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Johnnene Themean Maddison
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This month I am pleased to introduce you to Johnnene Maddison from
London, Ontario. Johnnene is a gifted artist who has used her work
to explore women's issues. Her current exhibition, "Over Here;
women, work and WWII," examines the contributions of women
to the war effort by joining the workforce and the subsequent loss
of employment after the war. Johnnene used oral history as a
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of gathering information from women who agreed to share their experiences.
The exhibition in Ontario through 2007. There is an excellent review
of the exhibition by Madeline Lennon in the Winter 2006 issue of
the Surfacing Journal (vol. 27). In addition to her work in textiles
Johnnene has had a successful career as a watercolourist. Her love
of colour is apparent in her lovely and thoughtful work. I hope
you will enjoy seeing these examples of her textile work.
-
M a r y H o l d g r a f e r.
Johnnene Themean Maddison- Artist statement:
At times, the making of art can be an enormous amount of work and
frustration but thankfully, it is also an enormous amount of fun.
What makes it fun for me is my love of colour and my interest in
light and shade. Painting interior scenes is an excuse to paint
colours and shadows and sunlight. In the past few years I have been
working (or playing) diligently to transfer this love to works in
fabric. At first glance, fabric seems to be a completely different
medium from paint. However, they are both capable of containing
brilliant colours, soft hues, and deep rich values. Fabrics have
the added bonus of texture.
The difference for me is that while watercolours are clear and transparent,
fabric is opaque and dense. The challenge is to make the fabric
pieces glow from deep within as the watercolours glow from their
surface. To achieve this, I prefer to dye my own fabrics using Procion
MX dyes. I let the dyes cure for over a week to get the deepest,
richest colour possible.
I am interested in women's issues. In the past I have completed
bodies of work based on wearing burkas, the media's portrayal of
women and women who worked during WWII. My exhibition "Over
Here; women, work and WWII" is currently traveling Ontario.
The Icon format allows me to bring together fabrics and paint and
communicate ideas about the relationship between people and textiles.
This is a format by which I can combine my love of painting and
collage with my strong interest in fabric. Textiles are associated
with intimate aspects of our living and our innate sense of who
we are. They contain humanity. For this reason I use mostly used
fabrics that have "lived" with people for many years.
- J O H N N E
N E T H E M E A N M A D D I S O N 2 0 0 6
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Gladys
Dowker - 63" x 47"
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image to enlarge
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Fragmented
Lives- 20" x 28"
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Doreen
Stead Thomas - 64" x 47"
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Johnnene's
Exhibitions:
Over Here; women, work and WWII
Mississauga Art Gallery,
Mississauga, Ontario
on until March 24th 2006
Station Art Gallery
Whitby , Ontario
November 2006
Contact Johnnene Maddison:
email - johnnenemaddison@yahoo.ca
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