First National Craft Biennial Renews Dialogue

×

Expand

Lou Lynn, “Iron,” 2017

bronze, glass and steel, 18” x 16” x 5” (photo by Ted Clarke)

When Denis Longchamps, chief curator at the Art Gallery of Burlington, was editing the now-defunct Cahiers métiers d’art/Craft Journal, he came to recognize that Canada’s vastness made it nearly impossible to develop a national craft dialogue. The first Canadian Craft Biennial, designed to coincide with Canada’s 150th anniversary, grew out of his commitment to nurture and develop such a discussion.

Longchamps harnessed the expertise of Emma Quin, then the CEO of Craft Ontario, as well as the Canadian Craft Federation and other partners, to produce an event encompassing four exhibitions, two residencies, a ceramics workshop, three community projects and a two-day symposium, all designed to raise public awareness of the role craft plays in Canada’s economy and culture. To ensure national representation, the biennial established advisory committees of craft professionals across the country. The resulting exhibition, Can Craft? Craft Can!, comprising new pieces by 64 artists working in wood, ceramics, metal, fibre and glass, is on view at the Art Gallery of Burlington, west of Toronto, through Oct. 29.

×

Expand

Installation view of the 2017 Canadian Craft Biennial at the Art Gallery of Burlington

Given the mandate’s breadth, the exhibition, not surprisingly, lacks tight focus. Works were selected according to three themes that resonate in the wider art world: identity, materiality and sustainability.

Western Canadian artists are well represented with impressive works. Calgary ceramic artist Greg Payce’s Brothers and Sisters consists of multiple, candy-striped vessels arranged to reveal children’s heads in the negative spaces between them. Vancouver’s Ruth Scheuing points to the long association of women, textiles and technology in her computer-assisted jacquard weaving When Ada meets Penelope and other Weavers in Cyberspace.

Most works distance themselves from function, although it remains a subtext in several, such as Edmonton metal artist Karen Cantine’s stunning silver and granite pitchers, which combine elegance with a sense of place. Lou Lynn, who lives in Winlaw, B.C., reinterprets the humble iron, enlarging and abstracting the forms and casting them in bronze and glass. Calgary artist Barbara Tipton animates the traditional teacup in Adrift in Jetsam with a richly textured and subtly coloured surface.

×

Expand

Barbara Tipton, “Adrift in Jetsam,” 2017

clay, slip, multiple glazes and ceramic pencil, 5.5” x 8”

Clothing and jewelry are used metaphorically to make statements about identity and sustainability. Vancouver-based Bridget Catchpole offers Vitreous Marker, which combines beads and plastic detritus washed up on beaches to comment environmental destruction. In Our Lady of the Sealhunt, Manitoba’s Teresa Burrows emblazons a cloak with fur and tiny glass beads to celebrate the richness of Aboriginal culture. Vancouver artist Bettina Matzkuhn embroiders a watery scene on the interior of Life Jacket #1: Peace, and Angelika Werth, from Nelson, B.C., suggests both armour and sexual violence with her sculpture Ashes to Ashes, assembled from a deconstructed man’s jacket, recycled hardware and a catcher’s mitt.

×

1 of 3

Expand

Bettina Matzkuhn, “Life Jacket #1: Peace,” no date

cotton and silk thread on painted linen, cotton canvas, assorted sewing notions and foam inserts, 20” x 18” x 12” (photo by Ted Clarke)

×

2 of 3

Expand

Bridget Catchpole, “Vitreous Marker,” 2017

synthetic rope (collection Tofino), vintage Italian glass beads, wire and fishing line, 62” x 96”

×

3 of 3

Expand

Zane Wilcox, “Ziggurat 3.3" and "Ziggurat 3.4,” 2017

reduction-fired stoneware and paint, 16” x 8” x 8” (each)

Prev

Next

These and other works reveal the sophistication and conceptual range that characterize contemporary craft. The Art Gallery of Burlington has committed itself to a second biennial in 2020, and we can only hope the momentum grows.