian Museum for Human Rights

Connected Heritage INSPIRATION 1

2019-11-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Gimli, on Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, saw us visiting an Icelandic horse farm

drove from Winnipeg north and experienced some amazing skies

learnt some history of the area

large percentage of lake front owners have their own planes

checking the beach for "Lucky Stones"

then off for a fish and chips dinner

Connected Heritage

2019-11-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

(I missed an entire exhibit!!)

Connected Heritage

by Articulation Textile Group

The question is often asked: How does an exhibition come into existence? In this case it is the result of the combined efforts of a group of artists who have exhibited throughout Canada and England since 2004.

The group, Articulation, visited Gimli and the surrounding area in 2017. They explored the Interlake landscape and cultural connections specific to the region.

Inspired by the heritage of this unique destination, members expressed their personal responses in textiles using thread, paint, and mixed media. These works explore the culture and landscape of the region and make connections between this region in the the heart of Canada and the diversity of the Canadian peoples.

The New Iceland Heritage Museum agreed to display this body of work. We are grateful for their participation in this project.

Forest and Sea and the Place Between ART 2

2019-04-03T05:00:00.000-06:00

My second piece in the Portals Gallery show is ARBUTUS.

One of my favourite trees on the west coast.

Artist statement:
Growing only on the rocky shorelines of the Pacific coast, the Arbutus tree is unique, with its dense wood and peeling layers of bark that expose the many colours beneath, from orange to cinnamon down to the fresh lime-green bark. This piece echoes that jumble of colours peeled away strip by strip, like layers of time, revealing regeneration.

Hand dyed fabric, selected threads to match nature colours, hand stitching to echo tree rings.

Detail shots

Exhibition: FOREST AND SEA AND THE PLACE BETWEEN
March 26 - April 18, 2019
Portals Gallery, Cowichan Valley Arts Council, Island Saving Centre, Duncan BC

Donna's Facebook

Lesley's Blog

Lesley's Facebook

Articulation's website

Forest and Sea and the Place Between ART 1

2019-03-31T05:00:00.000-06:00

In our current exhibition in the Portals Gallery in Duncan BC, I will have three pieces.

One is WESTERN RED CEDAR.

This piece was created from an 80-year-old woollen blanket found in a friend's grandfather's attic. After dyeing it, I felted three layers into one, echoing the way new trees grow from the biomass of the dead trees on the forest floor, which enables them to attain an enormous lifespan when free from man's interference. By transferring the motif onto the central square, emphasis was given to this sentinel of the forest - the Western Red Cedar. The spiral shapes echo the ferns that thrive in the shade, and the blues and greens echo the rain forest's principal colours that provide a calming presence to any who enter.

Picking the threads and dyeing the wool

In progress with the stitching

More stitching

The completed piece

And detail - the bands of colour on the four sides are densely stitched by machine.

Forest and Sea and the Place Between INSPIRATION

2019-03-29T05:00:00.000-06:00

Day 3
Time for a walk in the forest and on the shore...

Heading down the Nuu-chah-nulth Trail from Florencia to Wickaninnish Bay.

Lesley and Ingrid

Mandy

Leann and some scale

From the forest to the sea

Mussels and pebbles

Wind shelters built out of driftwood

Mandy and some precarious balancing

Always surfers!

Forest and Sea and the Place Between INSPIRATION

2019-03-27T04:00:00.000-06:00

Tofino 2017 - Study Session
Day 2

We went whale watching!
And saw whales and sea lions and cormorants and otters.

Donna and Wendy

Ingrid

Whales (so hard to get a photo of!)

Lesley

Whale back

Sea Lions

Cormorants

And, my favourite, otters playing in the bull kelp.

Fog moving in on the way back to shore.

Tofino by water...

Day of exploring the town, then to another beach for the sunset.

Ingrid, Lesley, Wendy

Mandy

Prime sunset colours.

Wendy, after the sun has set.

Check to see what the others are writing on their sites about the upcoming exhibition FOREST AND SEA AND THE PLACE BETWEEN.

Articulation blog

Forest and Sea and the Place Between INSPIRATION

2019-03-25T04:00:00.000-06:00

Articulation then travelled to the west coast of Vancouver Island on our 2017 Study Session, to Tofino. Lots more inspiration there!

