Not your Nana's craft show

The Anna Templeton Centre is "Running with Scissors"

By Julie Skinner

March marked the graduation of 10 students from The College of the North Atlantic’s Textiles: Craft and Apparel Design program. Senior students have spent the last year majoring in various mediums such as weave, knit, quilting, embroidery, and apparel construction.

Textile art and apparel pieces created by this year’s graduates are currently on display at the Anna Templeton Centre in an exhibition entitled “Running with Scissors.” The showing, which is free to the public, is open daily from 12–4 pm and runs until June 13.

A fashion show held at Dusk Ultralounge on May 28 kicked off the exhibition and spectators were met with a myriad of colours and styles as models strutted down the runway. A mod-inspired shift dress, a headpiece adorned with purple feathers, a knitwear bikini, a red flapper dress, and an elaborate kimono were just a few of the eclectic pieces shown.

Instructor Katie Parnham told the Telegram that this year’s graduates were responsible for organizing the entire event—fashion show and exhibition—themselves.

“We revised our program a couple of years ago,” said Pernham. “One of the things that we did was we added a whole bunch of new courses and one of the courses was Special Events. So [the students] had to go for the first time and totally organize the show themselves.”

An opening reception was held for the graduates of the program on May 29 at The Anna Templeton Centre. Friends, family, and members of the general public were gifted to a sneak peak of the exhibition while instructors and local arts supporters passed on words of wisdom.

Former graduate, Cara Winsor, delivered an encouraging pep talk as she advised the students to make their work publicly known. “Make your own shows happen,” stressed Winsor. “There’s funding to be had.” She then went on to emphasize that support from the local arts community is readily available. Winsor advised the students that further education and instruction in their chosen field will serve to strengthen both their talent and their work.

Winsor was not the only speaker who attempted to ease the graduates’ transition from students to working artists. Gillian Brown, the president of The Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), awarded one of the graduates with a $1,000 scholarship. According to the CFUW, the program offered at The Anna Templeton Centre provides a solid foundation for students to become self-employed craftspeople while inspiring students to pursue further studies in textiles or art.

The college’s textiles program is not to be taken lightly. It is designed to further develop its students and works to bridge individuals into taking the necessary steps towards a career in the textile industry. This isn’t your Nana’s knitting circle—the program is for those who seriously wish to pursue a career in textile arts.

So what can one expect to find at this exhibition? A wide variety of textile art presented in an array of mediums—there’s photography, graphite sketches, a tray of knitted cupcakes, a flying dragon, a licence plate “skullpture”, a wearable brick house made of wool, and hand-woven birds’ nests hanging from the ceiling. Not to mention an exceptionally crafted tailored jacket made from boiled wool.

As for the graduates, their future plans seem to be as diverse and varied as their design aesthetics. “Creating new things with your hands is a vital part of being human,” says graduate Maggie Pearson. “Primarily I make hand-knit and woven fabrics which I then use to create three-dimensional pieces.”

Graduate Anna Coen says that creating and designing allows her to tell a story without using words. For Coen, colour is the most important design element of all, particularly because she hand-dyes most of her own material. “I like the act of sewing, weaving, and sculpting,” she says. “In the future I plan to focus mainly on weaving”.

Coen says she is drawn to Newfoundland and can see herself living “in a rural environment, working on my own projects in my own studio space.” Ultimately, her goal is to create “beautiful, useful things for the home.”

As for the other graduates, this exhibition promises to be the beginning of their creative careers.

“Running with Scissors” is free to the public and runs every day from 12-4pm at the Anna Templeton Centre until June 13. For more information contact annatempletoncentre@gmail.com.

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