May 5, 2017
Opening : Friday March 17, 2017 at 5pm
This series of textile works by jenna dawn maclellan is inspired by the artist’s return to Northern Ontario’s rural regions after having spent several years in Montreal. Confronted with the challenges posed by this vast expanse of boreal forest, she formulates a variety of playful strategies to defend herself against nature. With her snowmobile, bear skin rug, and anti-mosquito suit – all sewn – jenna dawn maclellan pays homage to the North of her childhood.
The objects sewn by maclellan are as familiar as they are fantastic. Being transposed into textile gives an air of storied marvelousness to their otherwise ordinary nature. This is how objects found in so many Northern Ontario sheds and garages are transformed into genuine icons of northernness.
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jenna dawn maclellan
jenna dawn maclellan was born in the Prairies and raised in the community of Sioux Lookout. She had been living in Montreal until recently when she moved to Sudbury, and finally to Owen Sound. Questions of geography, accessibility and encounters have greatly influenced her artistic practice and social engagement. She activates the memory and the sites where she intervenes with performative actions and artistic creations inspired by daily life. She has become a narrator, a builder of social sculptures and a guardian of memory.
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