Janet Morton


Tweed Plant, 2002 (tweed, thread, household utensil)
Tweed Eggbeaters, 2002 (tweed, thread, household utensil)
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Čipka Tree, 2007 (pieces of cotton lace)
(outside the Gallery)

Thread is one of the basic materials used by Janet Morton in her artistic creations. As a textile artist, she uses soft materials, such as textiles, wool, thread and the like. Her artworks
frequently arise from common household substances and objects (Tweed Plant, Tweed Eggbeaters), which refer to comfort, homeliness and tradition. In her playful and critical artistic statements, Morton dedicates special attention to the contemporary perception of tradition, materialising it as useful and decorative objects from our homes transformed and placed into new contexts. Her installation entitled Čipka Tree, is made in the style of Christo and placed in
a public space to entice the widest public into questioning the role of traditional objects. Čipka Tree and its romantic appearance are associated with the warm homes of our grandmothers, among other things, and thus raise issues about the meaning and value of handicraft, which has been waning in the contemporary technological world. The fact is that lace is no longer trendy in a fashionably decorated apartment; however, it remains a part of our individual cultural identity as the work of our foremothers, which was frequently executed in traditional national patterns. The lace patterns that allude to flowers and joy also pay tribute to handicraft. And, with the Slovene-English syntagma Čipka Tree, the artist paid her personal homage to the citizens of Slovenj Gradec who came to her while she was installing her work and spoke about the role of handicraft in the contemporary world, or delightfully narrated their own experiences with lace doilies.

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Born in 1963 in Toronto, Ontario. She graduated in visual art from York University and began exhibiting in 1988. She has been exhibiting nationally and internationally since 1992. She received numerous awards for her work using familiar and tactile textiles sculpturally, including the "Best Exhibition Award" from the Ontario Association of Art Galleries, for COZY, a knit house covering on Ward’s Island, and the 2004 Untitled Art Awards “Best Multi-Dimensional Exhibition”.

Solo exhibitions (selection):

2008 Toque, Atrium of Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge
2006 Thrive By, Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond
2005 RECAP, Canada Quay, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto
2004 Femmebomb, School of Human Ecology Building, UW-Madison
2000 wool work, Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto

Group exhibitions (selection):

2007 Embracing Winter, The Warehouse Gallery, Syracuse, New York
Wilderness Acts, Eye Level Gallery, Halifax
Strikknikk, West Norway Museum of Art and Craft, Bergen; Oslo; Arendal
2005 Knit 2 together, Craft Council Gallery, London; ter drugod v Angliji in Walesu/ and elsewhere in England & Wales
2004 Art in the Garden, Michigan Ave., Chicago outdoor installation, Chicago
zooarts Festival, Metro Toronto Zoo, Toronto

http://ccca.ca/artists/artist_info.html?languagePref=en&link_id=5793&artist=Janet+Morton