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Close Knit, 1976
felting via wringer washing machine; wool
35 x 89 x 391 cm
SK Arts Permanent Collection, 2022-074
Photo: Lipman Still Pictures
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Aganetha Dyck
b. 1937, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
As a student of master weaver Margreet van Walsem in the mid-1970s, Aganetha Dyck soon became impatient with the demands of loom-based work.
After accidently discovering the beauty of shrunken wool, Dyck’s preferred art-making apparatus became a washing machine, rather than a loom, and discarded woolen goods her favoured medium, rather than yarn. Close Knit, created after her move from Prince Albert to Winnipeg in 1976, belongs to her signature series Sizes 8 to 46. The shrunken wool sweaters in this work form a tight, cohesive group, asserting a feminist perspective on the value of domestic life and work.
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Rope Dance, c. 1974
crochet; jute
293 x 37.5 x 30 cm
SK Arts Permanent Collection, 1976-305
As a child growing up in rural Manitoba, Aganetha Dyck was fascinated by the crocheted doilies and baskets of her Mennonite grandmother.
After a move to Prince Albert in 1972, Dyck began to create imaginative forms using this technique, including a pig and piglets crocheted out of copper wire. These works caught the attention of George Glenn, Director of the Prince Albert Art Centre, leading to an invitation to move into the Centre’s studio. There Dyck would be introduced to Saskatchewan’s vibrant weaving community, including Margreet van Walsem, Annabel Taylor, Kaija Sanelma Harris, and Ann Newdigate, among others.
01.
Aganetha Dyck stands amidst her installation Changes at the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina, 1979. Source: Denise Ball, “Artist learns from children in use of new art form,” The Leader-Post (Regina, SK), October 27, 1979, 12.
02.
Aganetha Dyck and Margreet van Walsem at the Prince Albert Art Centre Studio, 1975. Source: Jan van Walsem.