Knotwork

Sandy Lamb & Miriam Parkman

March 9 - April 21, 2024

Reception: Sunday, March 9 from 2-4pm
Craft Ontario Gallery, 1106 Queen Street West, Toronto

‘Knotwork’ is a collaboration between Montreal-based artist Sandy Lamb and Stockholm-based artist Miriam Parkman. In 2019 we met online and the seeds for our partnership were planted; it grew throughout the pandemic. There were elements of our practices that we shared in common: natural forms, subjects, and colours; wool; dyeing; tapestry. There were also distinctions, with Sandy working primarily in weft-faced flat weaving, and Miriam working in the traditional Swedish technique of rya (wool knotted to a woven fabric backing). Miriam's organic, textured forms, intuitive blending, feel for colour, and improvisation are contrasted with Sandy's abstracted, geometric, and calculated approach. Without abandoning our individual impulses, we allowed ourselves to be influenced by each other during the course of the collaboration. As we each pursued our own projects between 2019 and 2024, we kept in touch online, sharing inspirations, and maintaining a conversation. The works that make up this exhibition trace the trajectory of our cross-pollination, the knotting together of two artists from different places.