Theme / concept        Orchid Cactus in bloom

Inspiration: actual night blooming cactus.

Marianne Parsons      Fibre Art Piece:           Our Tropical Wonder

Photographs of Betty’s orchid cactus plant in full bloom inspired Betty to propose that as our project. It certainly challenged e to portray the contrast between the lush white dinner-plate sized blossoms and the arm-length smooth dangling leaves of this tall plant. We decided to back this image in our pieces with the traditional Grandmother’s flower Garden hexagon shape to further emphasize the contrast between the traditional and contemporary.

Betty Howe

Painting:                      Orchid Cactus

My orchid cactus had just bloomed with 3 large flowers, 12 inches across. They are white with cream centers – spectacular! It blooms once a year for one night only.  In the wild, it is pollinated by bats who are attracted from dusk to dawn by their strong perfume. In recent years, I worked in fibre art ... I now return to painting oils on canvas

Vivian Kapusta & Debbie Hungle & Michelle Mason

Theme / concept        Translucence

Vivian Kapusta

Fibre Art Piece:           Sheer Beauty

When I chose my cousin as my partner, the challenge was to find common ground.  Debbie and her partner, Michelle, work in fused glass. We decided on ‘translucence’ as our theme. My project is in layered sheers to represent the transparency of glass. Our focus is butterflies& flowers.

Debbie Hungle  and  Michelle Mason           

Fused Glass:                Ethereality

Glass butterflies being painted with ground glass pigments.

 Vivian has long since inspired us to bring quilting into our fused glass designs, so we were excited for the opportunity to create an art piece alongside her. While the theme of ‘translucence’ might seem to be a simple one for glass artists, our challenge was to find ways to create textures in our glass to mirror those of fabric. Fusing the background glass onto textured papers and fiberglass fabrics helped in this effect. To create the rich details in the butterflies, they were painted with a powdered glass emulsion, fused then slumped or molded to create a three dimensional effect. We added texture to our flower by using ground glass frit and gently slumping in a ceramic mold. We feel that together silk fabric and translucent glass can capture the ethereal beauty of nature.

Pippa Moore & her sister Sara Judith

Theme / concept        Memories

Original photo

For this project, we have both chosen to work from a photograph our father took in Yorkshire, not long before we left Britain and immigrated to Canada. It is a photo evocative of places we holidayed as small children, or were taken on picnics where we sketched in our little notebooks, while the grown-ups painted with watercolours.

Pippa Moore

Fibre Art Piece:           Almost There

I started my project in a Ruth McDowell, but revised it several times before I was happy with it. It's called "Almost There". While the background is pieced, the trees are machine appliquéd .  I've simplified and abstracted the details as much as possible, while retaining the perspective, and I hope, the sense of looking toward the sea with a certain longing.

Sara Judith

Hooked Rug using hand dyed and commercial wools: Yorkshire Childhood

Idyllic picnic spot
Memory of childhood
Preserved in time
Tall trees stand sentinels
Sun shining welcoming you back
But the gate is locked
You can never go back

Jenny Perry & Edmund Currie

Theme / concept        African Women

Jenny Perry

Fibre Art Piece            African Women

After working for the Red Cross in the Belgian Congo, in 1959-60, my father returned to Canada to paint many of the African people he had met there. My work in fabric (above) is a representation of one of those paintings of the daily life of African women.

Painting by Edmund Currie, Jenny's father.

Edmund V. Currie

Painting:                      African Women                     

The people and culture of Africa influenced my father’s work greatly. This painting of a Congolese woman is one of many featuring the women and their daily lives.

Edmund Currie passed away in 1981.

Kristin Rohr & Colleen Golumbia

Theme / concept: Marine Life 
VENUS underwater observatory in Saanich Inlet

Kristin Rohr

Fibre Art Piece:  Algae Bloom

Algae bloom in spring; at the base of the  food chain Skeletonema costatens  provides nourishment for many tentacled creatures. The VENUS observatory records the seasonal blooms and the nocturnal  migration of zooplankton  from the depths to graze on the algae.

Colleen Golumbia

Painting - mixed media diptych painting:       Undersea Dance

Interconnectedness in nature is a theme I have been investigating, in this case, under the Salish Sea. The movement of undersea animals is graceful and smooth, not unlike a ballerina performance. This is what I tried to capture in Undersea Dance.

