The Fabric of Time
March 2024
Beyond the concept of hours, days or years, beyond the arbitrary assignment of numbers to something that we know so intimately and yet not at all. What is time?
Time simply is?
It wants nothing from us, nor does it take any requests. We merely exist within its gentle embrace as it slow dances beyond the boundaries and measure of our human experience. Thinking about the infinite passing of time, I’ve been drawn to explore my own relationship with the amaranthine dance of nostalgia through this collection.
For me, the concept of time is intimately connected to the concept of home: this is where time stands and holds me close. Having returned to my beautiful PEI after many years away, I feel a sense of belonging and of grounding that I didn’t realize I was missing. I missed the warmth of the colour of the sandy beaches, and the red dirt roads. I missed the textures of the patches of fabric that I used to practice sewing with when I was a child; their softness, their patterns, their imperfections. I missed the intricacies of the stitching and knitting that my wonderful paternal grandmother, Mémé Madeleine would teach me.
Mémé Madeleine was the embodiment of all that was good in the world. She was kind, generous and loved like that was the only thing she was born to do. With her, I felt safe. She’d give my cheek a little squeeze and the feeling of being loved, truly loved, was imprinted upon me forever. She made the most beautiful quilts. I’d marvel at how she was able to stitch together differently textured fabrics and make them into something incredible. While working on this collection, my Mémé was with me. I felt her expert hands guide my own and I was beautifully overwhelmed with a feeling of love, acceptance and belonging that I simply cannot put into words. This collection is an open letter, a love letter, to her and to the memories that we shared that I cannot let fade into the landscape of my mind.
That nostalgia dances within me as lavish and inviting gradients of earth tones. These grounding shades and textures invite you to pause and reflect on how and with whom time stands still for you.
Time simply is.
We fill it up as best as we can with moments, woven together seamlessly by love and tragedy. Nostalgia is a ribbon woven by time, connecting us to our past, to something greater, as this past recedes further and further into the landscape of who we are.
10% of all proceeds from this collection will go to the Island Nature Trust’s stewardship fund called “Mend A Patch”. May these artworks serve as reminders of the precious grounds we walk upon, the beauty that surrounds us all, and the responsibility we all have to care for it, for generations to come, and to honor those who came before us.
