Dreams and Variations, 2023
Woven nylon string
This picnic blanket was woven by hand on a frame loom over the course of 5 weeks while on residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point. With the residency being right on Gibraltar Point Beach on Toronto Island, the intention for this blanket was to engage with the local and visiting community, to be left behind onsite for future guests and residents to meet and gather over picnics, bonfires, lake dips, etc. The action of weaving carries many parallels to the action of gathering, and the intention is for the blanket to slowly become an archive of gathering(s) in and of itself over time.
The title is borrowed from the name of the (former) annual auction hosted by the Island School to raise funds for the senior students to take an end of year trip. There's a rich history of quilting on the island, and many quilts and other handmade textiles were lovingly made and donated to the auction over the years. Inspired by the pattern of the studio floor where this piece was woven (which was a former classroom), echoing it in the blanket pattern brings forward ideas of the labour of constant care that’s involved at every gathering.
Produced during Artscape Gibraltar Point’s 2023 Winter Island Residency with support from the K.M. Hunter Charitable Foundation.