Judy Villett and Martha Jablonski Jones

Theme / concept        Forests/Clearcutting      Beauty/Ugliness

Judy Villett  and  Martha Jablonski Jones – Collaborative Fibre Art:  North of Lilloet

Judy Villett

The initial idea for this collaboration was generated by the research that Martha Jablonski Jones did online for a series of paintings of forest clear-cuts seen from space. Both of us are nature lovers who have hiked and camped together over many years. The theme seemed to lend itself to a blending of painting and quilting. Martha drafted the design and used acrylic and metallic paint to lay a rich foundation for me to work on.

I layered and basted the painted muslin with wool batting and theme-print backing, then began to free hand quilt around the design elements. I used curving lines with a variegated hand-dyed thread to fill in all the clear-cut areas. Next, heavy machine embroidery stitching was used to add texture over the treed areas. The lakes were then accented with rayon and metallic quilting threads.

Martha Jablonski Jones

Behind the thin wall of forest seen from our western highways, lies a devastated landscape created by the practice of clear-cutting. There is no hiding from space where Google Earth has been a revelation to us, showing the true state of our planet earth.

The initial reaction when we see the extent of the damage in Canada’s forests is likely to be horror. When we look at the quilt-like patterns impartially, they can become compellingly fascinating and oddly beautiful – evoking the jewel like patterns seen in the paintings of Gustav Klimt. This led us to the idea of embellishment, re- dressing the stripped Mother Earth in gilding and textures. This stripping of nature and re-dressing her to our own ends has been human practice since the beginning of civilization.

Humans have an endless capacity to seek out the positive – no matter what confronts us. As our world changes rapidly around us, we may be forced to seek beauty in places we presently see as ugly. It may even be that we are psychologically disposed to see beauty, even in the most discouraging situations – simply as a matter of mental health.

The big-box store, the urban slum, the congested freeway – can they be salvaged? Do we lose Mother Nature, forget her, dress her up, or rescue her? In presenting this Google Earth vignette, we have introduced an element of what is accepted as beauty into a scene of what is accepted as ugliness, setting up a visual mixed message. We leave it to the viewer to decide what is beautiful, what is not and whether it matters in the end.

Jean Weller and Pamela Westhaver

Theme / concept        Holiday in Venice

Jean Weller

Fibre Art Piece:           Venice

Venice has many faces – not for nothing is it renowned for its masks. Some faces are light, ethereal, joyful, dreamlike. Others are not far below the surface, are dark, decadent and voluptuous – full of intrigue, mystery and death. This piece, set among the ancient crumbling mosaics, golden stone and quiet piazzas, reflects the secretive and dark side of Venice.

Pamela Lyle Westhaver

Handmade Book:        Venetian Dreaming

All my life I had been yearning to visit Venice, the beautiful and mysterious city by the sea.  My trip with Jean Weller, to celebrate my 65^th birthday, fulfilled this  dream.  One week in Venice allowed us to explore to our heart's content.    We walked every day, everywhere – down narrow, claustrophobic streets and across bridge after bridge.  We looked up at building facades and ornamentation, we looked down at water, boats, and reflections.  We looked ahead and back, with the excitement of an adventurer who wants to go forward but who also wants to find the way home again.  We got lost and we discovered new wonders at every turn. 

The creation of my book “VENETIAN DREAMING” allowed me to  revisit my photos, journals, and memorabilia to re-experience Venice and   the wonders I had seen there.  As I reflected back on my time in Venice, I tried to recreate both the look and feel of the city.  I painted papers and used words and imagery so that each page of the book would recapture a memory, and provide the viewer with an anticipation, of this city that is like no other on earth.  

Coreen Zerr & Sari Spenser

Theme / concept        Trees and Reflections

Coreen Zerr

Fibre Art Piece            Woods on a Snowy Evening

This piece was a joy to make, reminding me so much of the poem ‘Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening’ by Robert Frost. The resounding words, “... and miles to go before I sleep” felt fitting of the fast pace of life these days, juggling work, aging parents and studio time. The process of making this quiet little quilt gave me a wonderful sense of serene and calm.

Sari Spenser                Reflections

Painting - inspired by a walk with her husband at Smugglers Cove.

I enjoy the organic patterns that one finds in natural scenes. I tend toward strong contrasts in value, but also enjoy playing with the richness within a limited colour palette. The early spring of the scene is a colour challenge. Other than the beauty of nature for itself, I love how the divine manifests itself through various levels of organization and pattern.