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RR#
1
Millarville, AB
Canada
T0L 1K0
wniles@platinum.ca
Artist Statement
I do not
consider myself a professional artist and have never made my living with
my art. I'm at the top end of five children and have lived in Seattle,
Lethbridge, Caracas, Houston, New York, Montreal, Toronto, and finally
retiring to Millarville, Alberta.
My art is a response to an
irrepressible spirit that has always been a part of my life. I have given
up trying to explain it or condone it. I do not set goals, move in
logical sequences or, in fact, follow any rules at all. I just do things
and trust my instincts. I am not a graduate of any art school and my
training has been in the school of trial and error and the school of hard
knocks. I demand the freedom to give birth in my own way to the creative
stirrings that have always plagued my existence. I guess my 'raison
d'etre' is simply self-indulgent good fun and spiritual joy. I am
eternally thankful for a long-suffering and supportive patron, my husband.
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Absence of Color
55” X 28” - Not for Sale
We come into this world with a
clean slate. When we leave, the slate is wiped
clean. The ‘gift’ in hand is life!
Materials – unbleached cottons,
natural silk, flour bag, laces, antique braids.
Techniques – collage, machine and hand stitching,
transfer printing.
click details to enlarge
My Mother Always Wanted to go to Japan
73” X 69” - Not for sale - Memorial Piece
My Mother gave me the gift of life
and the spirit of art that breathed through my life. I wanted to give
her the gift of my art but she wasn’t there to receive it. This
piece is about women of her generation who were
expected to fulfill well-defined roles of answering to the needs of
family and the dictates of society. Their hopes and desires were not
taken seriously and their lives were often very unfulfilling. I am
eternally grateful to have escaped the ‘shoulds’ and ‘oughts’ that they
were subject to.
The two X stitched pieces on the
inside of the front were done by my mother, 60 years ago and used on the
altar of St. Mary’s Church, Lethbridge, AB for most of those years.
This piece won the Judge’s
Choice (C.J.Pettigrew) at the CQH National in Fredericton 2003.
Materials – hand dyed and
commercial fabrics – new and antique, a piece of Shibori fabric from
Kasuri Dyeworks, linens, silk, polyesters, cottons, rayons.
Techniques – piecing, couching, pointillist
techniques using cut-up bits of fabric, paper piecing, X stitch and
appliqué.
Arty Nine Patch
118” x 52” - Not for sale
This was created in response to the challenge: ‘Can
a nine patch be art?’ My nine patches are held together with sisal rope
weighted with rocks.
Materials – all kinds of
fabrics, sisal rope, rocks. Techniques –
layering, machine stitching and quilting.
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