GORE BAY—An exhibition now on in Gore Bay’s Harbour Centre gallery displays the work of two artists who work in very different media, yet who share some striking similarities in subject matter and technique.
The show, curated by Nicole Weppler, director of the Gore Bay Museum, exhibits the acrylic paintings of Jack Whyte and the fibre art of Lynda Noe, of Gore Bay and adjacent Gordon Township, respectively.
Both artists have exhibited previously at the Gore Bay Museum, but this marks the first time their work has been shown together, and the combination is unusual and eye-catching. Ms. Noe’s painterly pieces are quilted fabrics painstakingly assembled into still-lifes, a fine visual complement to Mr. Whyte’s richly textural paintings.
Lynda Noe was born and raised in Ingersoll, on the Thames River in southwestern Ontario. She and her husband David first visited the Island in 1992, staying in a cottage in Kagawong “on the edge of a brook.” As so often happens, they fell in love with “the outdoors, the pace of life,” bought some land in Gordon, built on it and moved into their house in 1994-95.
While Ms. Noe had quilted before moving to the Island, it was her hand-worked quilt, ‘Crazy About Manitoulin,’ exhibited in 2003 at the Gore Bay Museum in a show entitled “Tradition and Beyond” that propelled her work into the realm of art. “I loved quilting,” says Ms. Noe, “and I liked to draw. I always wanted to do art but it was being up here, taking watercolour courses and meeting so many artists, that inspired me to innovate and go freestyle with fibre.” She exhibited again in 2010 at the Museum, in “Sea to Sea” and in 2013 in “Feathers.”
Inspired by photos of nature, and her own photos of landscapes and “of all the things that are here,” Ms. Noe plans a piece by tracing it or laying out a grid on backing material, then cuts out the fabric to match the tones in her inspiration image. The fabric is cut into hundreds of tiny pieces, forming leaves on tree branches, waves in water, flower petals or subtle tonalities in a house’s exterior, “layering the fabric in a collage” which is then sewn expertly on her sewing machine by the large picture window. The effect is extraordinarily life-like, suffused in light like a photograph, looking deceptively simple when viewed as a whole. Only by looking closely does one realize the complexity and the dexterity involved in the creation of these fibre artworks, the concentration of eye and needle, the minute gradations of colour and shading. Ms. Noe also paints plain fabric pieces to achieve the exact shade she may not find in the ready-made textiles that she buys in local shops or in the materials she likes to recycle; she often adds beads or small stones to add a reflective dimension. “It’s all about texture,” says the artist.
Lynda Noe’s studio, Silk and Scissors, is on the ground floor of the Harbour Centre, across from the gallery that overlooks Gore Bay and the imposing East Bluff. Upstairs are several more studios and shops, a veritable hive of artistic activity. “I used to work in a spare bedroom at home, I didn’t think I needed a studio. But since moving in here in August last year, I’ve found I can work harder, with fewer distractions,” she enthuses. “The exposure of my work to more people, selling pieces and receiving commissions, has been motivating. I really enjoy meeting and talking with the people who tour the Centre; the best part is that we’re all artists here.”
The exhibition of Lynda Noe’s fibre art and the acrylics of Jack Whyte is at the Harbour Centre, 40 Water Street, Gore Bay, until September 22. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 11 am until 4 pm.
