Self-portrait, Frances Dorsey

3 Questions: Artist & Curator in Conversation

1. Describe working process as artist 

My process for this piece was to simply look around at what I had at hand to work with, to choose some bits that seemed interesting and then to move them around until they said something to me. As I sorted them into piles and handled them I started to think about how they might be stitched together; I sewed together a square from 9 small test squares, and then began to sort the remaining ones into piles of 9 depending on either the plant they were dyed from or maybe just what was left over.  

 By chance there were 20 piles of squares, and that made me think of the year 2020. As I looked at the samples they reminded me of heads from above standing in groups or alone. I moved them around and decided to start sewing them together either in blocks of the same plant dye source or in mixed groups. It felt like perfect pandemic work where one might think lucidly for moments but otherwise might need to simply follow instinct without over-thinking. 

2. Source of inspiration for work/ how did act of art making help in reflecting on/responding to the pandemic  

Each of us has experienced the pandemic differently. In my case, as an artist retired from teaching with modest but reliable income, I was painfully aware of the privilege of my pandemic experience. We have been warm, with shelter and sufficient food, and not reliant on going out to risky situations to earn a living; neither did I have to try to suddenly figure out how to teach equipment and studio-dependent courses online. Yet we have not seen our children in  more than a year; one child, a paramedic and his partner, a respiratory therapist, are in Ontario and my other child and partner are in Montreal and they have all had  very different experiences. And, their pandemic experience, though somewhat risky, is mild compared to all those who are struggling to eat and keep warm, those who have lost their means of support or their businesses, and those with challenging health conditions. The much quoted phrase “we are all in the same storm but in different boats” is painfully true. 

3. How do I think visual art helps us understand the complex world around us? 

Words convey specific kinds of meanings. Images and sounds also convey meanings but often these can be ineffable; beyond words, an emotional and deeper connection to an idea that is larger than mere sentences.