On Day 1:

Mudflats from the Tofino Botanical Garden - tide out...

tide in...

lunch time in the Garden's lovely restaurant

Then off to one of the many beaches.

Mandy exploring.

Beach walking and its accompanying activities.

Kelp and pebbles/shells and sand and barnacles...

We then returned to the beach later for the sunset and it's changing colours.

Articulation - Ingrid, Leann, Donna, Lesley, Wendy, Mandy

Forest and Sea and the Place Between EXHIBITION March 26 to April 18, 2019

2019-03-23T17:55:00.000-06:00

Articulation has a new exhibition upcoming at the Portals Gallery in Duncan BC.

Six Articulation members were inspired by the Salish Sea. Sidney Spit welcomed us at low tide and we all had the opportunity to breathe in the luxury of salted air and sunshine on our creative journey of discovery. Each of us experienced learning, examining, ruminating and filtering our thoughts and reflections through our uniquely individual perspectives.

Here are some photos from our study session week in September 2017 to Sidney:

on the Spit and at the aquarium.

Lesley

Ingrid

Leann

Donna

WAR - A Personal Response WW1 INTERNMENT CAMPS

2018-10-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

EXHIBITION runs October 16 - November 29, 2018 Sidney Museum, Vancouver Island, BC
The six artists of Articulation Textile Group come together with their personal family responses to war, in all of its forms.

Title: WW1 Internment Camps

Size: 12"x18"

Materials: maps, pages about each of the 24 camps across Canada, beads

Techniques: origami

For a country that prides itself on multiculturalism, we have a blind spot for certain elements of our history, one of them being the existence of internment camps during World War I and II. Twice, Ukrainian Canadian citizens have been held as prisoners, in dreadful conditions.

Canada’s first use of the War Measures Act was in August 1914, shortly after Great Britain, and therefore we, entered WWI. An order in council was issued requiring the registration of all ‘enemy aliens’ – citizens who had emigrated from territories controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, most of whom identified as Ukrainian. Some, including women and children, were interned, and their property and valuables were confiscated. Prisoners were required to work, their first task being to build the internment camps. Much of the infrastructure of Canada, including many of our national parks, was built using the labor of these prisoners.

This piece speaks to the convoluted reasons that result in such acts – racism tangled up with misplaced patriotism, loyalty to ‘king and country’, fear of otherness – and to the resulting effect on the incarcerated – increased isolation leading to hopelessness producing radicalization. Boxes within boxes within boxes.

Six boxes from maps showing the 6 provinces that had camps.

Twenty four boxes from pages detailing the 24 separate camps across Canada.

Forty eight boxes from pages of general information about the Canadian internment camps.

One hundred and twenty boxes and quantities of red beads representing the 8,579 prisoners from 1914-1920.

partial shots of the piece:

WAR - A Personal Response PUTTING UP PRESERVES

2018-10-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

This is the eighth of my 10 pieces to be seen in the War Exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One. Held at the Sidney Museum, in Sidney BC (Vancouver Island) from October 16 through November 29th, 2018.

Title: Putting Up Preserves

Size: 15 canning jars of various sizes

Materials: hand made books with 15 preserve recipes

A place of pride in every Ukrainian homestead was the root cellar; today it’s called the pantry. The ability to preserve food for the long winter months was crucial to survival – nothing would go to waste. Women canned fruits and vegetables from their garden, fish from the rivers or lakes, and birds and game from the hunt. Improperly sealed jars spelled disaster and were always a danger.

It is hard for us to imagine how the threat of hunger was always present in a world without freezers or refrigeration, where canned foods were a rare novelty and very expensive, if even available. My maternal grandmother always remembered the year her preserves failed, and how the family was saved by the generosity of neighbours. Today, we take for granted the ability to run to the store for anything we need. Then, you depended on community to help you in times of crisis.

WAR - A Personal Response BEAUTY FOUND

2018-10-11T06:00:00.000-06:00

More of my pieces for the WAR exhibit soon starting in Sidney BC...

