Sacrificial Art

Last week artist Heather Goodchild hosted a reception for her new exhibit at Toronto’s Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects. The exhibit, The Fire and the Knife, draws from Biblical stories and fairy tales to illustrate the spiritual and emotional benefits of sacrifice.  The immediate violent imagery that the two subjects, fire and knife, bring to mind is very much present in the works but are set amongst beautiful old-fashioned feminine imagery. Attendees are first greeted on the street by a window installation set against a colourful tapestry of a large white ghostly doll standing next to a bleeding lamb (which I morbidly would love to have in my house).

Goodchild, a Ryerson University fashion design graduate, has won grants from both the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council and has exhibited dozens of times in group collections and by herself including three times at this gallery. Her fashion design background comes through in her expert handling of textiles.

Her pieces include large hooked rugs, dioramas and felt portraits. The exhibit has a unified feeling while maintaining an interesting diversity of mediums. The pieces were conceived as teaching aids reminiscent of banners made for Girl Guide meetings or Sunday school classes. This makes sense as your child-like instinct yearns to touch the soft-looking textiles.

The exhibit runs until Nov. 22 at Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects (1082 and 1086 Queen St. West).

- Jessica Ford