Art On Stage September 2018

The grouping of words above is the foundation for my latest art on stage, PROTECT, created especially for Sandbanks Music Festival 2018. PROTECT is left open to interpretation, so that you, the reader, can connect with the piece in your own way.

Method and Details

Faces: This is my first attempt at creating human faces in a stage-art installation. Graphic and modern elements are characterized in the elongated, bare-featured profiles that emphasize their two-dimensional flatness.   

Some of the faces in PROTECT are that of dealmakers, speaking over endangered mammals with a tanker spill in the background. The toxic mix depicted is one of bitumen sand and diluent. Under the word “Progress,” where the quotes signify irony, I attempt to capture in colourful textile the prism rainbow-like effect oil has on water.

The faces to the right are that of protestors, defending the natural environment as chinook salmon swim by.

Southern Resident Killer Whales: On the right is an ethereal hot air balloon with the word Protect stitched in. Cradled below by repurposed marine ropes is a scene of grief and mourning. This section of the installation is my reinterpretation of a recent, moving watercolour painting, SEE ME, by Washington State artist, Lori Christopher. The piece sent my imagination in search of my own idea of the loss and letting go felt by J35, nicknamed Tahlequah, who is the 20-year-old orca mother and member of the long-studied J Pod of Southern Resident Killer Whales.

Below: detail images (left to right) left side of of stage depicts a wave and a killer whale, a child’s hot air balloon, detail of bow on hot air balloon, right side of stage depicts J35’s show of grief surrounded by her pod

Art On Stage June 2018

Method and Details

Returning to Skeleton Park Arts Festival 2018 for the second year in a row, a large human skull will feature prominently in this year's up coming stage-art installation, titled In The Cord of Love. The skull has the ability to pique interest and fascinate even as it repels. It will serve to welcome visitors entering McBurney Park, a.k.a. Skeleton Park, during the festival as a universal expression of both mortality and humanity. This exclusively created anatomical focal point is a symbolic nod to a sense of connection and celebration of place as expressed by this close-knit community. Another especially important theme for its local residents is the protection of natural habitat and animals, as seen in this article. As such, In The Cord of Love will feature this front-facing form, measuring 6 feet by 8 feet, covered by some of nature’s exquisite animals and natural habitats, created of my up cycled art. 

Retaining their own identity, these cloth characters of past installations are combined for the first time to create a new, self-sufficient composition through the visual language of collage. Sockeye salmon, ocean reef fish, sea turtles, bees and their natural place of dwelling intertwine in chaotic exuberance, against the domineering influence of the skull. These creatures and their ilk are under pressure and threat of disappearing out of existence, as a consequence of unchecked human actions upon the natural world. 

In a few strategic locations, I hand sew the weightier pieces, securing them down, while safety pins affix the rest into place. The nonpermanence of the pins, reflect the fragile environmental laws that leave natural habitats and biodiversity, upon which life depends, vulnerable despite their existence.

With its strong sense of implied movement, the dancing thread swirls across the back curtain wall and signifies the undeniable connection that is shared by living things. It does what thread does best - that is, it keeps the fabric of life as we know it together. My intention with this up cycled textile piece is to try and reinterpret the topic of community and the human effect upon the environment in a way that makes sense - and to tell this visual story through the power and joy of collage art, in all its undeniable energy, rhythm and unpredictable nature. 

 Below detail images (left to right): textile skull adorned with individual species and natural environments that are under threat, recyclable plastic water bottles used as eyes on skull, Dave Bidini of legendary band, Rheostatics, rock the stage

Art On Stage April 2018

MEADOW LIFE is the title of the installation I created for our 2018 County Pop stage, at the historical Crystal Palace in Picton, Ontario. This year’s creation is my largest up cycled textile installation and had individually handcrafted wildlife in their natural habitat. It was created with the intention to express a local touch point of beauty reinterpreted in unlikely and unforeseen places.

This cross-sectional, semi-abstract stage art arrangement is a snapshot of a meadow from above and below the ground. Materials are carefully chosen by colour and pattern to represent the hand-cut and detailed elements, such as grassland creatures, wildflowers, native grasses, fibrous roots systems, organic matter and various layers of earth. The piece will symbolically represent the vital significance and diversity of a landscape that may be a seemingly simple one, at first glance.

Method and Details

Stitched throughout the textile meadow will be blooming Black-eyed Susan, Cardinal flowers and Wild Bergamot hovering above the permeable ground, which nest grassland birds and other creatures. This penetrating plant-mass community, becomes the extensive root systems in my method, as unravelled, frayed and knotted County-sourced marine rope remnants are stitched on to the larger work, in order to echo this complexity in nature, into textile.

Seventy-three hand-cut, geometrical and padded forms in earth- tone textiles will provide the visual weightiness and heavy textural contrast to the lower half of this 25 foot wide piece. The 3D multi segments are meant to cast shadows and absorb the ambient lighting - in a way that layers of soil, organic material and aggregate do the same. I added muddy blue hues to reflect a shallow ground water flow and a recharging aquifer, located deeper still. 

Art On Stage September 2017

Scientists near coral reefs habitats off Western Australia recorded new audio of fish choruses, around dusk and dawn, like birds on land! These natural soundscapes were useful not just for fish, but also for other reef dwellers like coral and were part of a larger quest to understand reef ecosystems, by listening to their inhabitants. Altering ocean chemistry (ocean acidification) and warming water temperatures, brought on by climate change, are leading to coral bleaching; putting stress on coral reefs and its ecosystem. 

Method and Details

Seemingly from underwater in the ocean, this sweeping 4-piece up-cycled textile original stage-art installation - GOOD REEF! HELPING THE DUSK AND DAWN CHORUS - is created entirely from sewing rescued textiles discarded by the design industry, as well as marine rope remnants.

Below: left and centre detail photos of sea turtle, coral reef, reef fish and SMF logo courtesy of Ramesh Pooran. Photo on right by Suendrini Goonesekera

Art On Stage June 2017

LONG VIEW WONDER was inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and bees with their honeycomb hives. These two natural and scientific marvels in their familiar structural forms popped in harmony, while contrasting colour, texture and symbolic patterns played with the twinkling County Pop banner.The JWST’s eighteen, golden mirror segments and the thriving beehive, rendered in up cycled textiles attempted to lead one's imagination to a deeper engagement with both nature and science. The concept reflects upon the scope and depth of the informed scientific consensus based upon truths that will echo for generations.

Art On Stage May 2017

Art On Stage September 2016

Method and Details

Sandbanks Music Festival 2016’s art on stage was inspired by Japanese artist of the Edo period, Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic pieces on Water. Suendrini created a five-piece customized art installation, titled, BLUE that brought awareness to the powerful subject matter.

The projections in the The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Environmental Outlook to 2050 suggest that freshwater availability will be strained unless new policies, awareness building and actions are taken to improve the current outlook.

Below detail: Photo of up cycled textile waves on stage

Art On Stage April 2016

Art on Stage September 2015