Penny Berens, Fibre Artist and SOFAAR Member

Sunday, October 29, 2023 at 1pm!

Penny Berens, Fibre Artist and SOFAAR Member

Penny Berens was born in Bournemouth, England. She emigrated to Montreal’s West Island with her husband and two baby boys on January 1st, 1975 in a snowstorm of course!
Their third son also arrived in a heavy March snowstorm a few years later. From Montreal the family moved to Newmarket, Ontario where Penny was introduced to quilting and machine embroidery. Since retiring in 2007, Penny and her husband, Richard, have made their home in Granville Beach.

Penny has a City & Guilds diploma in Embroidery & Design but her education in stitch started much sooner at the age of four under the loving guidance of her mother and two grandmothers.

Penny’s work has been shown in solo and group shows across Canada and internationally. Teaching and encouraging others to follow their own stitching path has been an important part of Penny’s creative life. She shares her process and sources of inspiration on her blog Tanglewood Threads.

Her work has evolved over the years but since arriving in Nova Scotia she has returned to her roots of hand embroidery. Penny finds her inspiration on her early morning walks in all kinds of weather with two dogs. She shares her love of being in nature with it’s changing patterns and seasons in her extensively stitched wall hangings.

In recent years she has been working with her friend and fellow artist Judy Martin from Manitoulin Island and a young curator, Miranda Bouchard, on their show “In the Middle of the World”. This show has been shown twice in Ontario and will be coming to ARCAC in September next year. The three of them have recently published a book about their work for the show.

Penny’s presentation will lead you from her childhood embroideries through quilts, machine embroidery and finally back hand embroidery again.

SOFAAR is very pleased to present a trunk show by Penny Berens on Oct 29th, 1pm at the Clementsport Legion. Admission is $10 for members/ $20 for non members. Refreshments will be available. Join us for this wonderful opportunity to learn about Penny’s process and approach to art-making!

SOFAAR: Small Treasures exhibit

Our Small Treasures exhibit at the Mym gallery at ARCAC in Annapolis Royal runs from September 8th to October 12th.

Be sure to check out these small stitched, knitted, crocheted, beaded, embroidered, and hooked pieces over the next month.

Below is a sneak preview of pieces you will see. Of course, you need to see them close up at the gallery!

 

Come see this exhibit!

The SOFAAR Art of Fibre exhibit held its opening on July 6th and there was a lot of beautiful work to admire.

Please come out and see for yourselves. The show is on at the MacDonald Museum in Middleton until the first week of September.

Here is enticement to come and see the exhibit in person:

Exhibit committee chair Céleste stands in front of a Penny Berens piece.
Admiring the work.
Such colours in this beautiful variation on a Drunkard’s path quilt by Kay den Hartog.
Over 183,000 fine cross stitches in this entirely stitched piece by Ray Breton.
Penny eyes the eyes thread painted by Christine Igot
Gail Robertson’s crocheted coral reef.
Over 5,000 different fabrics in this postage stamp quilt by Shirley Bent.
Ethan stands to the right of his grandmother Brenda’s felted piece.
Close up of Rachael Ryan’s work.

 

Member exhibit: opening reception. July 6th

 

The Society of Fibre Artists of the Annapolis River cordially invites you, your family and your friends to the opening of The Art of Fibre, Saturday, July 6, 2019, from 2 pm – 4 pm, at the Annapolis Valley Macdonald Museum, 21 School St., Middleton, NS. Come and enjoy the wonderful fibre art on display and meet the artists who contributed to the exhibition. The exhibition continues until September 2, 2019.

Small Treasures exhibit – call for entry

SOFAAR’s Small Treasures at the Mym Gallery

Call for Entry and Guidelines

All members of SOFAAR are invited to participate in the Small Treasures exhibition at the Mym Gallery at ArtsPlace in Annapolis Royal from September 8 to October 12, 2019.

The Mym Gallery is a tiny space perfectly suited for small pieces of fibre art so we are asking that entries for the show not exceed 40” (plus or minus) in perimeter. Work may be square, rectangular, circular, or any shape, like that of the tiny Crazy Christmas stockings made at our November workshop. The maximum size will allow members who created a piece for the 2018 East meets West exhibition to show their British Columbia entry at home.

You are invited to enter one or two pieces of your choice. Entries will not be juried.

