Fab fibre
Ann Haessel’s mixed-media works are All Over the Map

>>REVIEW
ALL OVER THE MAP

Ann Haessel
Runs until December 15, 2005
Alliance Française
(Memorial Park Library)

All Over the Map is the perfect name given by artist Ann Haessel to her exhibition of mixed media works currently on display at the Alliance Française of Calgary.

Climb up the stairs of the Memorial Park Library building and you will be greeted, not by a gallery, but instead an office space where Haessel’s (mostly) colourful works offer reprieve from the grey skyscrapers looming just beyond this oasis.

Known primarily as a creator of fibre-based works, this local, full-time artist has recently begun to spread her creative wings to incorporate such diverse materials as beads and photography in her art.

One large work, Shades of Life, demonstrates Haessel’s success in pushing the conventions that all too often confine fibre works. It’s a piece that she says contrasts the poverty experienced in parts of Asia with the wealth of Calgary.

"Shades of Life compares rich and poor of societies around the world," writes Haessel in her artist’s statement. "It portrays people living in the garbage dumps of Asia in the shadow of modern office buildings, and the Calgary Tower, symbols of the rich and powerful corporate world."

All Over the Map is not, then, simply referring to the materials that Haessel uses to create her pieces, but also the ideas and thoughts that are driving this collection. Here the viewer is confronted by a visualization of poverty and, a few feet away, there’s a fabric piece that uses delicate, almost ethereal colours to describe a domed building and minaret. Entitled Spires, the image appears to gently float among the clouds. It’s one of the strongest works in the exhibition.

Starting out as an embroiderer, Haessel abandoned her hand needlework in 1986 to explore how machines could add to her creative palette. Now she is moving forward again, incorporating diverse materials in what can be described as an often-poetic mélange. A series called Happy Farmer shows an Asian face with delicate stitch work that is as well executed as any carefully painted portrait. In addition to the imagery, the threads crossing the farmer’s face suggest a timeless quality to the piece.

It would be easy to confine Haessel to the craft category, where so many of those who work with fabrics end up, but some of these mixed media pieces go far beyond your granny’s needlework. One hopes that for her next exhibition, Haessel will choose a smaller portion of the map to concentrate on – at least in terms of subject matter – in order to show even more of the kind of socially aware works that appear here.