Migration

My latest work continues to employ my second generation technique to capture the essence of migration, movement, and the passing of time. The first two felts in this series are Through the Hills in Search of Water and Beyond the Hills Lies Cool Water. Both capture a sense of the barriers to migration and the potential rewards that motivate departure. The Hills were our Gardens before the Drought - refers to the now barren hills. I created a complementary pair focusing on two points in an asylum seekers journey. To the Coast to Wait for Nightfall - refers to the plans to escape and the sister piece At Sunrise We Land: Run to the Hills concludes one phase of the asylum seekers' journey. Down River simply recognizes that rivers have been well-used migration routes for centuries.

Stops on the Journey to Canada - SOLD

This felt was inspired by a small Canadian Pacific Railway map book that my grandparents acquired during their arrival in Eastern Canada in the late 1940s. I created transparencies from the map of clusters of stops along the road/railway. They are tucked into the resist holes. In the north of this impressionistic Canada, I put a waterfall image - symbol of the many water barriers and of course no rail access.

Framed 12"x36" & sewn on a vintage white table cloth - alternative possibilities available.

Let's ride the rails and stop to sample the beauty of this country.

Stops on the Journey - detail

Showing stops in Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan.

Stops on the Journey to Canada

In its new home.

Through the Hills in Search of Water

11" x 43" mounted

With silk image of Watering Holes I covering the hills, knitted copper wire, slide of zebra

A confusion of paths, ridges, mirages can lead the unwary astray. The night is cool after a long journey.

Shown in Migration: the Canadian Contemporary Felt Exhibition in BC Sept 25-Oct 17, 2016

Through the Hills in Search of Water (detail)

This slide is hidden in the resist holes. See the grazing zebra?

Beyond the Hills Lies Cool Water ($325)

14"x 26" hangs either way, mounted to float from the wall

Handmade wool and silk felt with embedded silk image of Watering Holes and knitted copper wire. Slide tucked in is of a small group of wildebeest from my Zambia collection of slides.

Imagining a journey through dusty terrain then over the hills at nightfall lie pools of water.

Beyond the Hills Lies Cool Water - Detail

With knitted copper wire, silk rope, resist holes, African porcupine quill, slide of water buffalo, silk image of "Watering holes I"

These hills were our gardens before the drought (SOLD)

14" x 24" mounted

Handmade wool and silk felt with embedded faint silk images of fields from the "Growing Soup" felt.

A slide in the resist hole is of women walking down a dusty road in southern Zambia were i worked for four years during the 1980s..Why do we leave places?

Railroaded I - IV - SOLD

These four snapshots of abstracted Canada tell a little different story about the railway than "Stops along the journey to Canada". In the resist holes this time are images of the names of indigenous peoples displaced by the railway or in the case of the BC resist hole, an image of the railway with the Chinese character for ghost superimposed. Ask who is missing. The names of the railway stops - Sovereign, Conquest, Plenty - not such a pretty story.