It’s been two years since Morag Orr-Stevens exhibited her work at the Centre Gallery on Gabriola Island. That show, called Kaleidoscope, featured a selection of the artist’s vibrant quilts and collages.
Since that showing, Orr-Stevens has been hard at work on a sequel. Kaleidoscope 2 will feature 20 art quilts up to 72 square inches large. The pieces are constructed from hand-dyed fabrics, embroidery threads, beads, ribbons and original patterns.
“From the early stages to the finished product it’s totally different. You’d never recognize what it started out as,” she said.
Due to the artist’s objection to using pre-made quilting kits and her do-it-yourself attitude, it has taken two years for her to complete her newest works, which will be on display at the Centre Gallery from Aug. 12 to Sept. 29. On opening night Orr-Stevens will attend the wine and cheese reception.
But the show isn’t all quilts. Once again Orr-Stevens is adding her brightly coloured multimedia collages to the display. The collages are much older works than the newly created quilts and are composed of layered papers, including a kind of Japanese rice paper, copper, beadings, newsprint and cut-up and rearranged paintings.
“That’s where the kaleidoscope part comes in,” she said.
All her life Orr-Stevens was a painter and she describes her turn to fibre art in the last decade as an intuitive progression.
“It was just a natural thing to do,” she said.
“I started incorporating fabric into my collages using the paper and fabric and then a lot of my collages started to look like quilts and then I just [started] using more fabric and less paper.”
Orr-Stevens said she likes to present her quilts and collages side-by-side because despite the differing media, they have some shared qualities.
“There was so much of a similarity in them; in the design and in the colour…” she said.
“There was sort of a crossover from the paper to the fabric. Some of them are quite amazing and yet the collages were done years ago but I could see a connection.”
Orr-Stevens said she is grateful to have been invited back to the Centre Gallery for Round 2. At the reception she will be present to discuss her work. For those unable to make the grand opening, the artist will also attend the exhibit by appointment.
Of those viewing her works, Orr-Stevens said she hopes “that they’re amazed, that they’re surprised, that they love it, that they just smile when they see the pieces because they are bright and cheerful and stunning.”
WHAT’S ON … Opening reception for Morag Orr-Stevens’s Kaleidoscope 2 takes place at the Centre Gallery, 590 North Rd., Gabriola, on Sunday, Aug. 12 from 2 to 4 p.m. Show continues until Sept. 29.
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