Need More Fiber in Your Diet?

This week as I was promenading down 13th Avenue in the Regina Cathedral Area, window-gazing per usual, I was pleasantly surprised by some new additions to the neighbourhood: Trees with trunk-warmers, toque-capped benches, strings of hats and felt that lined the sidewalk, and, my personal favorite, a great wall of elaborate fabric that decorated an entire side of a building.  With some further investigation, I soon discovered this was all part of an event called “High Fiber Content”.   The event was organized by Traditions Handcraft Gallery (one of the local shops) as a celebration of fiber art in the community, and is also apparently part of a much larger national project called "culturedays".

I liked that fiber was implemented as the medium of choice in this project, and found some of the creations to be rather delightful.  I think this is probably the first time since I’ve arrived in Regina that  fiber has been showcased so enthusiastically as an art form. (Not to say fiber art wasn’t visible around the city prior to this event, but it is refreshing to see it receive such exclusive attention).

 

If I had just one gripe about the project, it would be that there is probably more that could have been done with it.  While I think fiber art has a lot of potential, the display along 13th seemed, at least to me, a bit empty as far as content goes. It's cute for sure, don’t get me wrong, and it certainly has been successful in getting people to stop and observe the handiwork involved. But if truth be told, I’ve seen similar arrangements before, and feel that the execution of the work in this instance somewhat lacks in innovation.

On the other hand, I do think the display does accomplish something rather important: it introduces people to a form of art that is often overlooked and underappreciated. If this was an attempt to educate the community with a basic understanding of fiber as an art form, then I think the project ought to be deemed at least a moderate achievement. To this end, I do believe Traditions Handcraft Gallery should be commended for their efforts on the project, as well as applauded for making such a contribution to the Regina arts scene.

I’m still not sure if “High Fiber Content” is supposed to be an on-going annual event, but if it is, it would be my hope that next time around it tries to take another step forward in its exploitation of fiber as a medium. A little more gusto with a pinch more substance, and “High Fiber Content” could become something truly unique for the city of Regina. Think of something along the lines of this, this, or even this.

Again, the fiber installation that impressed me most (hands down) was the fabric covered wall shown in the image below.  Quite an amazing display of craftsmanship indeed, and yet just a small sample of what fiber's future in the Regina artscape could be!

Found Objects #1: Missing Pill

It’s unusual that one would select something that was missing and declare it a “found object” since the object is technically not “found” at all, but remains quite absent even after it has been declared a work of art.

It’s not so much that the object never existed either. I’m not trying to convince you the pill is actually in the packet and that it’s invisible, or present in some transcendental way; nor am I implying something was in fact “found”, but that I have simply chosen not to show it to you as some sort of commentary on our innate desire to protect, covet, and attempt ownership of a certain knowledge or some great secret: I have something, it’s art, but you can’t know what it is.   Neither am I suggesting something along these lines.

No, it’s nothing like that at all. What I do find fascinating with this image though, is that the pill really did exist, it was obviously in the package at some point in time, but now seems to have disappeared. Did someone consume the pill? Was it lost? Was it set aside someplace else for later ingestion? Did it disappear while in the owner’s possession, or was it already gone when the package was opened? Where is the pill now? The image alone does not provide a satisfying enough answer as to why the pill is not in the package, though the evidence is clear that a pill certainly did exist in the empty place it left behind.

My point is, sometimes what isn’t in the image can say much more than what is actually visible, and exercising such awareness when contemplating art and its context can prove to be extremely rewarding and enlightening to the observer. Critical and analytical thinking is a key component in understanding art, and the provided image shouldn't be treated any different. There is a hidden narrative that exists in the image that no one can ever truly uncover, save, perhaps, the person that actually took the pill (if in fact a person did take it), and I doubt very much that the person who did take the pill ever wonders if anyone else is concerned about the pill's "story". 

It's likely we've all taken pills of some kind for one purpose or another, so chances are the tale of the particular pill that has gone astray in this image is hardly any different -- probably quite ordinary and mundane.  Yet, we can't know for sure.  Maybe this was the final pill that thrust its swallower spiraling and convulsing into a violent drug overdose, or maybe it was the pill that was finally capable of alleviating its swallower’s month-long struggle with a migraine headache, or maybe the person who swallowed the pill simply choked on it and died.   We’ll never know.  But one thing we can be sure of is there's usually more than meets the eye, and contemplating different perspectives when viewing art can be nothing less than invaluable.