Note: As of April 8, 2021, the Craft Ontario Gallery is temporarily closed due to stay-at-home orders.
SECURITY BLANKET:
March 9 – April 24, 2021
The first object to touch a newborn baby, the blanket offers warmth and reassurance, but the blanket continues to be an object associated with well-being and security long after early childhood. Security is defined as a state of being safe and free from worry, but is there more to its meaning than initially suggested by this dictionary definition? SECURITY BLANKET explores two notions of security. First, the security of the home—represented by antique, handmade domestic textiles such as doilies and lace. And second, the security of the state—represented by eight government-issue military blankets from Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, Switzerland and the United States. These repurposed objects constitute a blank canvas onto which another layer of meaning can be added to their already nuanced histories. The intricate patterning created by the use of traditional embroidery stitches integrates these two divergent representations of security on both a physical and conceptual level, producing works of visually interesting contrast that provoke the viewer to consider their own relationship to home, comfort, safety and security.
Read an interview with artist Jennifer Smith-Windsor about her work, and view a photo gallery of the exhibition.
