Images from Oklahoma Workshop

In Febuary of this year the Artistic Director of Moon Rain Centre was at South West Oklahoma State University in Weatherford Oklahoma as part of The Visiting Artists Program. Ms Ewen gave workshops and presentations. Below are some images from the workshops.

Photographs by Prof. EunKyung Jeong

Le Sacre du Printemps/ The Rite of Spring

The Director of Musee des Maitres et Artisans du Quebec, Pierre Wilson, and the Artistic Director of Moon Rain Centre, Thoma Ewen, invite you to attend the vernissage and exhibition of The Rite of Spring, tapestries by Thoma Ewen.

Wednesday March 21, 2012, 5-7pm

The exhibition continues till May 20, 2012.

Musée des maîtres et artisans du Québec The Rite of Spring
615 avenue Sainte-Croix, Montréal, H4L 3X6
514-747-7367

Moon Rain le centre des arts textiles en Outaouais

Moon Rain Centre for Textile Arts in the Outaouais

105 ch.de la savane Poltimore Val-des-Monts Québec Canada J8N 3B6

www.moonrain.ca

Inscrivez-vous a notre liste de diffusion / Join Our Mailing List

appel aux artistes

call to artists

Moon Rain le centre des arts textiles en Outaouais invite les artistes canadiens, internationaux, expérimentés et de la jeune relève en arts textiles et art de la fibre à soumettre leurs dossiers pour 

La triennale internationale des arts textiles en Outaouais 2013

aux volets:

- INSTALLATIONS IN SITU  
- ATELIERS 
- EXPOSITIONS
- CONFÉRENCES 
- PROJETS D'ART PUBLIC

Pour de plus amples renseignements ainsi que lesformulaires de candidature visitez www.moonrain.ca

Date limite: 30 mars 2012





Moon Rain Centre for Textile Arts in the Outaouais invites Canadian, international, experienced and young emerging textile and fibre artists to submit proposals to

La triennale internationale des arts textiles en Outaouais 2013

in the following categories:

- OUTDOOR TEXTILE ART INSTALLATIONS
- WORKSHOPS
- EXHIBITIONS
- CONFERENCES 
- PUBLIC TEXTILE ART PROJECTS

For complete information including application forms visit
 www.moonrain.ca

Deadline for submissions:  March 30 2012

Moon Rain le centre des arts textiles en Outaouais

Moon Rain Centre for Textile Arts in the Outaouais 

105 ch.de la savane Poltimore Val-des-Monts Québec Canada J8N 3B6

www.moonrain.ca

Inscrivez-vous a notre liste de diffusion / Join Our Mailing List

Moon Rain's Artistic Director will be at Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Canada's Moon Rain Art Centre Artistic Director Coming to SWOSU on February 7-9

January 27, 2012

                   Photo by K. Ewen

 

 

Thoma Ewen, world-renowned tapestry artist and the artistic director of the Moon Rain Art Centre in Canada, will have workshops and presentations February 7-9 at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford.
Ewen is coming to SWOSU as part of the university’s Visiting Artists Program. Ewen has had numerous tapestry exhibitions throughout the world. Her tapestries and weaving techniques have been featured in various tapestry books.
Ewen is also involved with community art projects in Canada as well as in England. During her three-day stay in Weatherford, she will provide lectures, workshops and meetings with students as well as area residents.
The scheduled events are free and open to public. However, due to the limited seating at the hands-on workshops, please contact E.K. Jeong to reserve a place and get the material list. Jeong can be reached by phone at 580-774-3035 or email at ek.jeong@swosu.edu.


Tapestry workshops and meetings will be in the SWOSU Art Building Room 415, and lectures will be in SWOSU Art Building Room 405.


The schedule includes:


Tuesday, February 7
9 am – Noon: Tapestry Workshop 1
2 – 4 pm: Informal meeting with students & community members
5 – 7 pm: Presentation 1: “ Moon Rain Centre: Interweaving Textile Arts and Community”


Wednesday, February 8
1 – 4 pm: Tapestry Workshop 2
4 - 6 pm: Presentation 2: "A Look at Tapestry through time"


Thursday, February 9
10 am – Noon: Informal meeting with students & community members
2 – 5 pm: Tapestry Workshop 3


http://www.swosu.edu/news/releases/2012/2012-01-27c.asp

Woven Bridges - International Group Tapestry Exhibition at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

“Today tapestry can represent a remarkable beauty and a kind of textured poetry, a three-dimensional rebellion against conventional outlooks.”

The Woven Bridges exhibit features a fibre art group with three Canadian Artists: Thoma Ewen, Krystyna Sadej, Ixchel Suarez and three invited guest-artists: Ewa Bartosz Mazus from Poland, Monique Lehman from United States and Thomas Cronenberg from Germany.

