Canada + Quebec Student / Emerging Artist Exhibit
EMILY CONLON
BIO
Emily Conlon is a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily in printmaking and drawing. She holds an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Saskatchewan and a BFA Honours in Visual Arts from the University of Windsor. Emily is Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for Saskatchewan Printmakers and has participated in print exchanges and exhibitions within Canada and internationally.
Water is a natural pathway as well as a natural barrier. It can guide us and deter us. It can be peaceful and it can be threatening. Our relationship to water can be complicated, but one thing that remains consistent is that water is crucial in sustaining all nature. It fuels life, it contains life, it exists in close proximity to life. Water takes on a life of its own in its movements and currents which cycle oxygen and nutrients and contribute to the earth’s climate patterns.
SUSPENSION
Having lived in two Canadian cities that have rivers as significant landmarks – Windsor, ON and Saskatoon, SK – I have become intrigued by the ways human life builds itself around and in relation to water. In Saskatoon, the South Saskatchewan River flows through the centre of the city. The city is built around this body of water and is known for the many bridges that connect one half of the city to the other. In Windsor, the river does something entirely different. The Detroit River acts as an international border between Canada and the US, and while the land on either side is connected, one cannot cross as freely. While the South Saskatchewan River flows organically through Saskatoon and encourages movement through the city, a city which almost becomes an extension of this body of water, the Detroit River forces us to come to an abrupt halt. I have grown very interested in the many different ways bodies of water can create or discourage movement through a space. In considering the iceberg in the centre of the installation as something which is largely unseen as it is submerged, I have also grown interested in the movements of the water itself. I chose to emphasize some of the unseen movements that occur beneath the surface of a body of water. My suspension design explores the many movements of these bodies of water which flow, churn, clash, push, pull, rest, rise, and fall.
Working intuitively with embroidery, each stitch becomes part of these gestural movements of water. The surface is made of beeswax coated muslin which creates a translucent surface for the stitches to weave through, allowing the viewer to see the thread trail behind as well as in front. In doing this, I am able to create small pathways which map the direction of the stitch, suggesting the pathways of the water. The muslin wraps all the way around the structure of this suspension allowing the embroidered stitches to connect in a continuous flow, much like the bodies of water I seek to mimic.