The word “crossroads” has many definitions.
The word “crossroads” has many definitions. Literally, it is the intersection of two or more streets, roads or paths. As a figure of speech, a crossroads is a point at which a crucial decision must be made. It can also be symbolic, often representing a place where two realms meet in mythology and folklore.
The last two years in particular have led to many crossroads as people around the world have faced a global pandemic, elections, growing social justice movements and personal upheaval.
It’s also a fitting theme for the 14th annual Grand National Fibre Art Exhibition, which is currently on view in Woodstock as part of a national tour.
The Grand National Fibre Art Exhibition was developed in 2003 to showcase the work of Canadian quilt artists. In 2019, the exhibition was expanded to include other types of fibre artwork. This year marks another major milestone as the exhibition travels across the country for the first time.
It was this crossroads decision that inspired the exhibition’s titular theme, explained Jaynie Himsl, a member of the Grand National Exhibition Association board.
“Since the title and entries for the exhibition are both national in scope, the committee wanted to bring the exhibition closer to all Canadians,” Himsl said.
“Two years ago was the first time the exhibition had been shown in Western Canada. This year, we’re very excited to have the exhibition travelling to venues all across Canada during its two-year time span.”
The exhibition features a diverse selection of 48 fibre art pieces by 43 artists.
“It’s always interesting to see how artists interpret the theme in so many ways — from life-changing events like birth, marriage, divorce, death, relocating, to COVID-19 and sickness, or the choices one makes. Our changing environment, faith and literal depictions of crossings are all represented,” Himsl said.
The artwork also showcases a variety of fibre art materials, styles and techniques, such as hooked paper, 3D sculptural work, digital manipulation, beading, dyeing, weaving, embroidery and printing.
This year’s exhibition was juried by award-winning artists Tracey Aubin, Debora Barlow and Judy Villett.
“This exhibition also has a judged component,” added Himsl. “Once all the selected juried artworks arrive at the opening venue the judges have an opportunity to view the works in person and select the seven pieces for an award. This year with all its disruptions, it was uncertain till the last moment whether the judges were going to be allowed into the facility to actually view the work.”
Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Himsl says the tour has been a success so far. A virtual opening was hosted by the University of New Brunswick Art Centre this spring and was well-attended by viewers from across the country.
The Woodstock leg of the tour runs until Feb. 26, 2022, and is hosted by the Woodstock Art Gallery in partnership with the Woodstock Museum National Historic Site.
The exhibition is scheduled to continue its journey west in 2022, with stops at the Victoria Arts Council Gallery in British Columbia and The Weyburn Arts Council in Saskatchewan and the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba.
Plans for the next exhibition in 2023 and 2024 are already underway as well, with the titular theme Delights.
In the meantime, visitors can explore Crossroads: 2021 Grand National Fibre Art Exhibition at the Woodstock Museum, located at 466 Dundas St. The museum is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The Woodstock Art Gallery will also be holding a virtual artist talk in partnership with the Fine Art program at Fanshawe College on Feb. 10, 2022, at 3 p.m. Details can be found online at www.woodstockartgallery.ca .
Robin De Angelis is the cultural communications co-ordinator at the Woodstock Art Gallery. She also splits her time at the Woodstock Museum National Historic Site.
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LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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