June 18 – October 2, 2022
“Poet Martha Lavinia Hoffman describes flowers as “bright little day stars scattered all over the earth.” Artist Amanda McCavour lifts those stars up into the air in this exhibition, creating hovering constellations of colorful flora. The Toronto-based artist creates astonishing embroideries by stitching into water-soluble fabric she then dissolves to leave only the stitching. This exhibition includes a brand new body of floral work in colored metal, also hanging from the CMA gallery ceilings to create an immersive environment.”
Three large scale installations are up in this show; Pink Field, Blue Fog, Sample Wall and Bloom.
My newest piece titled Bloom was created specifically for this exhibition. In this new wire work, circular wire shapes based on mathematical roulette curves found in the popular Spirograph toys were translated into sculptural lines. I am attracted to the gestural, playful quality of working with wire along with the shadows it casts and its feeling of lightness. These patterns combine my interest in drawing toys with radial patterns found in textile structures of crochet rings and tatting. This interest in mathematical patterning embedded into textile structures results in this hanging, mobile work.
This piece is a dense collection of sculpted wire lines suspended in the gallery ceiling and arranged to look like floating cloud of colour that creates an environment of moving light and shadow. Bright blues, pinks, and purples colour the space, creating a vivid atmosphere filled with saturated lines suggesting a galaxy, a bouquet of flowers, and a floating colourful cloud. The work was built with oppositions in mind, contrasting detail and transparency with large solid spaces, lightness with the weight of the architecture, and the organic with the built environment.
I would like to acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Bright Little Day Stars runs from June 18- October 2, 22 at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina.
You can find more information and images about the exhibition here.
