Fables in Yarn
Fables in Yarn was created in 2023 when I was a Creative in Residence for Ontario Culture Days.
The body of work took fairytales and folklore from Scotland and Ireland and blended it with my own narratives and intersections.
It includes six, 3.5’ x 3’ punch needle wallhangings depicting the re-telling of folk/fairy tales.
Taking my love for faces, folk-art, kitsch, queerness and folklore and putting them in a blender!
They are made of reclaimed yarns and textiles.
Sorceresses' Business
Size: 42 x 36 inches / 107 x 91.5 centimeters
Year: 2022
Medium: Reclaimed yarn hand punched onto burlap and backed with cotton.
"Sorceresses’ Business retells the story of the sword of King Arthur. Would we be telling different tales if it was Morgan Le Fay who retrieved the sword from the Lady of the Lake and not Arthur himself?"
The Witness
Size: 42 x 36 inches / 107 x 91.5 centimeters
Year: 2023
Medium: Reclaimed yarn hand punched onto burlap and backed with cotton.
"The Witness and is based on a Scottish fairy who observes and witnesses travellers. My version is a witness standing and witnessing all the challenges, hatred and erasure of the queer community, but also, witnessing the resilience and joy of the queer community."
The Familiars
Size: 42 x 36 inches / 107 x 91.5 centimeters
Year: 2023
Medium: Reclaimed yarn hand punched onto burlap and backed with cotton.
"The Familiars is about shape shifting and affinity. A cat in the day and a rabbit in the night."
The Hag
Size: 42 x 36 inches / 107 x 91.5 centimeters
Year: 2023Medium: Reclaimed yarn hand punched onto burlap and backed with cotton.
"The Hag. She is well known as a witch or ugly old woman. I am speaking back to the concept of women becoming redundant as they age. To me, they become part of the universe. My hag's hair is becoming one with the sky and her body is forming roots in the earth, she is becoming nature itself."
Jenny Greenteeth
Size: 42 x 36 inches / 107 x 91.5 centimeters
Year: 2023
Medium: Reclaimed yarn hand punched onto burlap and backed with cotton.
"Jenny Greenteeth is a water dweller. She was used as a tale to keep children away from bodies of water where she would be lurking and waiting to pull unsuspecting children in and gobble them up. For me, she is about my lived experience with mental health both my struggles and my work befriending it."
Lady Leprechaun
Size: 42 x 36 inches / 107 x 91.5 centimeters
Year: 2023Medium: Reclaimed yarn hand punched onto burlap and backed with cotton.
"In Irish folklore, a Leprechaun is a solitary male fairy who hoards wealth and plays practical jokes. My Lady Leprechaun is depicted as a joyous femme being who lives in a rainbow world and has taken up the traditional trade of the leprechaun, shoe making. She is generous and loving. Perhaps an incarnation of Mother Earth Herself."