Wandering with Intent is a collection of wall art and wearable wraps created by Canadian fibre artist, Fiona Duthie. The pieces are all constructed from hand painted textiles, silk and cotton, using fabric paints, handmade and commercial inks, and dyes. These are cut, layered and felted using shapes found in resonant destinations from her travels.  This new body of work encapsulates the parallels of travel and life and how we choose to see and engage with the world around us.  

Duthie describes the inspiration for this body of work: “In 2023 I had the great fortune to take five months away from my usual practice and visit remote regions of Australia. This gift of time was about peeling back the layers and busyness of everyday life and revisiting myself and my core values. Time spent alone in nature creates space for me to feel stripped bare and experience all of the sensations of that place. Closing my eyes to feel and smell the air, the ocean, or the rainforest floor.  To listen more closely, sometimes to nature’s cacophony and sometimes to its profound silence. Looking for new ways of seeing and sensing that are beyond the most obvious. What we value most is not always that which is immediately apparent.”

Duthie worked on large scale fabric paintings during this trip, all en plein air, capturing the essence of each place, based in what came forward most strongly to her during quiet periods of observation. Sometimes that was colour, sometimes form, sometimes a series of words, and sometimes the barest of large gestures.  On returning home, these fabric lengths became her main materials to tell this story, along with charred wood, used as foundation, embellishment or as ink, reflecting this commonality so important and destructive to both of these regions. 

Wandering with Intent includes collages in cloth, memory keepers and talismans, that serve to remind us of potential- the expansive vistas of our senses and our constant inner home.