The title Woven Bridges refers to the strong connection between Canadian, American and European artists who share the same interest and love of tapestry weaving. Exhibition visitors will discover a rich variety of materials, techniques and experimental forms. The work shows a striking diversity and originality, combining humour and seriousness, recycling, and reflections on the nature of everyday life.

Ewa Bartosz Mazus ~ creates extraordinary two and three-dimensional tapestries which are personal expressions and reflections of her life. Ewa is an established international tapestry artist and an art teacher who has received many awards. She exhibits in Europe, Canada and the US. She lives in Zakopane, Poland. (http://tkaninki0.tripod.com)

Thoma Ewen ~ has been exhibiting her tapestries nationally and internationally for more than 35 years. She directs Community Tapestry Projects and Artist-in-the-Schools projects; she also teaches tapestry workshops at the Moon Rain Centre, a community studio in a natural setting which she founded in Val des Monts, Quebec. (www.moonrain.ca)

Monique Lehman ~ from Pasadena, USA, produces sensational contemporary tapestries of landscapes, people and nature. She has exhibited her tapestries in many individual and group Art Shows in US, China, and in Europe. (www.tapestryart.org)

Krystyna Sadej ~ is an accomplished contemporary tapestry artist whose use of recycled materials transcends art activism, creating beauty out of environmental waste. Krystyna’s works of woven art have been exhibited in Asia, Europe, Canada and the US. She lives in Navan, Ontario and teaches at the Ottawa School of Art’s Orleans Campus. (www.krystynasadej.com)

Ixchel Suarez ~ creates dramatic woven art that makes a flamboyant impression. She is a talented art weaver, a lecturer, workshop leader and teacher who originally came from Mexico. She is Founder of the Oakville Tapestry and Painting Studios. Ixchel participated in numerous art shows in Mexico, Canada, Poland, France and US. (www.ixchelsuarez,com)

Thomas Cronenberg ~ is one of the leading contemporary tapestry artists in Europe today. His works are autobiographical memoirs and technical masterpieces. A many-time recipient of awards and prizes, Thomas has exhibited all over Europe and the United States, is a longtime contributor to and guest editor of the renowned Textile Forum magazine. (http://thomascronenberg.wordpress.com)

Ewa, Thoma, Ixchel, Krystyna, Monique and Thomas display a lively woven language out of soft and rough textural structures. Together, their work presents an energetic dialogue of cross-cultural vision that communicates possibility and an open-ended approach to experimental woven art.

Krystyna Sadej, Thoma Ewen & Ixchel Suarez

John Hannagan (Vice-President, Mississippi Valley Textile Museum), Ixchel Suarez,
 Krystyna Sadej, Michael Rikley-Lancaster (Curator) & amp; Thoma Ewen at the Vernissage, Saturday January 14th 2012

Woven Bridges will be on exhibition at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum until January 28 2012 

www.mvtm.ca

more on Woven Bridges:  

Moon Rain Centre's Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Moon-Rain-Centre-for-Textile-Arts-in-the-Outaouais/347386205271413

http://www.canada.diplo.de/Vertretung/kanada/en/__events/ottawa/tapestries

www.ottawagraphy.ca/events/woven-bridges 

Tapestry Exhibiton at Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

From December 20th 2011 to January 28th 2012 the exhibition, Woven Bridges will be at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum located in Almonte Ontario. The works of six internationally known artists will be displayed. A reception will be held on January 14th 2012 at 2 pm.

For more information please visit the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum website at

 http://mvtm.ca/museum/?page_id=534

Moon Rain Centre wins the Grand Prix d’Excellence at the Culturiads.

LAURÉATS DES PRIX DU GALA D’EXCELLENCE LES CULTURIADES 2011

Pour diffusion immédiate

Gatineau, le 9 novembre 2011 – La Fondation pour les arts, les lettres et la culture en Outaouais (FALCO) a rendu hommage aux artistes de la région hier soir, lors de son événement annuel, qui s’est déroulé à la salle Jean-Despréz de la Maison du citoyen de Gatineau. Douze prix furent remis lors de cette douzième édition du Gala d’excellence Les Culturiades, dont le maître de cérémonie était nul autre que Patrick Voyer, journaliste de l’hebdomadaire La Revue et du quotidien Info07 des Médias Transcontinental.

