Anna Wagner-Ott
78 Sandhill Drive, Barry’s Bay
Turn right off of Highway 60 onto Sandhill Drive. Studio is on the right.
Open year-round by appointment.
Summer and fall tours.
613-314-4341
annawagnerott@gmail.com
www.annawagnerott.com
annawagnerott
annawagnerott
A plethora of feelings materialized during the pandemic because I could not escape from the confinement of a small apartment. I took those feelings of isolation and being trapped into my art and began, at the beginning, creating architectural nests — a space of comfort and security. My sculptures shifted when I moved permanently to Barry’s bay in 2021 and the surfaces of each textile assemblage resembled the topography of the earth’s glorious geological formations seen from space but also to the darkness of a scared land created by human destruction and the earth’s crust being destroyed by pollution. My sculptures are inspired by my relationship with the land that surrounds my studio in Barry’s Bay. Taking daily bicycle rides, I stop and take photographs of moss, lichen and mushrooms that exist on trees and by rocks — a symbiotic relationship needing each other to survive. Nature surrounding the Madawaska region uplifts my spirit and feeds my soul and my artworks.
I learned my sewing skills from my mother and other female quilt makers by creating woven blocks out of threads on my sewing machine or a frame loom and connecting the forms into sculptural assemblages. The act of sewing, weaving and crocheting, choosing the colours and stitching intricate fragments is a meditative, exhilarating and mesmerizing process. I bind fabrics, tie threads and paint the woven segments with hot wax to simulate decomposing surfaces which become enhanced, hardened and protected, a form of creating mummifications.
I have had many solo exhibitions in California, the Maritimes and Ontario and participated in numerous juried shows. I am a member of the Ontario Society of Artists. More artworks can be seen on my website, www.annawagnerott.com.
