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West Coast Tree Stump, c. 1972.
twined, supplemental weft; jute, spindle-spun wool, burlap
Collection of the Canada Council Art Bank / Collection de la Banque d’art du Conseil des arts du Canada, 74/5-0968
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Katharine Dickerson
b. 1947, Duluth, Minnesota, United States
Katharine Dickerson was already a celebrated artist and weaver when she moved to Calgary to teach weaving at the Alberta College of Art in 1977.
She had studied at the celebrated Haystack Mountain School of Crafts with Jean Stampsta and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago alongside Claire Zeisler, before moving to a farm on Vancouver Island. Here she set aside precise technical weaving for a more experimental approach, one informed by her study of Indigenous textile techniques. Her work grew in scale and complexity resulting in the monumental work, West Coast Tree Stump. This was created off-loom in her outdoor studio surrounded by living trees. She created several other large-scale commissions including the immersive West Coast Forest for the Department of Public Works (Douglas Building) in Victoria, 1975/76. Taking over from the retired Douglas Motter at ACA, Dickerson’s approach to weaving was compared to the explosive rock of Jimi Hendrix.
01.
Picture of the woods on Katharine Dickerson’s West Coast property just in front of the meadow and house clearing. The photograph highlights the environmental influences surrounding Dickerson in the early 1970s, including this large stump. Source: Katharine Dickerson. Katherine Dickerson,” Western Living (June 1977): 55.
02.
A funny process shot of Katharine Dickerson looking out from under the West Coast Tree Stump in progress, c. 1972. Source: Katharine Dickerson.
03.
Katharine Dickerson weaving, c. 1977. Source: Mary Fox, “The Woven Arts of Katherine Dickerson,” Western Living (June 1977): 55.