Textile Art? Fibre Art? Material? Fabric?

(June 2022 update)

Pretty much forever, the world was told: “Women can’t paint.” Or “Shouldn’t”. Or some other excuse to keep them on the model’s side of the room.

Of course, with lots of hard work and pushing back by female artists and feminists, barriers fell, and women are fully accepted as artists and even leaders in all media.

Or are they?

Even now, I believe, some media are seen as secondary, lesser, not quite art.

As “women’s art”.

Take fiber arts, fabric arts, textiles, for example.

It’s a rare thing for a gallery or museum to dedicate a showing to a fiber artist, and I have long thought that that is due to textile making being seen as a female means of expression, decorative, suited only for utility in the home. “The artificial divide between fine art and textiles is a gendered issue” according to Amber Butchart, writing for Frieze.com (14 Nov 2018)

I’m not saying that textile work such as weaving, dying and quilting, isn’t currently predominantly done by women. I’m saying that it doesn’t matter: these forms are (or can be) art, just as much as paint on canvas is (or can be) art.

As fiber artist Georgianne Holland says in their blog post: “…I can stand with some of my favorite artists who broke free of traditional and perhaps limiting art world boxes and now represent innovation in the fiber and textile arts…” (Wednesday, June 25, 2014)

As Co-Directors of the Newmarket Juried Art Show, we celebrate the reclamation of the textile arts by women who put their work out in the world as art. From our beginnings in 2019, we have backed that celebration by offering a Medium Award for Textile Arts.

Hope to hear from you soon – August 15, 2022 Deadline approaches!

Dave and Peggy

Meet Our 2021 Artists!

And we have a show. Online, but that’s OK – we were pretty successful in 2020, as you can see by clicking here.

Here are the artists who will be in this year’s show, in no particular order. Congratulations all!

Calm Ghosts
Charlotte Sprague
Anita Van Zeumeren
Nancy Jones
Debra Wronzberg
Marlene Bulas
Josee Savaria
Sherry Lynn
Laura Moreland
Walter Bauer
Donna Wise
Leslie Knight
Heather Berios
Theodore Scott
Helen Simpson
Sandra Murphy
Kathleen Pistor
Elena Gaevskaya
MaryLou Hurley
shoshana lock
Sheila Romard
Xiao Wen Xu
Helen Agalawatte
Leslie Bertin
Paul Williams
Pat Dumas-Hudecki
Alexandra K Conrad
Kate Greenway
Eva Folks
Heike Blohm
Ulla Djelweh
Gina McCloskey
Judy Sherman
Rani Satpute
Sibernie James-Bosch
Julia Russell
Jessie Pearson
Thomas Cornell
Linda Chen
Jennifer McLeod
Heather Smiley
Teresa Dunlop
Marion Plaunt
Donna Greenstein
Caterina Stambolic
Natalia Shields
Laura Higgins
Karen L Bowen

We will stick with our original schedule of starting Sept 18, partly because we need a break and hope to get away for a bit. We will record an online Reception (BYOB) where we will announce the award winners. Once again we will be giving $950 in awards, all of which was donated by Newmarket’s art-loving citizens and businesses. As well, we hope to host a gallery in cyberspace in 3D on ArtGateVR.

NJAS2021 Art Is In!

Many thanks to the 70 artists who sent us work this year!

We are excited, honoured, humbled to see the number of artists who entered this year, and to see the quality of the work they sent.

It’ll be a long night getting it all ready for the jury panel. We meet via Zoom next week to decide what work is in the show, and set the awards. Stay tuned!

Textile Art?

Pretty much forever, the world was told: “Women can’t paint.” Or “Shouldn’t”. Or some other excuse to keep them on the model’s side of the room.

Of course, with lots of hard work and pushing back by female artists and feminists, barriers fell, and women are fully accepted as artists and even leaders in all media.

Or are they?

Even now, I believe, some media are seen as secondary, lesser, not quite art.

As “women’s art”.

Take textiles, for example.

It’s a rare thing for a gallery or museum to dedicate a showing to a textile artist, and I have long thought that that is due to textile making being seen as a female means of expression, decorative, suited only for utility in the home. “The artificial divide between fine art and textiles is a gendered issue” according to Amber Butchart, writing for Frieze.com (14 Nov 2018)

I’m not saying that textile work such as weaving, dying and quilting, isn’t currently predominantly done by women. I’m saying that it doesn’t matter: these forms are (or can be) art, just as much as paint on canvas is (or can be) art.

As Co-Directors of the Newmarket Juried Art Show, we celebrate the reclamation of the textile arts by women who put their work out in the world as art. From our beginnings in 2019, we have backed that celebration by offering a Medium Award for Textile Arts.

We have not yet had any Textile entries, so I guess it’s time to really put the word out there…

June 2022 Update: We had a number of excellent entries in Textile Arts in 2021 (and already in 2022, even though submissions have barely begun). Check them out under the Past Shows menu.

Hope to hear from you soon – Deadline approaches!

Dave and Peggy

Award Winners 2019

We gave out $950 in awards at the Reception. Here are the award winners:

AwardArtistTitleSponsor
Jurors’
Choice
Bob TunnochIn session,
Carnivorous Plant
Choir
Co-Directors
Best
Painting
Anita Niemeyer-ArchibaldOblivionJackie Playter
Best
Photograph
Natalia ShieldsJuxtaposedChris Williams/Fuse Chamber
Best
Sculpture
Fariba Kalantari(group of 3 pieces)Steve Whitfield/R A Woods Property Management
Best Mixed
Media
Dave SchembriTectonic ShiftJackie Playter
Best Pottery
or Ceramic
Teresa DunlopReachingLinda Kempton
Art GateBob TunnochBrendon McNaughton/Art Gate
Honourable
Mention
Kaitlyn SprouleAnchorsRobins IDA
Honourable
Mention
Sibernie James-BoschWe’re Listening . . .Bike Sports
Honourable
Mention
Elayne WindsorLandscape with BubblesStirred Interiors
Honourable
Mention
Cathy HarrisLusciousRobins IDA
The gallery was not found!

Exciting New Award

We have a new award, and this is a huge – world first huge – announcement, and we are So Excited: Art Gate VR is a virtual reality platform (using 3D goggles & handset, like for VR gaming) for galleries, collectors, and artists to exhibit art. Art Gate will award a six month solo exhibition in virtual reality to one of the finalists in the Newmarket Juried Art Show. This will be a free four-artwork exhibition for 6 months. A larger exhibition can be discussed with the winner if desired.

Jurist Brendon shows Co-Director Peggy his 3D art app.
Jurist Brendon shows Co-Director Peggy his 3D Art Gate app.
Newmarket Juried Art Show