Wendy Toogood, “Dogman and the Musician,” 1993, fabric, 71" x 57" (courtesy of Wallace Galleries)
Joyful. That’s the word I heard most often at the exhibition opening of Wendy Toogood: Narratives at Wallace Galleries in Calgary.
Organized by Galleries West writer Richard White, the exhibition takes place until June 19.
Spanning 40 years, it includes three different bodies of Toogood’s work: non-objective cloth constructions; gouache paintings and abstract cloth constructions inspired by her experiences travelling in Central and South America; and The Nakusp Narratives, which document her daily life in Nakusp, British Columbia.
Toogood and her artist-husband Don Mabie (aka Chuck Stake) moved to Nakusp in 2006 after spending decades in Calgary. They both studied and taught at the Alberta College of Art (now the Alberta University of the Arts) and were important contributors to the Calgary visual arts community, as influential teachers and movers and shakers in artist-run culture. From 1975 to 2006, Toogood helped to develop the school’s impressive Fibre Arts program, one of the only such post-secondary programs in the country.
Wendy Toogood, “Glitter,” 1985, fabric, 65.25" x 64" (courtesy of Wallace Galleries)
Toogood makes art about her daily life and community. She is known primarily for her colourful, energetic cloth constructions, but her primary visual language is drawing. She started to draw in a travel journal while studying textiles at the Alberta College of Art (1965-69) and this process of recording daily activities continues to inform her work. Drawing and textiles appealed to her early on because the materials are relatively accessible, inexpensive, scalable and portable, and the knowledge of how to do it can be passed down through communities.
In this way, drawing and textiles can be considered more democratic, and therefore political, compared to other fine arts. When Toogood was starting out in the 1960s, drawing and textiles, let alone those made by women, weren’t supported by an art world obsessed with post-painterly abstraction and early conceptual art. Yet they are two of the oldest forms of visual expression used by people worldwide to record life and cultural traditions.
Although part of the academy and having a long list of accolades to her credit, Toogood has grounded her practice in material and popular culture, folk art, and craft, as well as modern art. The paintings and large cloth constructions from the 1990s were inspired by time spent in Mexico. They derive their abstract imagery from the artist’s collection of toys, crafts, Mexican tourist items and street art, including hand-carved figures from Oaxaca, milagros, papier mâché dolls and skeletons, and dough heads made for Day of the Dead festival, a complex cultural celebration that collides Christian and Aztec beliefs. Beautifully made from simple materials and widely shared, these objects are examples of the integration of art and life less valued in her own context.
Cloth constructions such as Coconut Masks and Milagros and Dogman and the Musician (both 1993) began with Toogood drawing objects from her collection. She abstracted and simplified the images to make patterns and then worked directly on the cloth ground, collaging one piece of colourful cloth onto another or drawing with bias tape to develop the bold graphic images. Earlier she had approached the energetic nonobjective cloth constructions Glitter (1985) and FOLD (1986) in the same direct way, experimenting with new synthetic fabrics including sequined knits, spandex, vinyl, metallics, and photographically printed patterns that referenced fashion and pop culture.
Wendy Toogood, “Coconut Masks & Milagros,” 1993, fabric, 58.5" x 60" (courtesy of Wallace Galleries)
Toogood still draws almost every day. The relationship between drawing and textiles is most evident in The Nakusp Narratives (2006 ongoing), a series of fabric collages no bigger than a small sketchbook page documenting Toogood’s interests and life in Nakusp. Each collage is an exaggerated portrait of the artist surrounded by iconic images that remember and celebrate everyday events from her life: CBC news stories, thrift shopping, volunteering at the food bank, gardening, activities with friends, and household incidents.
Toogood starts these works by drawing a quick line drawing with her left hand that she finishes with her right. Then she transfers the drawing to canvas and stitches over it. The stitched contour line has a quirky energy and is exaggerated because she drew it with her non-dominant hand. As with the earlier cloth constructions, she collages key areas with various colourful fabrics, sometimes breaking the frame or building up the surface with embroidery and appliqué. Often, she uses text as a linear element and to locate the event in time and place. Unfolding in time like a comic strip, The Nakusp Narratives narrate Toogood’s life, even constructing it in representation.
Toogood’s art might not seem political, but it is, quietly so, in its processes and in the fact that it even exists. Joyful and political seem a paradoxical combination, but there is joy in the realization that through our daily activities and interactions with our communities we have the power to shape our worlds. When faced with such overwhelming issues as climate change, mass displacement, war, and economic instability, a daily practice that records life’s events is not just about what has happened but is also about what’s next. It implies a process and the possibility for change, which is optimistic and motivates us to keep going. ■
Wendy Toogood: Narratives is on now through June 19 at Wallace Galleries in Calgary.
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