Sandra Brownlee, 2014 Canada Council laureate – a film by Tim Wilson

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In this video Sandra Brownlee discusses her artistic practice.

Sandra Brownlee is a 2014 winner of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal, arm's-length Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957 (Canada Council for the Arts Act) "to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts."

Directed by Tim Wilson
Presentation of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Independent Media Arts Alliance

For more information, visit: https://ggavma.canadacouncil.ca
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Sandra Brownlee -- Transcript

You have to begin. You have to make one row, one row of weaving. That's all you have to do. And then, you look at that row and you take the very first thought you have in your mind: "Oh, I am going to make the next row this way... then the next row this way." And it just starts to grow.
The way I basically proceed is: What I feel like doing, I do. I don't question it so much, I just do it. I often start my day in the studio with some kind of repetitive drawing exercise. So, here's another circle. This is made of soil from my vegetable garden, and I rubbed it with my hand into the paper.
I'm very tactile oriented and through touch and all my senses is how I access ideas and feelings... and knowledge, really. I've found a way of working that really suits me, which is this improvisational weaving. Very low tech. It's like I work with a limited palette of black and white usually, and a few tools. It's sort of like drawing and handwriting.
Almost the moment I sat down at the loom I felt at home. First of all, you have a piece of equipment that you're sitting at. You have a place to be. You have all these procedures. And it was just exactly what I needed as someone who gets quite distracted. It was just very calming for me, and it made me feel secure and all settled so that somehow, I was able to go deeper within myself. And at the same time, going beyond... using it as a way of somehow witnessing to life... my life.
Make a mark. See where it goes.