This quilt's subject is that I have "lived in North Western Ontario" for all my life. North Western Ontario is a very large area of land with beautiful rocks, trees, lakes and very few people. I made this quilt when I was 38 and studying print-making every other weekend through distance education from Lakehead University. We used the high school art room. The self portrait in the middle is ink etching on silk (sugar lift technique).
The white space represents the long winters of northern Ontario and the distance and thus isolation that I felt living far from urban centers. It takes two days to drive to Toronto from Kenora, Winnipeg is much closer (2 hours away) Embroidered in the snowy spaces are the names I had lived up until then. Fort Frances. Kenora. Rainy River. Thunder Bay. We didn't move to Manitoulin island until 1993.
The black and white fabric in the border was chosen because to me it looked like a nest. I felt safe in Northern Ontario, but also trapped. The blue sky is quilted with Emily Carr lines. The brilliantly coloured floral border refers to the beauty of nature.
80 inches square
1989
number 9
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