Talking Threads Opens at Mary E. Black Gallery

The Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design presents Talking Threads: Voices Among Fibre Artists, an exhibition of quilts curated by Laureen van Lierop.

The quilters whose works are presented in Talking Threads have been functioning as a 'bee' for several years, and the group has focused upon participation in the larger fibre-art world.

These women have worked within the traditional structures of the quilt world, yet have encouraged and supported each other to move beyond the traditionally accepted quilting styles. Their efforts have in turn broadened the craft for local quilters as they instruct and act as examples.

Members of the bee include: Barb Robson of Hubbards; Linda Mackie Finley, Halifax; Anne Cottenden, Bridgetown; Polly Green, Upper Cornwall; Anne Morrell Robinson, Winsor, New York; Barb Hill Taylor, Halifax; Jamie Pratt, Purcell's Cove; Meredith Annett, Halifax; Valerie Hearder, St. John's, Newfoundland.

Talking Threads surveys a group of women whose quilting transcends the local and traditional boundaries of the craft and who have attained national recognition in Canadian quilting.

Each artist presents a collage that looks at the individual's growth as an artist, recalling the point at which each realized expression through textiles would become a life's work. Each also presents a selection of recent quilts, including works prepared specifically for this exhibition. As well, the Talking Threads bee has worked together on a nine-patch quilt to demonstrate the design and construction of a pieced quilt.

Talking Threads runs August 17th through September 22 in the Mary E. Black Gallery, 1683 Barrington St., Halifax.

During the summer, the gallery is open Monday and Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Call 902-424-4062 for details. Admission is free, with donations welcome. The gallery is a program of the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design, which works to promote and develop craft- and design-related industries in Nova Scotia.