There’s more to nature than meets the eye. All you have to do is take a closer look.
From Sept. 13 to 30, Kingston Frameworks will display A Closer Look, an exhibit by fibre artists Phillida Hargreaves and Denise Sokolsky. The pieces displayed depicted the smaller parts of the natural world.
After meeting at Kingston Fibre Artists, the two decided to combine their talents and mutual interest in lichen, flora, and fungi. Hargreaves felt drawn to Sokolsky’s work because of how it contrasts with her own.
“I love that she’s always wanting to have an element of transparency in her work,” Hargreaves said in an interview with The Journal.
Despite differences in medium, their artistic interests aligned. Solosky had done a series on lichen, a hybrid combination of fungus and algae, which is not too far off from Hargreaves’ interest in moss and fungi.
While Solosky works with thin thread to compose her pieces, Hargreaves prefers thick fibres like wool. The fibre materials allow for a variety of textures, which Hargreaves was most thrilled about.
“I can get texture with fibre,” Hargreaves said. “I found that very exciting in terms of how the fibre and the different fabrics absorb or refract light. And the extra textures you can get with thread and yarn.”
Although the different textures create an interesting contrast, Hargreaves noted that they were unsure of how the pieces would look together until they were hung up in the gallery. Despite their worries, their respective pieces complement each other well.
The gallery’s blue walls made the exhibit’s neutral colours stand out. The art depicted what is often overlooked in nature, like moss and mushrooms.
Hargreaves was drawn to depicting nature of this kind because she has always been interested in the persistence of these organisms. She found fungi’s ability to break through asphalt and withstand earthly conditions to be “awe-inspiring.”
“It may not be hope for the human race, but it’s certainly hope for the earth, in terms of life continuing,” Hargraves said.
In an examination of lichen, fungi, and moss, Hargreaves’ fibre study influenced her watercolours.
Hargreaves has worked with fibre for 40 years, but her artistic process involves working though her fibre concepts through paint first, making her paintings practical as well as artistic.
“I’m with a group of artists who are 90 per cent landscape artists,” Hargreaves said. “But I’m not doing landscapes, I’m still doing the close ups.”
After a closer look at organisms, Hargreaves has noticed differences in the way she sees the natural world.
“I am enjoying the unseen processes of breakdown and change and continuity, and what happens if you leave a piece of land alone,” she said.
Although Hargreaves knows people walk through life without examining things fully, she hopes her pieces encourage them to look closer at how we neglect what nature offers humanity.
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