We make the world we live in and shape our own environment.
Orison Swett Marsden
Re-Visioned: This Shared Land
Created originally in the mid-1970's, this piece was entitled "Man Makes His Own Boundaries". My intent was to graphically illustrate that the boundaries were artificial and ignored the actual reality of the shape of our country and its contours and rivers and lakes. From the beginning of this country of Canada, and even before that as it was colonized by European settlers, the nature of the land and its first peoples were ignored in favour of political decisions on paper. As my name has changed, so has the name of the piece.
The map was a true labour of love. And it was also a serious challenge because of the detail in the work. I started with a piece of white cotton broadcloth, and through many hours spent applying hot melted wax with a djanting tool or brush, defining the areas of land, and rivers, and political boundaries as accurately as I could, then dyeing the piece, first in blue, then green then brown, coating the areas I wanted to remain a particular colour between successive dye baths. This process is called batik. At the end of this part of the process, I ironed out the piece between layers of paper towels and used newspaper, and as a last step of this process, took it to the dry cleaners for the final removal of wax. Then I proceeded to use traditional hand-stitched quilting on the piece, using polyester batting between the map and the backing. Although the quilting and batik techniques were traditional, the finished artwork was difficult to categorize. Mixed media/surface design were a relatively new field.
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For several years this piece travelled with me throughout southwest and central Ontario as I sold my work at craft shows. Subsequently, it held a sure place on my living room wall for many years. I could not bear to sell it.
I had a hard decision to make recently when I took it out of storage, as the Procion batik dyes I had originally used had faded almost completely - although otherwise, the fabric was in excellent condition, and the hand stitching was intact and strong. Discarding a piece that had been so meaningful seemed impossible. Forty years have passed since I created this piece. The concept behind it no longer held true for me, so I have revisited, re-visioned and reworked the piece, shaping it to my new knowledge and personal experience.
I embarked on a journey with new materials - colourfast aquarelle pencils - and water - to colour the map with new meaning, new growth, new colours, new subtlety, new spirit, and a deeper understanding of what the map represents for me. I did not replace the artificial boundaries. As I coloured it - through many layers, and many hours, I held the vision of what I have seen of the world, and the unexpected directions - frightening and fascinating, joyful and sorrowful - that my life has taken.
Always I come back to my sense of roots in this country, and my one-ness with the environment, which is so vulnerable to climate change and pollution as we continue to strip the resources from our world. I have coloured it with my perceptions, and the sense of what is truly meaningful to me. The piece was simpler, more rigid in its approach then, than it is now, in its transformed state. Like my own life, the unnatural boundaries have faded, although the tones, values and shapes still are intact.
I continue to defy the rigid social and political definitions and boundaries, and artificial controls, beginning with those I set for myself, and so the map, and I, have evolved, and may continue evolving.
I had a hard decision to make recently when I took it out of storage, as the Procion batik dyes I had originally used had faded almost completely - although otherwise, the fabric was in excellent condition, and the hand stitching was intact and strong. Discarding a piece that had been so meaningful seemed impossible. Forty years have passed since I created this piece. The concept behind it no longer held true for me, so I have revisited, re-visioned and reworked the piece, shaping it to my new knowledge and personal experience.
I embarked on a journey with new materials - colourfast aquarelle pencils - and water - to colour the map with new meaning, new growth, new colours, new subtlety, new spirit, and a deeper understanding of what the map represents for me. I did not replace the artificial boundaries. As I coloured it - through many layers, and many hours, I held the vision of what I have seen of the world, and the unexpected directions - frightening and fascinating, joyful and sorrowful - that my life has taken.
Always I come back to my sense of roots in this country, and my one-ness with the environment, which is so vulnerable to climate change and pollution as we continue to strip the resources from our world. I have coloured it with my perceptions, and the sense of what is truly meaningful to me. The piece was simpler, more rigid in its approach then, than it is now, in its transformed state. Like my own life, the unnatural boundaries have faded, although the tones, values and shapes still are intact.
I continue to defy the rigid social and political definitions and boundaries, and artificial controls, beginning with those I set for myself, and so the map, and I, have evolved, and may continue evolving.