Current Events

• HOME ECONOMICS: 150 YEARS OF CANADIAN HOOKED RUGS

SEPTEMBER 24 2015 – FEBRUARY 8, 2016

OPENING RECEPTION, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 6:30– 8:00PM
TEXTILE MUSEUM OF CANADA | 55 CENTRE AVENUE, TORONTO
HOURS: DAILY, 11AM – 5PM ; WEDNESDAYS 11AM – 8PM

“Presented in conjunction with the Textile Museum of Canada’s 40th anniversary, Home Economics explores the unique stories and histories that have informed hooked rugs in Canada, the highly recognizable forms of folk art with roots in 19th-century North America. Featuring over 100 hooked rugs from the Museum’s rich archive of international material culture, the exhibition represents generations of artisanal entrepreneurship, women’s domestic and collective work, as well as rural development in Canada”

More info here

• SUNG FROM THE MOUTH OF CUMAE : MARY GRISEY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 – FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2016

ART GALLERY OF MISSISSAUGA | 300 CITY CENTRE DRIVE, MISSISSAUGA
HOURS: MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY, 10:00 – 5:00 PM ; THURSDAY, 10:00 – 8:00 PM ; SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, 12:00 – 4:00 PM

“This immersive fibre, ceramic and sound installation references the Cumean Sibyl, a Greek oracle who was said to have sung prophecies from the mouth of a cave. Using destructive processes on woven textiles, Grisey evokes the effects of time and decay on landscape, history and mythology”

More info here

Textile Installations

‘Sung from the Mouth of Cumae’ by Mary Grisey

The ‘Aegis necklace’ by Mary Grisey

For this case, we will be looking at the work of Mary Grisey. Grisey is a fibre artist who learned how to weave and dye in 2008 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where [she] received [her] BFA in Fiber and Material Studies. In 2012 [she] took [her] art practice to Canada where [she] received [an] MFA at York University in Toronto in 2014.

The most important aspect I notice about Grisey’s work is that it is presented in the same way as fine art–displayed in a gallery, titled and dated, and accompanied by an artist’s statement. As I have mentioned previously, many craft artists/makers do not title their work, and it is difficult to find out exact dates of production. Many of them do not have an artist’s statement. These practices are very common for a fine artist–but this is not to say that the others I have discussed are not artists.

Much like the work of Dani Ives, Mister Finch, and Chloe Giordano, Grisey’s work has no use value–excluding her line of jewelry and clothing (META Jewelry and Textiles). But what sets her work apart the most is how each piece is so strongly rooted in an artistic concept. Exhibitions of her work are linked by an idea or story. Even her jewelry pieces have an original idea or story behind their conception. For example, the blurb about her current exhibition of work at the Art Gallery of Mississauga reads:
This immersive fibre, ceramic and sound installation references the Cumean Sibyl, a Greek oracle who was said to have sung prophecies from the mouth of a cave. Using destructive processes on woven textiles, Grisey evokes the effects of time and decay on landscape, history and mythology.

It is Grisey’s artistic practice and methods of presentation that I believe makes them art. Do you agree? Do you like textile installations, or installation art in general?

Learn more about Mary Grisey here