Phillida Hargreaves
Narrow Spaces
New works in Textile & Fibre
May 3 to June 8, 2014
This exhibition is about narrow spaces in the urban landscape. I am drawn to narrow spaces at the same time as I am anxious to move through them. It is this ambivalence that I explore through art.
My intent is to examine the emotional responses triggered by being in these spaces: spaces that hint at something hidden or mysterious; spaces that confine and enclose; spaces that frame and enhance. Such spaces can elicit anything from pleasure to anticipation, to excitement, to curiosity, to claustrophobia, to discomfort, or even to fear.
While many of the spaces I examine are physically narrow, there are others that evoke a feeling of narrowness, such as being among the soaring office towers of Toronto; and still further spaces where the frame is narrow and the object seen beyond is enhanced.
The pieces in the collection are loosely based on photographs I have taken in Canada, Europe and North Africa. My aim is to interpret the space according to my emotional response to it, and to invite viewers in so that they too may experience the various responses that narrowness evokes.
My medium is fibre, primarily cloth and yarn. The textural dimension that fibre offers adds to the emotional impact of the pieces. Much of the cloth has been altered through painting, dying, rusting and discharging, and the yarn through dying, felting and knitting.
http://www.phillidahargreaves.ca
Gallery Hours
Tuesday to Sunday – 11 to 5 pm
& Friday evenings 7 to 10 pm
(Anytime by appointment)