Bunny business

>> Four far-flung artists show their work in Delicate Filigree

by MARK SLUTSKY

Chantal Doyle's art nearly didn't make it to Montreal. Stopped at a security check at the San Francisco airport by three fatigues-wearing guards concerned about a safety pin she was wearing on her sweater, Doyle was delayed for a while. As she tells it, "I ran for my plane when I finally got away--and I left my artwork in the X-ray machine. It was awful. And I didn't, of course, realize it until my plane had taken off." Luckily, she managed to get in touch with security in San Francisco before the art was destroyed ("That's what they're doing with things they find in airports now," Doyle adds), and they were able to courier it to her in Montreal.

Doyle is one of four artists participating in Delicate Filigree, a new show at Elle Corazon more-or-less organized by B.C. artist Sonja Ahlers ("Sonja brought us together," Doyle says. She's also responsible for the show's title). The show brings together a rather far-flung assortment of Canadian women. In addition to Doyle (who lives on a ranch in Occidental, California) and Ahlers, there are works on display by Lisa K. Smolkin, who lives in Toronto, and Kim Dawn, also an Ontario resident.

The show consists of mostly wall-hung artwork in a bunch of different media: framed maps, drawings and knitted pieces by Doyle, painted drawings by Smolkin, colourful pictures of rabbity creatures by Dawn and some more three-dimensional stuff by Ahlers. There's a real unity to the show, with certain colours present in all the artists' work. "There's definitely a pale pink thing going on," says Doyle, and it's surprising to hear that the artists didn't really have much contact during preparation for the show. "It's crazy how we all totally chose the same palette." Other motifs run through the show--rabbits and stuffed "soft monkey" dolls (the kind with the big red lips) pop up frequently on the gallery's walls.

Most of the pieces in Delicate Filigree are for sale--just in time for the holiday season--and you can check them out throughout the week or during Elle Corazon's Rusty Plum Holiday Bazaars every weekend in December.

Delicate Filigree runs until January 5 at Elle Corazon (176 Bernard W.)