‘Canadian Visions’

Press, 14 April 1984, Page 7

‘Canadian Visions’

“Canadian Visions," an exhibition of batik dyeing and weaving by Holly Blair, at the Canterbury Society of Arts Gallery until April 22. Reviewed by Evan Webb.

A common belief is that the resist technique of dyeing originated only in Indonesia and consequently the Javanese word, “batik,” has been adopted to describe this form of fabric craft. There is evidence, however, that resist methods of dyeing were also used in ancient Egypt. Furthermore, the intricate floral designs on the Japanese kimono were traditionally dyed into the fabric using rice flour paste as a blocking agent or resist rather than wax. The resist agent is not restricted to wax or flour paste alone. Tying and stitching can also prevent dye from reaching parts of the fabric. Holly Blair prefers to use the wax-resist or batik method for producing her pictures on fabric. Of the 16 works she has on show 10 are conventionally framed, behind glass, like watercolour paintings, while the remainder, and generally larger works are quilted and loosely hung. Most of the works depict scenes from her recent visit to Canada. As such, they are nostalgic and some have a sentimental charm like the picture of geese waddling down to the river. The process of producing these images is complex and labour intensive. Cartoons are drawn and en-

larged from photographs with some editing and composing so that the final image is appropriate for dyeing., Then, through successive processes of waxing the fabric and bathing it in different coloured dyes, the image is built up. Sometimes as many as 15 to 20 dye baths are used to achieve the desired colour range. The quality of line and edge can be controlled, to some extent, by the type of wax used — how brittle or pliable it is — and the type of dye determines the richness or subtlety of colour. Ms Blair combines procion dyes which can produce subtle graduated hues with the intense, saturated qualities of naphtol dyes. The quilted work, “Cabin in the Woods,” displays the latter’s rich, rustic characteristics to good effect. This work is also successful because the colour areas, for the most part, are bold and pictorially flat. Trying to achieve a pictorial space more akin to conventional painting is a problem and weakness of these works.

The process and quality of batik lends itself to flat images and designs rather than the illusion of pictorial depth. This problem is evident in the work entitled “Through the branches.” Here, one edge of the river in the background appears to advance beyond the trees in the foreground. Ms Blair has attempted to rectify this difficulty by padding and quilting some of the works. By picking out detail and delineating such things as hill lines and rivers, with stitches, some scenes read better. Others remain curiously lumpy. Displayed with her pictures are six woven rugs employing a French-Cana-dian technique. Strips of cotton fabric are dyed and woven between warp threads producing a stiff, flat rug of subtle colour ranges. Because the warp threads are undyed the overall colour is further muted and quite attractive. Although these rugs are not as excellently crafted as the batik pictures, they demonstrate Ms Blair’s skill and professionalism as a dye colourist.