20/20 Vision
July 9 – September 3, 2021 | Port Saint John Gallery
The Fibre Art Network (FAN) is a co-operative of Western Canadian artists committed to promoting fibre as an art form and each other as artists. FAN membership includes emerging fibre artists, teachers, authors and judges. Many members have been recognized both nationally and internationally for their work.
FAN was inaugurated in 1998. Since then FAN has created 25 exhibitions exhibited at 74 Canadian venues and seven International venues. To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we are presenting 20/20 Vision, an exhibition of over 50 fibre artists each personally interpreting her concept of 20/20 vision.
Exhibition Statement
This exhibition explores how we see, there should be no two ways alike for everybody sees and works differently. Join us and discover.
Vision is in the eye of the beholder. How do we know that the blue you see is the same as the blue I see? Vision is a partnership between your eyes and your mind. Can blind people still see in their mind? Sometimes we think we see things that are not really there. When the mind can’t make sense of what it sees it extrapolates something that does make sense. Examples of this can be seeing the illusion of depth in a 2 dimensional object; seeing a friend out of the corner of your eye that turns out to be a stranger; or seeing a flower in an abstract swish of colour.
By definition 20/20 Vision is perfect vision, but what is perfect, and by whose standards? You would think hindsight is always perfect as you have the benefit of seeing the event through, yet two people never describe the same event exactly the same. And foresight can literally be anybody’s guess.
Some of us as artists may have a clear vision of the outcome; others are steeped in fog until the last possible moment. Some have a plan, others work by winging it. Some of us work with insight, others foresight and still others from hindsight. Some may let their imagination do the looking; others will look to the facts. Some may look back over the past 20 years; others look forward to the next.
An artist talks of letting a piece speak to them, to create a vision of what they imagine the art can take on. Even with this vision firmly planted on the artist’s mind the final outcome of the piece almost never comes out like the vision. Is this good or bad? Does this make us good artists or bad? We propose neither as it makes for a flexible artist, one who goes with the flow and lets the current conditions/thoughts/moods influence the outcome. From the same starting point, would the piece created today be the same as the piece the same artist would create next year? We invited our membership to explore their 20/20 vision to look forward or back to interpret the subject figuratively or literally.
This exhibition is the results of that exploration. We invite you to view our visions to see what you will.
About the Artists
The work of over 50 FAN members will be represented in this exhibition. Artist bios and photos of members’ selected artworks can be viewed at http://fibreartnetwork.com/artists-gallery/. Please note that not all FAN members will be represented in the 20/20 Vision exhibit.
