Vita Plume: Patterns & Portraits

The UNB Art Centre opens its doors and welcomes back the community to in-person exhibits and programs with the first exhibition of 2021, Vita Plume: Patterns & Portraits which opens Friday, September 17 at 5:00 pm. This exhibit runs through October 29.

Patterns & Portraits features several bodies of work produced over 3 decades by master weaver Vita Plume. Working with a digital Jacquard loom, pieces are woven then dyed using a technique known as Shibori, an ancient Japanese method for hand-dyeing fabric. The West Gallery will present the penetrating series Fallen Soldiers, USA/Canada (2010). In the exhibition catalogue Commemorations produced by the New Brunswick Museum exhibition in 2019, curator Peter Larocque observes that this work “bear silent witness…to the devastating realities of war.”

The East Gallery will commemorate the special relationship of women to craft. Featured will be weavings from the Alice Lusk Webster Suite, based on a portrait of one of the New Brunswick Museum’s early champions, the Doris Ullman Project which portrays textile workers of the Appalachian region of Kentucky along with earlier work honouring the artist’s Latvian roots.   Plume’s portraits of faces and hands created using subtle shifts of light and colour tell the story of forgotten makers who devoted their lives to the art of weaving and textiles.

Born in Montreal of Latvian refugees, Vita Plume has a Master of Fine Art from NSCAD University in Halifax. She has taught at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in Fredericton, NSCAD, Concordia University, Montreal and the University of North Carolina in Raleigh. She has work in collections across the globe and has exhibited throughout Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia.  She remains engaged in the dissemination of ideas regarding the history, socio-cultural, political and technical applications of textiles. Vita Plume is a currently based in Jemseg, New Brunswick.

The UNB Art Centre is located at Memorial Hall, 9 Bailey Drive, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton.  The galleries are open 9 am – 4 pm weekdays and during special events. Admission is free to members of the public. Everyone welcome!