Interlace

Interlace
by Carolyn Wren

Agnes Jamieson Gallery

Carolyn Wren offers three parts to this exhibition. In the large gallery area handwritten in cursive, the transcribed text of Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” (1929) was lovingly embroidered by many women. Sixty-four 3’ x 5’ panels were sewn together to revive Woolf’s extended essay. The work appears to come from out of the wall and spill around the room, mimicking a factory production. The second installation, “Lost Knowledge”, also involves cursive writing. Exhibited in the hallway, this display becomes a transition from “A Room of One’s One” and The Ghost of Emily. It ties the threads between embroidered work and crochet work revealing the base line nascent in Wren’s practice. The work represents Wren’s need to remember by obsessively writing out the first few pages of books , she attempts to collect, preserve, honour, and ritualized knowledge. The third installation involves a wall-mounted display of words, suspended by pins, and created by crocheting, the entire poem by Emily Dickinson “Because I could not stop for Death”.

With Carolyn Wren’s exhibition is a selection of Andre Lapine work, some of which are original letters written by Lapine to his dear friend Annette Brunelle and her family.

Artist Bio

Born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Carolyn Wren studied visual art at the University of Western Ontario. Wren has been exploring themes of lost knowledge and metanarratives in her recent work of transcribing iconic texts to create her installations. In the past she has used relief print methods and processes in non-traditional ways. Key exhibitions include: Rodman Hall Art Centre- Brock University. Kelowna Art Gallery. The University of Sherbrooke. Cram International Gallery, St. Catharines. Open Studio, Toronto. Linen Biennale- Portneuf, Quebec. She has been exhibiting her work since 1990 in group and solo shows across Canada in public galleries and in artist-run centres.