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September 20 to October 22, 2005

Beverley Reid:
Heart of Stone - Heart of Garden

  Beverley Reid
The Offering, 1999
cotton fabric, acrylic, batik, hand appliquéd, hand quilted
114 x 183 cm		  
     

This exhibition is a selection of fabric, thread and mixed media works completed during the past thirteen years. For over fifty years, Beverley Reid has worked in many mediums such as drawing, painting, sculpture, clay, printmaking, fiberglass and with fabric. When gardening or building stone walls, a very similar creative process is evident, as it is with art materials. Working with a brush and paint on canvas evolved into working with cotton fabrics, still painting with a brush but using chlorine instead of paint to remove or alter colour.

The hangings are hand appliquéd and hand quilted with some machine piecing. The colours of the fabrics are further changed by brushing on dyes. Other subtleties are added with the use of various threads. The more recent fabric collages on paper involve many of the same processes other than quilting.

Some of the works have been inspired by the paintings of Tom Thompson, Egon Schiele, and Gustav Klimt. This has given the work more dimension and subtlety of colour.

Rocks are very apparent in the large hangings and have become the focus of many of the recent works. Beverley became fascinated with the shapes and textures of rock. The inner core of rocks is a very abstract and colourful world of its own. She comments: “the rocks are like portraits. They’re based on images of thin slices of rock magnified many times. It is an exploration of a timeless world of primordial history - one that informs us about ourselves and our world, and serves as a powerful reminder of our connection to the earth and the universe. The Mars Rovers have recently reinforced those notions of our ancient and universal roots. As I work with rock, in whatever form, I sense that presence”.

Reid’s work and the resulting exhibition are a journey into a land of fabric, thread and paint. The inspirations are the garden with its flowers, grasses, earth and rocks, and occasionally with the other creatures found there. Fabrics themselves are often an inspiration as well. The skull fabric was designed by the Winnipeg based artist Don Reichert and some batik fabrics are by the Grand Forks artist Elaine Walker Fogg.

“The work represents events in the garden, and are a journey through life, death, decay, rebirth, and especially of beauty and new beginnings - of constant change, much like the seasons”

Beverley Reid along with her husband Richard Reid were instrumental in the establishment of the Grand Forks Art Gallery in 1984. During her tenure at the gallery she was responsible for curating some of the gallery’s most memorable and elaborate exhibitions.

Plans are currently underway to tour this exhibition to Grand Forks’ sister city of Spremberg in Eastern Germany in 2006 as part of an ongoing cultural exchange started by the Grand Forks Art Gallery in 2004. A special thanks is due to Roger Boulet for his curatorial essay, and to Richard Reid for designing and printing the accompanying exhibition catalogue.  

Beverley Reid continues to tend her garden and create art in her studio at Christina Lake. Visit Beverley's web site.

 

   
Beverley Reid
Strata II
cotton fabric and mixed media
55.7 x 71 cm		  

    the installation
     

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