Email thibodeaustacey@yahoo.ca with the following information for each entry by the deadline for receipt of entries, August 26, 2019:

–Title of the piece

–Size, height X width or perimeter

Each piece must be clearly labelled on the back (or inside) with the artist’s name and the title of the work.

Work to be hung must be ready for hanging, including a hanging rod, if applicable, and any special hardware if a simple nail will not suffice. If your work requires a special display, please provide it.

Although every care will be taken of the submitted work, the responsibility for loss and damage whilst in exhibition cannot be accepted by SOFAAR or ARCAC. We strongly advise that each artist obtain commercial insurance to cover the work in exhibition.

We ask that you deliver your work to ArtsPlace, September 3, 2019. If this is not possible, contact us at info@sofaar.ca to make alternate arrangements for delivery.

IMPORTANT DATES

Deadline for receipt of entries – August 26, 2019

Work delivery date –  September 3, 2019, ArtsPlace, Annapolis Royal 

Exhibition opens – September 8, 2019

Exhibition closes – October 12, 2019

Collect your work from gallery – October 15, 2019 ArtsPlace, Annapolis Royal, 10:00-12:00.

SOFAAR presents the Art of Fibre – call for entry

SOFAAR presents the Art of Fibre Exhibition 2019

Call for entry and guidelines

ENTRIES: please send to: thibodeaustacey@yahoo.ca

All members of SOFAAR are invited to participate in the annual member’s exhibition at the Macdonald Museum, Middleton, from July 6 to September 2, 2019.

This year’s exhibition will not have a specific theme but we want to feature the excellence and the wide range of fibre art created by SOFAAR members. Submit your latest work or an older piece of which you are particularly proud to have created. We encourage original work but if it is not we ask that you credit the original designer. Acknowledgement should be given to anyone participating in the execution of the work, i.e.,quilted by, framed by, etc.

Here are some things to keep in mind when you are preparing for the exhibition;

– You are invited to submit one or two pieces of your choice. Entries will not be juried. All is welcome.

– We ask that you include a full digital image of your work for each entry.  This helps us plan the layout for the gallery before installation.

– Email your photos to thibodeaustacey@yahoo.ca with the following information for each entry by the deadline for receipt of entries, June 17, 2019:

–Title of the piece

–Size, height X width

–Materials used

–Is the piece for sale? If so, what is the price?

–Please include an artist’s statement with your submission. The statement is simply one or two sentences explaining what inspired you to create the piece.

–Does SOFAAR have permission to use your photos to promote the exhibition?

 

– Each piece must be clearly labelled on the back with the artist’s name and the title of the work.

– Work to be hung must be ready for hanging, including a hanging rod, if applicable, and any special hardware if a simple nail will not suffice. If your work requires a special display, please provide it.

– Work may be for sale but the piece must remain until the closing date of the exhibition. The Macdonald Museum will record the contact details of anyone wishing to buy a piece. The owner of the piece can then communicate with the buyer to arrange for the sale.

-Every care will be taken of the submitted work. The Macdonald Museum have several security measures in place and carries insurance for catastrophic loss or damage. We advise that you have personal insurance for your work.

– We ask that you deliver your work to the Macdonald Museum June 24 or June 25, 2019. They are open from 9:00 until 4:30.If this is not possible, contact us atinfo@sofaar.cato make alternate arrangements for delivery.

-We ask that you collect your work at the Macdonald Museum September 3, 2019, from 10:00 – 12:00. If this is not possible, contact us atinfo@sofaar.cato make alternate arrangements.

IMPORTANT DATES

Deadline for receipt of entries – June 17, 2019

Work delivery date –  June 24, June 25, 2019, Macdonald Museum, 9:00-4:30

Opening Reception – July 6, 2019, 2:00-4:00

Exhibition closes – September 2, 2019

Collect your work from gallery – September, 3, 2019 Macdonald Museum, 10:00-12:00

East meets West exhibit held over till Nov. 3th

If you have not had a chance to visit the East meets West exhibit at the King’s theatre lobby in Annapolis Royal, you still have time.

The exhibit will now remain up until Saturday, November 3rd.

The 30 or more 10 by 10 inch pieces of different fibre techniques are wonderful to look at and we are thrilled to have had this joint exhibit with VISDA (Vancouver Island Surface Design Association).

