Artist: Joanne Young, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Interviews 16: Joanne Young exhibited in the 2009 Common Thread International Juried Exhibition Part 1. She also exhibited in the 2012 exhibition De rerum natura (On The Nature of Things) at Joshua Creek Heritage Arts Centre in Oakville, Ontario.
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Interviews published by Gareth Bate & Dawne Rudman.
Biography
Joanne Young: After retiring from what seemed like a lifetime of teaching highschool mathematics, Joanne spent the first decade of the new century immersed in fabric, threads, and stitching. In 2000 she began her studies at the Opus School of Textile Arts in the UK, which offered City & Guilds Certificate in Patchwork and Quilting by distance learning. None of it was online; each module was completed, sent to the UK, and then back with a lengthy critique. When she completed the course in 2004, she participated in an assessment exhibition at the Museum of London.
Joanne then proceeded to complete the City & Guilds Diploma during the next four years. Throughout most of this work, she was tutored by Maggie Paykel who is currently exhibiting with stitch-works in the UK. As part of the Diploma, she had to do a major research project. Joanne chose to study the shapes, colours, and textures in a metal recycling yard not far from her home in downtown Kitchener. Scrapyard I and II, were exhibited last year at the Homer Watson House and Gallery, Kitchener, as part of Grand National.
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Postcards from the Scrapyard, mixed media, painting, rusting, burning, hand stitching, 54"x37.5"x0.5", 2009, photo: Bob McNair |
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Detail: Postcards from the Scrapyard, mixed media, painting, rusting, burning, hand stitching 54"x37.5"x0.5", 2009, photo: Bob McNair |
Tell us about your work?
I like to create textiles with body and texture. I construct multiple layers and then stitch them together by hand. Currently, I am working on weavings which combine strips of vintage Japanese cloth with strips of old clothes and a disintegrating Waterloo County quilt. I also like to make dolls. Each of my most recent dolls was constructed with a wire armature, wrapping, and paper pulp heads.
From where do you get your inspiration?
I live in a working class neighbourhood in Kitchener, close to a train station, old factories, and a metal recycling yard. I have done photographic studies of selected sites in this neighbourhood. The sites include this recycling yard, factory windows, and the exterior of an old deserted building.
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Landfill, mixed media, hand stitching, 15"x 29", 2008, photo: Bob McNair |
Why did you choose to go into fibre art?
My mother was a fine seamstress. When I was a teenager, she taught me how to sew. My favourite part was basting; even then I liked to stitch by hand. I dropped this interest until a few years before my retirement, when I spent an off year making cloth dolls, and then took up quilting, only to move eventually into the more liberating world of fibre art.
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Detail: Landfill, mixed media, hand stitching, 15"x 29", 2008, photo: Bob McNair |
What other mediums do you work in, and how does this inform your fibre work?
Collage is an essential part of my work. I am constantly choosing bits of fabric, putting them together, seeing if the combination works, adding and subtracting if it doesn't.
What specific historic artists have influenced your work?
Robert Rauschenberg: He is a master collagist; he puts together disparate images and the viewer has to provide the spark that makes sense of the combination. He also likes to work with everyday materials; in the Seventies he did a series with cardboard which I particularly like. He often dares the viewer to say, "This isn't art". I like his rebellious spirit.
Paul Klee: I like his use of colour and the playful way he structures a painting.
Jean Dubuffet: I am attracted by his childlike figures and the rich, textured surfaces of his canvases. His treasures troves were the garbage can and the scrapyard.
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Scrapyard Couture by Bertolt of Kitchener, assorted fabrics, paper pulp, wire, found object, wrapping, appliqué hand stitching, 14"x22"x14", 2011, photo: Joanne Young |
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Detail: Scrapyard Couture by Bertolt of Kitchener, assorted fabrics, paper pulp, wire, found object, wrapping, appliqué, hand stitching, 14"x22"x14", 2011, photo: Joanne Young |
What specific contemporary artists have influenced your work?
Ed Rossbach: He is one of the most influential figures in the history of contemporary fibre art. He chose to "value the valueless" by incorporating into his art humble materials such as old newspapers, plastic packing materials, styrofoam, and found objects. I, too, like to use unconventional materials such as dustcover material, which I discovered could be painted and distressed. I used it extensively in my Scrapyard work.
What role do you think fibre art plays in contemporary art?
It now seems to have a more prominent role. According to Joanne Mattera who attended this year's Art Basel Miami Beach, fabric, thread, and stitch was a noticeable theme.
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Scrapyard, mixed media: collaging, machine quilting, embellishing., each piece 44"x88", 2010, photo: Bob McNair |
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Detail: Scrapyard, mixed media: collaging, machine quilting, embellishing., each piece 44"x88", 2010, photo: Bob McNair |
What other fibre artists are you interested in?
Dorothy Caldwell, Hastings, Ontario: These features draw me to her work: her skill in mark-making with wax resist, her lively stitch, and her use of small patches which give unique coloration to her work. For my Diploma, I had to do a small sample inspired by her work and found out how unusual the colours of her scraps are. I needed to do a thorough search of my very extensive scrap stash to find similar colours.
The anonymous boro artists of Aomori Prefecture, Japan: The winters were cold and cloth was scarce, but these women had to provide bed coverings to keep their families warm. Boro: Rags and Tatters from the Far North of Japan shows photos of some of these wonderful layered, patched, and stitched donja.
India Flint, Australia: She has promoted the idea of eco dyeing; that is, dyeing with natural stuff like leaves and twigs, as well as found pieces of metal. This past summer I experimented with eco dyeing. In one experiment, I bundled up day lily petals, leaves, sawdust, and rusty nails on pieces of a silk-cotton blend. I then boiled the bundles in water for about an hour, cooled them in the water, then drained them, and let them dry and rest for a few weeks to a month. This method produced beautifully marked and coloured cloth.
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King of the Junkpile, assorted fabrics, wires, washers, collaging, hand quilting, 14"x32", 2011, photo: Joanne Young |
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Detail: King of the Junkpile, assorted fabrics, wires, washers, collaging, hand quilting, 14"x32", 2011, photo: Joanne Young |
Tell us about your studio and how you work:
My studio is make do. I do my sewing in my dining room and my wet work in the basement where I have free run. I use my laundry room for dyeing cloth and a back room for working with art materials.
Which World of Threads Festival/s have you exhibited in?
I exhibited Landfill, a piece from my Scrapyard series, at the 2009 World of Threads Festival.
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Joanne Young's studio in Kitchener, Ontario. |
What was your motivation for submitting your work to the World of Threads Festival?
I have participated for four years in the Grand National, an annual juried exhibition of quilt art, held in Kitchener. I thought that the World of Threads Festival would give me wider exposure.
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Interviews published by Gareth Bate & Dawne Rudman.
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Tree Crone with Brooch, mixed media, hand stitchig, 16"x17", 2010, Joanne Young |
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Detail: Tree Crone with Brooch, mixed media, hand stitchig, 16"x17", 2010, Joanne Young |