Review of Libby Hague’s Interweave

Harmony Raine

Harmony Raine recently completed a Master of Arts in Integrated Studies from Athabasca University with dual specializations in Cultural Studies and Equity Studies. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC.

Raine is a working artist whose interdisciplinary artistic practice centres upon the human and social condition, corporeal experience, and the exposure of pain and trauma through digital and analogue photography, hand-cut and digital collage, sculptural assemblages of found objects, papier maché, and cast body parts, as well as performative self-portraiture and installation work.

Raine lives in Kamloops, BC where she enjoys spending time with her beautiful family, works, volunteers, writes, makes art, and continues to attend university.

Weaving — such as Libby Hague’s Interweave (2010) — is especially emblematic of the type of interconnectedness and interdependence generated in families and communities. Additionally, because textile-based arts (constructed by knitting, sewing, quilting, and weaving) have historically been aligned with women’s work, their metaphors may be extended to highlight the role of women as the architects of families and communities.

Hague draws her inspiration from the material and metaphoric interest she has in woven structures, which she feels perfectly embody themes of interdependency and interconnectedness. Each thread is individual and distinct; but each is also integral to the development, integrity, and solidarity of the whole. The artist states: “Weaving suggests that we can maintain our individual distinctiveness within a more ambitious structure that allows others to do the same”.

Interweave

Libby Hague Interweave (2010)

Textile-based arts have traditionally been denigrated to the status of “craft” rather than “fine art” because of the perception that they are used to produce practical (not artistic) items, and because of their association with women’s work — distinctions that have largely excluded women artists from galleries, academies, and the canon. But this valuable art form deserves recognition for the talent and high degree of technical skills of the artists as well as the inherent symbolism and meaning in the works. Textile artists must be respected and valued as cultural producers who have made, and continue to make, significant contributions to our family, community, and social histories.

Interweave is not an actual weaving, constructed of textiles and threads. Rather, it is a woodcut on paper, inspired by the broader circumstances of weaving . The method and medium reflect a sense of purpose and intention, and add yet another layer of complexity to the piece.

Libby Hague is an award-winning Canadian artist, whose work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad. Interweave (2010) is part of Athabasca University’s permanent art collection.