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When you walk into the Cr8ery Gallery on Adelaide Street in the Exchange District this month, you’ll see two walls filled with art using fibre in a variety of ways. You’ll also notice that as you journey further down the walls, the pieces become more and more similar until you get to two pieces in the back corner where the two styles collide.
That collision is between the two artists of Lineal Threads, the mother-daughter duo of Kathleen Black and Elowen Megan. The duo became interested in fibre art a few years ago when Elowen received a kit for Christmas, but their shared passion for making art together in a wide variety of mediums is something that has been nurtured since Elowen was a child.
“I’ve been living in a creative shadow for a long time,” Megan joked as she toured Morning Light host Nolan Kehler around the exhibit. “I thought that now is the moment where we can finally work together.”
“I didn't imagine the fibre art,” her mother admitted, although she has grown to love the medium. “When you dye wool and fabric, it has this rich, luxurious sort of warmth. You can see why people have been working in it for thousands of years.”
Even though Megan and Black have only been using fibre as a medium for a few years, they’ve grown to appreciate how it binds them and their family together in ways that are unique to the medium. “We're joined together not only in the idea of generations moving in a line, but we're joined together with interests,” Black explains.
“We enjoy similar themes,” Megan adds. “We both enjoy the Canadian landscape and animals that are Indigenous to the area, and we’re interested in representing those as well.”
These natural elements are on display throughout the gallery. Part of Black’s exhibit is fibre renderings of animals such as owls juxtaposed on top of old maps of places like Yukon to represent the lush, natural life lived on previously unsettled lands. Megan’s portion of the exhibit also features owls, along with landscape scenes and other animals like roosters and sheep.
Showing the beauty of nature through a natural medium like fibre is particularly special to Black as it creates beautiful images for Megan’s children, her grandchildren. “I would say the sunsets,” Black said, pointing out that her grandchildren may not be able to enjoy natural beauty in the way she did as a child as the world faces the existential threats of climate change. “We're trying hard not to be too aggressive in being in the environmental and conscious of where we are and what we're doing to the world, but it certainly is a concern, isn't it?”
Black and Megan believe that audiences that come to see Lineal Threads will get a real sense of their family, and they hope that other families can take artistic inspiration from the exhibit. “I just hope that they know that creativity is important. It’s important for development emotionally, and it can only do good things for your family,” said Black.
“The family that makes art together stays together.”
Lineal Threads is on display at the Cr8ery Gallery in the Exchange District until November 26. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday. Masks are encouraged and will be provided if needed. For more information, you can visit the gallery’s website or follow them on Instagram.