Visit to Centre Design et Impression Textile

I visited a show put on by the teachers at a local textile school yesterday. The school is located on the top floor of an old mattress factory on St.-Ambroise Street, and the rest of the building is filled with perhaps sixty artist studios and small design businesses. I love finding these places when we travel. A few of our Text'art members toured this facility a couple of years ago.

One piece struck me because of its very original mounting. (If I had had my camera with me, I would have taken a photo, though I'm not sure that was allowed.) A 3-foot-wide strip of fine plastic screening was wrapped several times around a lucite bar, which was screwed into the wall. The length of the screening then fell to the floor, where the lower end of the screen was wrapped around an identical plastic bar that rested on the floor. The screen cast a shadow on the wall, hanging about an inch off the wall surface. Two interesting pieces of surface-design cloth were pinned unobtrusively to the screen, but only at the top, allowing the fabric to hang freely against the screening. It was a very simple, effective way to display cloth that wasn't backed or stiffened in any way.

I did enjoy the show, which featured some painted/silkscreened fabric panels; a diary made of old teabags that were stamped with paint, stitched, and pinned to the wall to look something like a calendar; an antique mannequin draped with an old silk slip, both painted and positioned facing the wall; and a variety of shoe-like pieces made of material that looked like old leaves. I find that with increased exposure to this kind of non-traditional work in fabric, I become more open to it, better able to appreciate its qualities. There is an ambiguity to it, a story behind it that is only hinted at, leaving the viewer intrigued and engaged. Even my husband is able to appreciate it, bless his heart. I am lucky that he enjoys these little excursions as much as I do.