Lee McLean, a twenty-plus year member of our Fredericton Quilters' Guild has been selected to receive Canada Council for the Arts funding. Her grant application to the Research and Creation component of the Explore and Create Program was decided by a peer assessment committee composed of a diverse range of artists and arts professionals.
Lee's project is to explore dye and thread painting on fabric and to create textile art pieces about the mother/child relationship. She says, 'I will create a series of works inspired by what Jann Arden wrote about her mother: "Like the words written on..torn-up bits of rags she tied in the trees for the birds...her words are tied around my bones." Does a mother know which retort leaves a lasting mark? My mother's words have been "tied around my bones" for a lifetime, a voice in my head still, even after she is gone. This project will respond to this.'
To increase the personal meaning, Lee will hand dye and make marks on fabric for this project, techniques new to her artistic practice. To accomplish this, she has already completed an independent study focused on dyeing techniques and painting and printing with thickened fibre reactive dyes. Experimenting with the overlap and change of colour as dyes flow on the wet surface, she seeks to create fabric pieces that inspire work. We have seen some of these in our Zoom show and tell sessions.
Lee recently graduated from the Advanced Studio Practice Program at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design and is a juried member of Craft NB. Her work has also been supported by the New Brunswick Arts Board. She pursues her art practice as an active member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), an international organization devoted to promotion of the art quilt. She has work currently travelling in the Grand National Fibre Art Exhibit and in SAQA Atlantic regional exhibit that will be shown at Quilt Canada 2023 in Halifax.
