4TOLD: Alice Mansell

I meant to post this in a much more timely way, but technical difficulties and power outages and internet failures have put me behind. Please forgive me! The show 4TOLD seems long past, but there is still more to show you!

It was such a pleasure to meet and share space with the artist Alice Mansell. Her embroideries are exquisite - stitched with a single strand of floss. So that you can see them better, these are the unframed images, except for Skirt of Twigs, which was shot in the gallery. The reflections on the glass tend to obscure the image, but do give more of a sense of being in context.

Now based in Penticton, BC, Mansell has had a long career spanning diverse art making practices, costume design, teaching, and arts administration. Her current project is an ongoing “What if?”, questioning why work using traditional materials is considered fine art, and why work using textiles isn’t given the same respect. She stitches small, phone-screen-sized drawings of people and costumes using vintage linens, threads, and other media in a format that demands close reading. Her embroideries trace memories of the bodies and lives that shaped the costumes they once inhabited. (All images except for Skirt of Twigs courtesy Alice Mansell.)