(1) Beauty Found

(2) Botanical Prints 1 – Maple

(3) Botanical Prints 2 – Oak

The early Ukrainian immigrants arrived in northern Alberta with very few material goods but a love of colour and design. With great resourcefulness and ingenuity, they were able to use the materials available to them in the natural world to grace their homes with beauty. These pieces of eco-printing is an example of what they could accomplish using plants gathered from the yards, fields, and ditches of their farms, combined with the elemental powers of the sun and water.

Links to works by other Articulation artists in the WAR - A Personal Response:

Amanda Onchulenko Read more...

Lesley Turner Read more...

WAR - WENDY KLOTZ

2018-10-09T17:00:00.000-06:00

ARTICULATION TEXTILE GROUP is composed of 6 women from across western Canada.
Wendy Klotz is one of the artists, who also lives in Calgary.

Here is her blog post about her contribution to this WAR exhibit in the Sidney Museum, Sidney BC (on Vancouver Island) which will run from Oct 16 - Nov 29, 2018.

Read her words HERE.

WAR - A Personal Response OPEN TO POSSIBLITIES

2018-10-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

Exhibit runs October 16 through November 29, 2018

Sidney BC with Articulation Textile Group

Title: Open to Possibilities

Size: 22”x17”x4"

Materials: cotton, silk chiffon

Techniques: silk screening with thickened dyes, hand embroidery

What does it take to leave behind everything you know and move to a new country? A certain measure of positivity, faith, and confidence; a belief that you can improve your life; a dash of desperation. The knowledge that others travel with you helps. All of these are reflected in this abstract piece in red and black (traditional Ukrainian embroidery colours) that evokes the symbolism of the open wreath: an openness to the possibilities of love, happiness, children, and all the blessings that Mother Earth provides. Interlocking circles over interlocking circles mimic the nature of community, that spider web of support that homesteaders counted on.

Because of the sheer numbers of Ukrainian immigrants – 180,000 between 1891-1914 – and the way they settled into communities together, they maintained many elements of their culture (language, customs, traditions) and established families helped new immigrants. Together, they built civic community, establishing churches, bilingual schools, libraries, and newspapers and entering politics, taking full advantage of all the possibilities provided by the blessings of Mother Earth.

Full

Detail

WAR - A Personal Response QUARTER SECTIONS

2018-10-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

The six artists of Articulation Textile Group come together with their personal family responses to war, in all of its forms.

This is the third of my 10 pieces to be seen in the War Exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One. Held at the Sidney Museum, in Sidney BC (Vancouver Island) from October 16 through November 29th, 2018.

Title: Quarter Sections

Size: 28”x28"

Materials: cotton and silk fabrics and threads

Techniques: applique, hand embroidery

From the air, quarter sections across the Prairies lay an elaborate quilt of constantly changing patterns over fields and streams. The winsome colours of the different crops epitomize immigrants’ dreams of prosperity and order, come to fruition. What is not so visible is the struggle to make it so: the misery of mosquitoes and black flies, the backbreaking work of meeting the homestead requirements for cultivation – cutting trees, pulling roots and stumps, and removing stones before plowing, seeding, and harvesting, all mostly by hand. Worry about the short growing season, bad weather, insect infestation, injuries and death. The need for capital begetting the need to work – for the railway, in lumber camps and mines – leaving behind women and children to cut trees, plant gardens, tend livestock, dig wells, and build houses. The constant threat of hunger, the loneliness, the cold of the winter, the searing heat of the summer.

As children, we would visit the family farm and see the remains of one of the sod houses that sheltered our grandparents when they were very young. We would marvel at the fortitude, capability, and endurance of our ancestors and be grateful for the winsome-coloured future they bequeathed to us, all from a quarter section.

Full

Detail

WAR - A Personal Response IMMIGRATION AND SETTLING

2018-10-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

Another one of my pieces that will be in the WAR exhibit in Sidney, BC from

October 16 through November 29th, 2018.

Title: Immigration and Settling

Size: 30” x 32”

Materials: deconstructed linen shirt, silk and cotton threads

Techniques: hand and machine embroidery

Early in the 20th century, eastern Europe was in turmoil, and the Ukraine was

no exception. Yearning for a better future, many were entranced by accounts of

vilni zemli, free land, in Canada - for $10 and 3 years' labour, plus $150 for boat

passage, enterprising immigrants could gain title to160 acres. What was

unknown to them was the viability of the land on offer, the severity of the climate

they would encounter, and the hardships that awaited them.

