Dorothy Caldwell: Silent Ice | Deep Patience

This new body of work developed by senior artist Caldwell continues her exploration of place, how we mark the land, and how it is visualized in mapping practices, both conventional and personal. The scope of her research included extensive travel in both the Australian Outback and the Canadian Arctic. There are strong parallels between Canada and Australia and how they each imagine themselves. Both have large central wilderness landscapes, and are technically both deserts. The Outback and the Arctic are harsh landscapes that the indigenous populations have learned to survive in. They are both powerful landscapes that inspire the imagination and the way we view the country.

“The works for the exhibition will be a response to these experiences and how they relate to my own sense of place. Ultimately one comes back to the familiar landscape with renewed perspective and ongoing questions about interpreting images and values of another culture in light of our own experience.”

Caldwell maintains an active international exhibition and teaching schedule from her studio in Hastings, Ontario. Her travel and research in India, Japan, and Australia have influenced her work both as sources of dyeing and stitching practices and as places where textile artists share her beliefs in the integration of historical work in contemporary contexts. Caldwell has been recipient of the Saidye Bronfman Award.

She has executed major architectural commissions, and her work is in many permanent collections including the Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

This exhibition is supported by a publication: Silent Ice | Deep Patience Catalogue