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My friend and the co-creator of Art in the Fields, Dale, has a decade-long history with Jan Pierson. Dale had admired her silk-painting work for many years at the Signature Craft Show and One of a Kind Show in Toronto, but never met her. Well, Dale was participating in her first studio tour, and who should show up but Jan!
Dale was in awe, knowing Jan’s deft hand with delicate silk painting and her amazing eye for colour. To have this gifted artist come through Dale’s studio and rave about her work was… well, the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Jan has a keen eye for the beauty of fibre, and instinctively knows how to make silk shimmer and move with glorious colour. She puts this skill to work in a wide range of garments and accessories, as well as wall pieces.
She is also a great teacher, generously sharing her years of experience with many others, and has a gift for mixing and achieving colours. Ask her for a colour and she will blend it for you! You can see more of her beautiful work here.
But in the last few years, Jan’s restless spirit has prodded her to explore three-dimensional work, including fantastical 12-foot-long dragons, amazing elves, spiders and turtles, and towering six-foot-tall wire birds. She loves how these new “hard” materials such as wire, wood and the textile hardener Paverpol contrast with her silk work. But even though the medium has changed, her subtle use of contrasting colours and textures remains. Many of these creatures now reside in her gardens in Haliburton.
While Jan will mostly bring her silk work to South Pond Farms, Dale and I are hoping that a creature or two makes the journey south!
Art in the Fields runs from July 1 to July 7 at South Pond Farmsfrom 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., except for July 6 10:00 to 1:00. Join us for an opening reception on Sunday, June 30 from 1:00 to 5:00.
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