Our family arrived in northern Alberta because a fellow villager homesteaded and

wrote home to say "Come on over!" So most of the village did, leaving behind

everything familiar, with not much more than the shirts on their backs, some seed

in their pockets, and a belief that life would be better.

This piece, with its long neat rows of script, is the dream of a new and prosperous

farm, built with sweat equity and the support of the community they would weave

with their fellow settlers.

Display will include a binder of the written text to read about the stories of the emigration

in terms of the journey, the role of the church for mental support, and the settling onto

new Crown farmland with all the work that entailed.

WAR - A Personal Response GATEWAY TO THE WEST

2018-10-03T11:30:00.000-06:00

I will be sharing some of my pieces that will be in the WAR exhibit in

Sidney, BC from October 16 through November 29th, 2018.

Title: Winnipeg - Gateway to the West

Size: 22” x 32”

Materials: silk, fabric paint

Techniques: silk screening, stamping

Disembarking in Canada, Ukrainian immigrants boarded a train for

Winnipeg – Gateway to the West. There, they were housed in

immigration halls, were counselled about available land and possible

work, and made arrangements to travel to their final destinations.

There was culture shock, and some even found their names and

their nationalities changed by the bureaucracy, with names

transliterated and citizenship recorded from their passports, which

had been issued by the last country to occupy Ukraine. It was

surprising and confusing, “as if it was a christening or they were

born again.”

Nonetheless, it was here they began to recover from the chaos of

travel, to gain a sense of control, and to organize for the last leg of

the journey to their new home. They packed up supplies. They

gathered tips for homesteading. And they drew on their faith and

confidence to move forward to their shiny new lives.

Full

Detail

WAR - A Personal Response

2018-10-02T11:30:00.000-06:00

EXHIBITION runs October 16 - November 29, 2018
Sidney Museum, Vancouver Island, BC

The six artists of Articulation Textile Group come together with their personal family
responses to war, in all of its forms.

My Artist Statement about my Body of Work:

Our family never talked about the war. I was born 14 years after V-day and the world
wars seemed ancient history. This project required much introspection about war’s
effect on our family; learning about the Ukrainian internment camps brought it into
focus – our connection is displacement and the difficulties of starting over.

Generally, my works begin with my hand-dyed fabrics, to which I add stitching,
felting, stamping, and other techniques. My first forays into art were with paper,
also employed here. My interest in such work comes through my Nana, whose
hands were always busy – cooking, canning, crocheting, quilting, embroidering,
knitting, gardening.

These pieces are about the mental and physical fortitude, capability, faith and
confidence demonstrated by my great-grandparents, uneducated peasants who
had known oppression and hunger, and how they left their world behind to build
a brighter future for us.

WAR: A Personal Response Exhibition October 16 - November 29, 2018

2018-10-01T14:41:00.004-06:00

Articulation is joining the Sidney Museum on Vancouver Island, BC in commemorating the 100 year anniversary when the Armistice was signed ending World War I in Europe.

Six Articulation members will each install a body of work exploring their personal war experiences. The Sidney Museum will have many artifacts on display illustrating Canada's involvement in past wars up to today's UN Peace Keepers.

The exhibition is in the Sidney Museum, 2423 Beacon Avenue, Sidney BC V8L 1X5.

It opens October 16th and closes November 29, 2018.

Artist-led tours are available. Please call Alyssa, Assistant Director, at 250 655 6355 to book a group tour. I will be there from October 16 through 20th for the opening and helping guide the tours.

Articulation visits the war memorial in Weyburn Saskatchewan.

Unlike other projects, the individual WAR bodies of work did not come out of a specific annual Study Session. Over the past few years, Articulation members have visited war-related museums and memorial sites whenever they have been together to do research.

Each Articulation member responded to different stimuli as they explored their own personal memories of war and how it has affected their family.

Keepsake Pouches

2017-12-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Using the oldest stitch known to man, called "nalbinding", these necklaces are made with a needle and waxed linen thread and 2000 stitches. They are then decorated with buttons and beads in corresponding colour schemes, and filled with semi-precious gems. A card with the spiritual properties of the stones is included. What can you add to yours?