Jenny Judge's phase transition evocatively explores passage of time, at the Craft Council of BC Gallery
Paint drops and travels down threads, spools, and buttons in work inspired by an elderly mother’s decline
The Craft Council of BC Gallery presents phase transition to November 23
WHISTLER-BASED artist Jenny Judge’s moving new exhibit at the Craft Council of BC Gallery captures the passage of time and memory in evocative antique buttons, scissors, and spools, juxtaposed with the drips of paint that have travelled and hardened down the length of threads.
Called “phase transition”, the work is inspired by the deeply personal experience of watching her 91-year-old mother pass away five years ago, struggling with dementia caused by parksinson’s disease. As Judge says in her artist’s statement, “Everyday objects became unrecognizable and their function was forgotten, yet at other times they could provoke a lucid story about past events. After her death, I found her button collection which inspired me to investigate sewing paraphernalia as a repository for personal stories and past events.”
The slow-moving paint, which transitions from liquid to solid down eight-to-10-foot-long threads and scallopy decorative trim, becomes an affecting metaphor for the way time slows down as we age, and our own transitions; the delicately dangling pieces also capture the way that familiar objects can become unrecognizable.
The work is directly linked to Judge’s memoir essay “Transitions”, a monologue about watching paint drip down a string and cover objects.
You can watch a video of that meditative act of creation at Judge's site here, and swing by the craft gallery on Granville Island till November 23.
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