Kathy Hooper and Deborah Payne

Exhibition Statement

Home. A place and space of our making. Comfort, refuge, inner sanctum of sorts. But equally shared, filled with stories and memories, family and friends. Kathy Hooper and Deborah Payne have spent a fair amount of time together, especially in Kathy’s studio and home. Sharing art-making, tea, meals, stories. Spaces filled with windowsill art, handmade dishes, textiles, paintings large and small, sculptures. In this exhibition, Kathy and Debbie offer a glimpse into the homes they each have made. Where, even in the COVID times of lockdown and physical isolation, the presence of friends and loved ones was – and is – felt. Creativity, beauty, and humour grace the walls, tables, chairs, beds of this domestic space called home. This exhibition is our tribute to all those who beautify the everyday.

Thank you to the Sheila Hugh McKay Foundation for the mentorship grant that allowed Kathy and Deborah to work together. And thank you to artsnb for the Creation Grant that led to Deborah’s tea towels.

Kathy Hooper’s Artist Statement

I have very much enjoyed putting this show together with Debbie. As an artist I love living in this beautiful province, where I feel completely free to work in whatever medium or whatever style I choose. My house very much reflects this as all houses reflect back to the people living in them: the way they think, the way they feel about life, what’s important to them and what inspires them.

Deborah Payne’s Artist Statement

Tea towels. Found in every household. Functional. Hardworking. Taken for granted. Invisible. A symbol of how we place value – or not – on the domestic and homemade.

By weaving and framing these tea towels, I challenge that view. Instead of being “just a tea towel”, they have become my own Dreaming Cloths. As I design and weave them, I ponder and admire the weavers from many cultures who, with their simple looms, create cloths of beauty through colour and pattern. And yes, I do use them, daily.

My home – like Kathy’s – is filled with handmade textiles, ceramics, paintings. Some by me, lots by friends, and others by artists from around the world. They inspire me. Keep me company. May A Home: Made inspire you to make the invisible in your homes visible anew.