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| Photograph by Pixel Heller |
By: Linsey Cull (she/her)
The Propeller Art Gallery, though it sits on quiet
Abell street, is positively buzzing and humming with activity this afternoon.
Visitors gather before the large window to catch their first glimpses of the
many varied artworks housed within, all created from the same hand-made
material, Japanese Heritage Washi paper.
Next to the window, the gallery door stands open,
warmly inviting guests to enter. There is even more excitement inside. Patrons
animatedly greet one another, exchanging hugs and warm handshakes, renewing
their acquaintanceships after sheltering apart for so long. Old friends catch
up and new friends are made, as guests remark on the work, the success of the artists,
and the elegant exhibition Washi Sisters: A journey, that has been
long-anticipated and realized at last.
Although the ubiquitous “white cube” of the
contemporary gallery space always runs the risk of reading as cold and in
extreme cases, as sterile, this is certainly not the case at Propeller Art Gallery
right now. The walls are richly adorned with a diverse array of warm and
tactile, rhythmic, and organic artworks that seem to breathe, almost as if they
are alive.
Suspended in air, Sharon Dembo’s paper dress forms
appear ready to swoop and twirl by the moment. Dembo makes poetic use of Heritage
Washi’s textile qualities. In Washi and
Wasp Paper, she has fashioned a robe of luminous white unryu kozo,
appliqued with delicate, tissue-thin leaves of wasp paper. In Shades of Grey, she has shaped a garment
of gauzy konnyaku in ombré with washes of charcoal grey and dreamy
indigo.
More watery hues appear in Noriko Yamamoto’s Wavelets II. Yamamoto has spun konnyaku
into sinewy fibres, tinted vibrant ultramarine and cool aqua. The jewel-tones
sparkle and shine like the shimmering skin and flashing scales of fish snared
in a net. Complete with lead sinker, the piece possesses all the robust energy
of these captured fish, thrashing and wriggling to get free.
Bonnie Bresver’s work holds a quieter, more reflective
tone. Cascading Memories is a
collection of six thinly skinned paper shells in neutral tones of ivory, cream,
beige, taupe, faded grey, and rich chocolate brown. Each vessel dangles from a
climbing vine of glittering mokuba ribbon. The swelling, organic forms
are like permutations of the now-empty wasp nest collected by Bresver, which is
also included among the assembled elements of Nature Walk II.
Sharron Corrigan Forrest takes up and elaborates on
the content of Nature Walk II with
her own Forest Detritus. Corrigan
Forrest weaves sekishu banshi, oguni, and kozo washi into
a three-dimensional tapestry representing the crumpled foliage that carpets
forest floors. She colours her leaf litter in warm earth tones with hints of
cool blues and violets. Corrigan Forrest sees the landscape through a macro
lens, generating lush compositions brimming with detail and subtlety.
Susan Ruptash captures with paper the undulating
textures and rhythmic interplay of light and shadow created by the moving
forest. At first glance, 2292 is like
a collection of dozens of sand dollars, reflecting light as they spin and twist
together, suspended from the finest of threads. A closer look reveals the soft,
downy texture of the paper, like the snow-white fur of a rabbit’s tail. The
movement of the delicate mobile recalls the darting of a furtive rabbit,
seeking cover in the underbrush.
Finally, the work of Dominique Prevost is a grounding
force for the exhibition, tethering to earth the lighter, more ethereal
qualities of Heritage Washi with the graphic, substantial language of relief
printing. Black and White Apparel is
a kind of abstract garment, with layers reminiscent of printed silk, hanging
crisply from a white wire hanger. Prevost’s other pieces resemble similarly
deconstructed flags, standards, and sashes bearing a bold, botanical coat of
arms.
These organic emblems constitute the essence and spirit of what the Washi Sisters have encapsulated in this exhibition; that a material which seems at first so fragile and at turns flimsy, filmy, and translucent, can prove also to be surprisingly supple, responsive, resilient, and strong.
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