Woven Woods: A Journey Through the Forest Floor and Knit Markers: Collaborating with Machines will be on display at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum (MVTM) from April 29 to July 22, 2023. Woven Woods is a collection of 12 round fabric wall hangings that artist Lorraine Roy has used various fabrics to interpret the fascinating system of tree root communication through textiles, including dyed and printed cotton, silks, a variety of synthetics and sheers, and cotton batting. This communication is facilitated by forest fungi; a symbiotic relationship between fungi and tree roots providing a network of channels to communicate resources and messages between individual trees. Roy has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with a Major in Horticulture. She has been a full-time professional artist working with textiles for over 30 years, with a focus on trees and the connections they have with one another, and with other organisms and humans. She lives and works in Dundas, Ontario.
Knit Markers: Collaborating with Machines is the first solo exhibition for the artistic duo Greta Grip and Lee Jones. Knit markers, otherwise known as stitch markers, are a knitting tool used to identify an important place in your knitting. In the same way, the works in this exhibition mark, record, and make tangible both the collective and individual memories gathered throughout the installation period, as well as how that data is interpreted and visualized by machines. In this installation, Grip and Jones explore how data is gathered and the invisible traces we leave behind. In these participatory artworks, visitor data is translated into soft, tangible visualizations through machines that knit or unwind stitches in response to visitor interactions. When collaborating with machines, they will at times respond in unexpected ways, revealing the ways machines act as their own material.
Quotes
“The Museum is very much looking forward to hosting Woven Woods and Knit Markers. Roy has put together a beautiful exhibit, and we hope that visitors come away with a new understanding of nature and an appreciation for its complexity. Grip and Jones’ exhibit encourages viewers, who are participants, to think about our evolving technology, our digital footprint, and the duality of this experience, which is becoming more and more relevant.”
– Michael Rikley-Lancaster, Executive Director/Curator, Mississippi Valley Textile Museum
