Toronto Sculpture Garden
Tucked into a petite, green space – which initially appears to be part of the neighboring bistro’s outdoor patio – and right across King Street from St. James Cathedral, is the Toronto Sculpture Garden.
I looked at the installation, titled Pins and Needles, by Karen Kraven.
Video of sculpture by Karen Kraven at Toronto Sculpture Garden
A giant clothing rack holds oversized garment pieces: a pant leg, a bodice fragment, a sort of apron adorned with long ties, a stiff belt, random pockets, gathers, plackets among other objects. The items, arrayed as though waiting for the next step in a manufacturing process, are made of sturdy fabrics, workmanlike, serious, and in Mark’s type colours.
Pins and Needles by Karen Kraven
The history of King Street, as a manufacturing hub, a place where workers – especially women – toiled to create valuable objects of utility is gracefully evoked. Of course, now King Street is home to lofts, furniture boutiques and technically advanced service industries. Clothing manufacturing from the past is now viewed as unsavoury, exploitative and generally noxious and it has been moved offshore for the most part, out of sight…somewhere.
Pins and Needles by Karen Kraven
This artwork struck me as strangely nostalgic. Intellectually we may be meant to reflect on the harsh, dark past of urban textiles factories with a shudder, but these things suspended before me are so appealing the opposite thought occurs: wouldn’t it be great if we made stuff to last, right here in Toronto.
The supple, handsome objects caught the afternoon sun and shifted slightly in a soft summer breeze, as I gazed at them.
annetteandquebec 