This year’s Estonian exchange artists are here! We welcome Kärt Ojavee and Johanna Ulfsak to Hamilton.
The artists normally come in October, but they are here early to create a test piece for the main hall at the new International Estonian Centre. Kärt and Johanna are now working in the Mill Gallery space at the Cotton Factory. They were kindly lent a loom and warping board. They will be working hard to get the test piece completed over the next month.
By combining a variety of yarns with optical fibres, they are working on a piece that will react in real-time to the weather on the Baltic Sea. In their words: “We were interested in creating a fabric capable of surpassing its own physical presence; to somehow connect the object with an outside world. Thus, the wavy textile is designed to gather information about events and changes happening on sea hundreds of kilometres away and to respond to them. When a stronger gust of wind sweeps over the sea — the fabric reacts. When a wave rises with the storm, the fabric changes too.” (https://www.k-o-i.ee/live-streams)
“I saw one of their pieces at the Riga International Textile and Fibre Art Triennial in 2018 and was blown away. I am very excited to watch this piece grow and evolve while they are here”. said Rob Zeidler
Johanna and Kärt will also be working out of the Daniels Artscape Launchpad in Toronto for almost a week. They will be giving artists talk in Toronto and at the Art Gallery of Burlington.
If you know any textile artists in Hamilton or Burlington that you feel that Kärt and Johanna should connect with while they are here, please let us know.