The Recorder
GORE BAY—The 26th annual International Lace Camp in Gore Bay was held last week, and as part of festivities a special presentation was made to a town official of a beautiful banner depicting the Gore Bay harbourfront in lace.
“Dan Osborne, the mayor of Gore Bay is here today for our official opening,” said Pat Bowley, a member of the lace camp, at its official opening ceremony held on Monday of last week.
“Last year we started to put this banner together, depicting the Gore Bay marina, which we will hang on the wall this week (in the Royal Canadian Legion) during our lace camp week and present to the town,” said Ms. Bowley.
As was reported previously, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the lace camp in 2018, all the lace makers brought pieces of lace to Gore Bay in July to construct a banner depicting the Gore Bay harbour. This lace creation (from an original photo by Sandy Anderson) is about a metre wide and half a meter high.
Tini Pel, Dora Hocken and Laura Peltonen had made the lace camp logo to mount on the top section of the banner. Lace camper Julie Nicholls designed the pattern for the logo used.
“I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of you to Gore Bay,” said Gore Bay Mayor Dan Osborne at the opening. “This year marks the 26th anniversary of the lace camp,” he said, noting, “I recognize some of the people here today but not all of you.”
Mayor Osborne explained the lace makers’ presence, “definitely helps the town and local businesses, as you stay here, use the local restaurants, shops, theatre and much more. I hope that you take in some of the sites in town on your visit.”
Mayor Osborne presented a town pin to all those new lacers this year, who arrived from areas such as Ottawa, Michigan and Barrie. They included Barbara Bulgarelli, Joyce Dawson, Terri Gogolin, Cynthia McDougall, Deanna Mackenzie, Kim Schembri, Marian Moorshead and Patricia Fleming. There was a total of 49 lacemakers in attendance this year.
On the evening of July 8, Nancy Pye presented images of laces representing technically superior craftsmanship and innovative use of design and the medium from her personal collection and from public and private institutions she has had the pleasure of visiting. She shared her reflections on why these pieces are historically important in the development of lace and how they show lace’s purpose as a fashion embellishment, artistic decoration and visible demonstration of wealth and prestige through the centuries.
Ms. Pye travels extensively to research and study laces, costume and print sources which represent important milestones in the development of lace. Her personal journey has focused on the social history of lace and its timeline. She constantly seeks to discover answers to questions such as who were the designers, craftsmen, lacemakers and patrons and what were the historical, artistic and fashion events that had the greatest influence on lace design and production.
Ms. Pye has taught lace identification clinics and courses and lectured at many venues including the IOLI (International Organization of Lace) convention in Montreal and the Textile Museum of Canada. In 2014, she was curatorial associate of the landmark exhibition ‘The Art of the Lacemaker: The Margaret Ruthland Collection’ at the Guelph Civic Museum.
Her presentation, which included actual works and photographs as part of it, were from bobbin lace in the 1500s to 1700s.
