Crosscurrents: Canada in the MakingVanessa Dion Fletcher, Brenda Lee, Meghann O’Brien, Amanda Rataj and Ovilu Tunnillie
OPENING RECEPTION – ALL ARE WELCOME!
Wednesday June 27, 6–7:30 pm
This land has long been the meeting place of many cultures. Textiles and their stories move with people and reveal the ways in which cultural traditions adapt and evolve as diverse communities come in contact with new environments. Powerful symbols of identity and place, textiles hold strong spiritual and material connections to the land and people around the world.
Crosscurrents explores ongoing cultural exchanges and interactions between Indigenous people, settler Canadians and newcomers over the last two centuries, and examines shifting identities, intersections and contestations that inform textile expressions alongside the stories of those who make Canada their home. Through collaborations and confrontations, memories, dreams and traditions converge to reveal a dynamic and multi-layered textile landscape: hooked rugs, blankets, quilts, beadwork, basketry and other iconic objects illustrate broad cultural crosscurrents and values that continue to inspire new generations of textile practitioners. The exhibition draws from the TMC’s rich Canadian collection of historic artifacts, and features the work of contemporary artists as well as loans from private and public collections.
At its core, Crosscurrents considers how textiles old and new stimulate the sharing of new knowledge and insights. Many object stories are held by the communities in which they were made. To reveal them, we have reached out to makers, family members, historians and artists to share their perspectives and knowledge, and summoned their collective voices – foregrounded through gallery commentary, social experiences, workshops, talks and performances, connecting diverse perceptions, passions and understandings from the past and the present into the future.
Featuring artwork by:
Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Brenda Lee, Meghann O’Brien, Amanda Rataj, and Ovilu Tunnillie
Lead exhibition curator: Roxane Shaughnessy
Presenting Sponsor:
Lead Support: William R. and Shirley Beatty Charitable Foundation
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