SOFAAR.EASTWESTposter

Call for entries: Art of Fibre exhibit September-October 2018

SOFAAR presents the Art of Fibre exhibition 2018

Please find below the guidelines for submitting pieces to our annual “Art of Fibre” Exhibition which will be held at the Chapel Gallery in Annapolis Royal in September and October.
We encourage everyone to submit pieces as this show is not juried, just curated and there is no theme.
The objective for the curator is to showcase as much variety of fibre art as possible in the small Chapel Gallery. This exhibit is on during our Fabulous Fall Fibre Retreat.
Here is a .pdf link to the guidelines and they are printed below:
SOFAAR Guidelines.Fall2018

—————–

All members of SOFAAR are invited to participate in the annual member’s exhibition at the Chapel Gallery at ARCAC (Annapolis Region Community Arts Council) in Annapolis Royal from September 2 to October 13, 2018.

This year’s exhibition will not have a specific theme but we want to feature the excellence and the wide range of fibre art created by SOFAAR members. Submit your latest work or an older piece of which you are particularly proud to have created. We encourage original work but if it is not we ask that you credit the original designer. Acknowledgement should be given to anyone participating in the execution of the work, i.e.,quilted by, framed by, etc.

Here are some things to keep in mind when you are preparing for the exhibition;

– This is a curated show, not a juried one. The Chapel Gallery is not a large space and the curators’s task is to look at the work that is submitted and choose pieces that will show the greatest variety of fibre art as possible in the available space.

– We are delighted to announce that  Laurie Swim and Valerie Hearder will be our curators. Recipient of numerous honours, including the 2013 Portia White Prize, Laurie Swim is arguably Nova Scotia’s best known fibre artist. Her most recent work, Hope and Survival, tells the story of the Halifax Explosion and was displayed at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in 2017 and the Museum of Industry in Stellarton, N.S, earlier this year. Valerie Hearder has exhibited her work extensively throughout Canada, the U.S., Japan, Europe and South Africa. She is a notable quilt designer and teacher, recipient of the Dorothy McMurdie Award for significant contributions to Canadian quilting, presented by the Canadian Quilters Association. In 2003, Valerie’s work was chosen for “Thirty Distinguished Quilt Artists of the World”, Tokyo Dome, Japan.

– You are invited to submit multiple pieces.

– This year we ask that you submit digital images of your work for selection. For each entry submit one full image and one detailed image, in a .jpgformat. Name your file as follows; last name, first name, title, for example: SmithJaneWaterlilliesFull.jpgfor the full image and SmithJaneWaterlilies Detail.jpg for the close-up detailed view. The curator will choose entries for the show from the digital images.

– Email your photos to info@sofaar.cawith the following information for each entry by the deadline for receipt of entries, August 10, 2018:

–Title of the piece

–Size, height X width

–Materials used

–Is the piece for sale? If so, what is the price? Please note that ARCAC will take a 10% fee if the work is sold.

–You must include an artist’s statement with your submission. The statement is simply one or two sentences explaining what inspired you to create the piece.

–Does SOFAAR have permission to use your photos to promote the exhibition?

– Each piece must be clearly labelled on the back with the artist’s name and the title of the work.

– Work to be hung must be ready for hanging, including a hanging rod, if applicable, and any special hardware if a simple nail will not suffice. If your work requires a special display, please provide it.

– Work may be for sale but the piece must remain until the closing date of the Exhibition. ARCAC will handle all sales, including credit cards, and will take a 10% fee.

-Although every care will be taken of the submitted work, the responsibility for loss and damage whilst in exhibition cannot be accepted by SOFAAR or ARCAC. We strongly advise that each artist obtain commercial insurance to cover the work in exhibition.

– Once you have been notified that your entry will be welcomed in the show we ask that you deliver your work to ARCAC, 396 St George Street, Annapolis Royal, August 29, 2018, between 10 am and noon.

IMPORTANT DATES

Deadline for receipt of entries – August 10, 2018

Notification of acceptance – August 17, 2018

Accepted work delivery date –  August 29, 2018, 10 am – noon

Exhibition opens – September 2, 2018

Reception – September 9, 2018, 1 – 3 pm

Exhibition closes – October 13, 2018

Collect your work from gallery – October 15, 2018, 10 am – noon