 Les lauréats 2011 des prix d’excellence remis aux artistes et aux acteurs du développement culturel de l’Outaouais sont :

 Prix d’Excellence Gilles-Gagné – IV^es Jeux de la Francophonie, attribué à un organisme pour l’ensemble de ses réalisations, assorti d’une bourse de 2 500 $ :

 – Centre Moon Rain (métiers d’art)

Artistic Direct of Moon Rain Centre, Thoma Ewen accepting the Grand Prix d’Excellence at the Culturiads

Tapestries Exhibit and artists' lectures

"Tapestries" - an exhibit by Thoma Ewen, Krystyna Sadej, and two guest artists, Ewa Bartosz Mazus from Poland and Thomas Cronenberg from Germany.

Together, their work presents an energetic dialogue of cross-cultural vision and an open-ended approach to contemporary woven art.

City of Ottawa, the Centrepointe Theatre Gallery,

101 Centrepointe Drive

October 27 (after 6pm) to November 30 2011

On Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 7pm, the City of Ottawa will host “Perspectives on Textile Art Today” with the following speakers:

 "Textiles in Europe Today" by Thomas Cronenberg

"Textile Woolen Mills in the Mississippi Valley” by Michael Rikley-Lancaster
.

“Moon Rain Centre, the Textile Art Center in the Outaouais” by Thoma Ewen

The reception will follow the talk. We sincerely invite all to join us. The event is free of charge.  (Room 1A in the Ben Franklin Place complex, 101 Centrepointe Drive)

Photos by Justyna Szluinska

Community Quilt

Photo Jamie Cruickshank

This large community quilt, 16'high x 6'wide, is a project which Moon Rain Centre directed for the Canadian Tulip Festival.

The project was designed and directed by Gabby Ewen, who is project co-ordinator for Moon Rain Centre. Textile artists, Owen Tuf, Phyllis Wedding, Jocelyne Ladouceur, Andie Haltrich and Thoma Ewen, artistic director of Moon Rain Centre, all assisted on the quilt project.

Community participants and visitors to the Canadian Tulip Festival wrote messages of peace and friendship onto ribbons that were appliqued to make the tulip flower, stem and leaves. One message I found significant is, "peace is not a solo activity". The signatures of participants are on the green rectangles that make the border. This is part of Moon Rain Centre's large "Vision Weave Project". www.visionweaveproject.blogspot.com

The Canadian Tulip Festival, now in it's 59th year, commemorates Holland's gift of tulip bulbs as thanks for Canada's hospitality to the Dutch Royal Family during the Second World War.

The Quilt was made on site at the festival in Major's Hill Park in Ottawa in

May 2011.
It has now been delivered to the Canadian Tulip Festival offices in Ottawa.

Tapestry Workshops Summer 2011

Moon Rain Centre offers two summer workshops in tapestry weaving

.
.

July 23 & 24

beginners weekend workshop

.

July 25 to 29

5-day intermediate course in design and technique
.

Moon Rain Centre, situated in the Gatineau Hills near the village of Poltimore, is an ideal place for immersion in creativity and the beauty of nature. The instructor is Thoma Ewen, an internationally known textile artist.

Classes are small. All looms and materials are provided. Camping and accommodation available.

Visit the website at www.moonrain.ca

Information: call 819 457 9711 or email info@moonrain.ca

The Kaleidoscope Community Quilt on stage at closing ceremonies

Six artists from Moon Rain Centre participated in the Kaleidoscope Community Quilt Project on-site at the Tulip Festival: Gabby Ewen, owen tuf, Phyllis Wedding, Andie Haltrich,  Jocelyne Ladouceur and Thoma Ewen.This picture was taken on stage at the Tulip Festival during the closing ceremonies on May 23. Shown are the quilt and the director of the project Gabby Ewen. She is currently working on the finishing touches of this large quilt.

Encounter Mexico-Canada, Contemporary Textile Art

Anahuac University North through the The School of Design invites you to the Encounter Mexico-Canada, Contemporary Textile Art.

May 25, 2011. CAD Auditorium

Round table at 12:30

Panelists:

Thoma Ewen

Ana Paula Fuentes

Miguel Peraza

Sergio Rasgado

Ixchel Suarez

Martha Turok

.

La Escuela de Diseño de la Universidad Anáhuac, de la que tú eres pieza clave, semestre a semestre dirige sus esfuerzos hacia la formación integral de sus estudiantes y la vinculación con lo mejor del gremio profesional.

