Saturday, April 17, 10:00am PST
Instructor: Aidan Smith
Moderator / Assistant: artist Kristin Nelson
A net making workshop has been organized by artist Kristin Nelson, of the current exhibition Visible Labour at the Comox Valley Art Gallery. This workshop came out of a desire to collectively make, and of a continued curiosity around nets as an object rich in meaning and use value.
In this online workshop, participants will be shown how to load a netting needle, start a net, and increase/decrease the net in size. With these basic skills, nets of varying sizes and shapes can be created.
About Aidan – Based in Nova Scotia, Aidan Smith is a jeweller and heritage interpreter. He graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University with a BFA in 2011. Since then, he has worked as a jewellery designer and 3D modeler for a multinational company, worked in the Nova Scotia Museum system, and in 2016 opened his own business. Throughout his career Aidan has enjoyed learning hands on crafts not limited to, metalwork, carpentry, embroidery, knotwork, and netmaking. He currently splits his time between the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and his own business: Aidan Smith Jewellery Appraisal and Design.
Aidan would like to acknowledge that he is located in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People.
Pre-registration is needed:
Drop by the gallery or email: gallery@comoxvalleyartgallery.com
Participant Net Making Kits are available for pick up at the Comox Valley Art Gallery, Thurdsay – Saturday 10am – 5pm starting April 8, 2021
Net Making Kit Supplies:
Netting Needle
Net Gauge/Card
Line/Twine
Anchor Point (not included)*
*The process of netmaking will include keeping tension and pulling on the net as it’s being created, so it’s important to have somewhere to attach the net to. This can be as simple as a nail in a windowsill, a hook, a doorknob, a table leg, a chair with a bunch of books on it. Any item you can wrap a loop of twine around and pull on without it moving too much. Having this anchor point at or above a comfortable working level will help.
Image: Detail of ‘Nets’ created by Kristin Nelson photograph by Angela Somerset