The work travels. I pack it up, seal the box and do a little safety dance when I drop it off at the shipping center. It seems odd to part with them for any length of time. But I like the idea that more people will see them. They have a life of their own.

I have six pieces in the World of Threads Festival, a contemporary fibre and textile art exhibit that opens this month in Canada. The festival features 303 artworks by 65 artists from Canada, Denmark, England, Hungary, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Russia and the USA. I was chosen as one of the artists with a solo show in the corridor galleries. I won’t be able to attend the opening but I will see the show in November.

Everything I know about this show makes it a must see event. There are major installations, intimate threadwork pieces, cutting edge quilts and other eye-opening fiber works. If you are anywhere near Oakville (a short drive from Toronto) please plan on attending. Click here to learn more about it.

Or choose this link to download a complete brochure.

Opening day: Sat. Oct. 20, 2018 1:00 – 3:30 pm.

World of Threads Festival

Queen Elizabeth Park Community
& Cultural Centre
2302 Bridge Road Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

Dates: Sat. Oct. 13 - Sun. Nov. 25, 2018
Hours: Mon. – Sat. 10:00 am – 6:00 pm. Sun. 12:00 – 5:00 pm
Admission: FREE

For an up close and personal look at the pieces shown here go to Oakville. Maybe I’ll see you there in November.

Disruptors, 71" x 45"

Disruptors, side 2

Focus on Something Else, 32” x 32”, Paula Kovarik

I emptied my thread ends box today. It held the threads that didn't get used on a piece this year. These threads were active players without a field to play in. They came into existence at the end of thoughts rather than the beginnings. They got snipped off and thrown to the side after trying hard to be part of the team. There are a lot of them.

I've grown used to not being satisfied with each and every work that I create. Like these thread ends some work just doesn't work. The process of creating has become more important to me than the finishing up. For each work that gets finished I estimate that there are two or three pieces that get thrown under the table. Thus, I have fallen in love with my rotary cutter, it facilitates my cut-up-and-rework frame of mind. I am beginning to see a signature style in all of the work. I am drawn to black. I like surprises and there is an undertow of anxiety in all of them.

Cut-up-and-rework pieces

I named the work I finished: Aquifer, Beast, Chaos Ensues, Focus on Something Else, Glyphs, I Need a Third Eye, Ladder to Elsewhere, Looking for the Pattern that Connects, Signals, Thugs, Unglued, and Unmapped.

Some finished pieces

Aquifir

Beast

Chaos Ensues

Focus On Something Else

Glyphs

I Need a Third Eye

Ladder to Elsewhere

Looking for the Pattern that Connects

Signals

Thugs

Unglued

Unmapped

And now I am working on a piece called Ship of Fools.

Ship of Fools work in progress — *Ship of Fools* work in progress

2018 will be filled with new challenges: a one man show at a local art museum, a proposal to a local venue for a juried show in Memphis, several teaching positions and days and days of continuing my work. It's those last items that I look forward to the most. They provide a silence and thoughtfulness that fills me up.

Happy New Year everyone. Hope to meet some of you this year in workshops. Check out the listings at the right for dates and locations.

May your studio be filled with inspiration and your days full of mystery and wonder.