Clara muestra de ello se dará el próximo 25 de mayo, en cada uno de nuestros magnos eventos:

9:00 hrs. Entrega de Medalla Liderazgo Anáhuac en Diseño / Mtro. Ricardo Rosas / Auditorio de Rectoría

11:00 hrs. Inauguración de Expo Diseño / Hacia la sustentabilidad y el ecodiseño / Hall del CAD

11.00 Opening Expo-Design / towards a sustainability and eco-design/ CAD Hall

12:00 hrs. Inauguración de la Exposición / Arte Textil Contemporáneo: Encuentro México Canadá / Salón del Diseño

12:00 Hrs. Opening Exhibition/ Contemporary textile Art: encounter Mexico-Canada/ Design hall

12:30 hrs. Mesa redonda / Arte Textil Contemporáneo: Encuentro México Canadá / Auditorio del CAD

12:30 hrs Round Table / Contemporary textile Art: Encounter Mexico, Canada / CAD Auditorium

Photographs of The Kaleidoscope Community Quilt Project in progress

This project is progressing so amazingly. To see some of the photographs of the community quilt please follow the link to the Canadaian Tulip Festival website.

http://www.tulipfestival.ca/gallery/?album=6&gallery=6

Mothers Celebrate at the Tulip Festival

The following article appeared in the May 9 2011 edition of the Ottawa Citizen

Mothers celebrate at the Tulip Festival

 Event has flowers, music and ice sculptures

 By Kelly Patterson, Ottawa Citizen May 9, 2011
.

The rain held off for the festival at Major's Hill Park.Photograph by: Pat McGrath, The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — t's the ultimate Mother's Day combo: Tulips, quilting, flower-arranging, sweetvoiced choirs and outdoor art. Even the glowering Ottawa skies held off from their deluge as hundreds of moms and their admirers turned out for the Canadian Tulip Festival.
Becky Cronin was emerging from a tent where a bizarre combination of ice carvers and flower arrangers shared the stage before a rapt audience, in simultaneous but separate demonstrations of their crafts.
"It's fantastic," said Cronin, a bouquet of artfully arranged flowers over one arm. As her husband and son took off in the direction of the Lego booth, she remarked that "the ice carver had a chainsaw going, so I could get the boys to sit with me" while she watched the flower arranging.
"There's no way they would have done that otherwise."
Once finished, the bouquets were given at random to audience members. Cronin scored hers after her seven-year-old son Ben popped up from his seat to follow the performer.
"And he tapped him on the bum!" she laughed, part tickled, part mortified.
Cronin found the ice carving a compelling sight: "It was very dramatic. There was ice flying all over the place . Then the guy took out a huge blowtorch at the very end," to 'polish' the carving.
Meanwhile, business was booming at the Lego Community Garden, a booth where youngsters knee-deep in Lego pieces were free to create whatever they wanted.
"I have Lego at home and I love playing with it." said nine-year-old Zakary Michel-Hoisak.
"Sometimes I can make the instructions for it in my head. It's fun," he said.
His creation today? A blue tulip, more than half-a-metre tall.
"It's my dream to go to Legoland and go on the Lego boats," said Zakary, who was at the festival with his grandmother, Cynthia Hoisak.
A few steps away, the talk was of turkey-tracks and herringbone stitches as people took in the Kaleidoscope Community Quilt, where a lively spread of vivid diamond-shaped squares is quickly taking shape as a wallcovering designed to celebrate peace and friendship.
The quilt is a work of "community art," in which any member of the public who knows a stitch or two is welcome to walk up and help sew, explains Gabby Ewen, one of three artists with the Moon Rain Centre, which conceived the project.
Based in Val des Monts, the non-profit centre is dedicated to strengthening community bonds through tapestry and fabric art projects.
"Weaving transmits the energy of peace -that is an ancient indigenous belief," says Thoma Ewen, artistic director of the centre.
A tapestry artist for 37 years, Ewen has directed projects across Canada as well as in France and Britain.
When it's completed, the Tulip Festival quilt will feature an orange-red tulip rising up against a background of hundreds of diamondshaped patches.
Appliquéd to the quilt will be hundreds of ribbons, on which people have written messages.
"They can write anything they want as long as it's related to the theme," says Gabby Ewen, adding that the kids' messages are particularly striking.
On a side-table, several ribbons await their moment to be added to the quilt.
One reads, "Ottawa is a beautiful city filled with kind and loving people. Peace. -Mariza."
Another reads, "Peace is using The Force for good, not evil. Long live the Jedi."
Ewen says that as many as 25,000 people may have added to the quilt before it's finished, explaining that -at almost five metres long and a metre-and-a-half wide -the piece should be large enough to accommodate the contribution of everyone who is interested.
The finished quilt will then become part of the festival's fine art collection, and may be hung in a public venue such as the new conference centre, City Hall or the airport, she says.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Working on the Kaleidoscope Community Quilt Day 3

Here we are on day three.Peoples messages of peace and friendship are being written on the ribbons which will be placed into the quilt.