PATTERNMAKER

July 5 - August 15, 2018

CO Space Gallery, Craft Ontario
1106 Queen Street West, Toronto

Opening Reception Thursday, July 5th, 6:00-9:00 pm

An exhibition by Carey Jernigan and Julia Campbell-Such

Patternmakers hand-craft the wooden forms, called “patterns,” that are used to create moulds for casting metal gears, pulleys, and machine parts. These intricate wooden objects, which must be made to exacting specifications, are some of the most challenging things to make out of wood. Patternmakers are master woodworkers, but their trade is becoming obsolete as industrial manufacturing methods become more mechanized and efficiency is prioritized over individual skill.  

As craftspeople working in the trades at a time of rapid technological change, we notice that the tools we use affect our experience of work and our experience of time. As workers, we respond to the rhythms of the technologies we work with; we adapt, we fight back, we play to pass the hours. Patternmaker is a reflection on this change of pace.

Find out more about how the exhibition works came together here:

https://patternmaker-study.weebly.com

About the Artists:

Julia is a trained cabinetmaker who worked for several years as a furniture maker in small Toronto studios. She has recently completed professional training in Art Conservation at Queen’s University, specializing in wooden objects. She is currently at the Art Gallery of Ontario in the Sculpture and Decorative Arts labs and will be at the Smithsonian National Gallery of African Art in the fall for an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Objects Conservation.

As an artist, Carey explores industrial processes, material culture, and the people and places they shape. She trained as a furniture maker with Heidi Earnshaw Design (2012 - 2017) and co-founded Junction Workshop with Heidi in 2016. In 2015, Carey was the recipient of the RBC Emerging Artists Studio Setup Award through Craft Ontario. Her current project, One in Three, combines fine woodworking with large-scale installation to shed light on the difficult statistic that one in three women experience sexual assault or intimate partner violence during their lifetime. www.careyjernigan.com

The artists would like to acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council in the production and presentation of Patternmaker.