Iron-on blue flower
Amanda McCavour, ca. 2019
Water-soluble fabric, thread
4.8 x 4.2 cm
Purchased from Amanda McCavour
Personal collection
The Iron-on blue flower patch was created by Toronto-based artist, Amanda McCavour. She uses thread as her main medium, creating embroidered and textile focused pieces of art that she has been exhibiting since 2014. Often she creates large scale exhibitions which take up physical space and hang from the ceiling by string, making the two-dimensional, three-dimensional. These installations allow the viewer to experience the art from all angles, even lying on the floor and looking up is an option with McCavour’s artwork. Melanie Egan, Director of Craft & Design at the Harbourfront Centre, described McCavour’s installation at Gallery Stratford: “Her installations depict domestic scenes, figurative gestures, favourite potted plants or fields of flowers. McCavour creates multi-networks of thread that emphasize both solid and ethereal correlations within the installation.”
Often McCavour’s work focuses on flowers or nature which is what drew me to her artwork. Her unique use of traditional embroidery as well as the technology of water-soluble fabric and interlocking threads allows her to create magical depictions of everyday objects and nature, specifically flowers. I chose this item because of what it represents about the future of nature. This small blue flower is an example of the continued importance of the natural world that is reflected in art and evoked by artists The blue flower patch that I purchased is a small representation of McCavour’s engagement with nature and, like other aspects of her work, plays with the idea of transience and frailty of the natural world. Our modern view of nature is always changing and evolving, as we realize the importance of it to our lives. Living in a busy city, I am always looking for more ways to incorporate nature into my surroundings. Today, this rather small flower shows me that there are many creative ways that I can include more nature into my apartment without turning it into a jungle. It is also a small reminder that nature is available to us and reliant on our actions towards the environment.
Heather Clayton