Sapling Song

About Sapling Song

This mixed media contemporary assemblage resembles a vessel and is designed to be hung on a wall.

Alice Vander Vennen’s personal history has always served as inspiration for her artistic process. Her parents lived in Holland during the Second World War, a time when everything had a purpose, a use. The idea of collecting and re-imagining found objects is natural for the Canadian artist. She begins each sculptural composition with textiles, both new and archival, selected for their colour and design. Layer upon layer of textiles are cut and assembled along with found objects—copper, copper wire, and piano hammers. A canoe-like shape in burnished copper—a vessel symbolic of ‘life’s journey’ forms a powerful central image. It sits against a rich backdrop of three separate squares adorned with detailed layers of textiles in various organic shapes. These framed pieces can be hung horizontally or vertically.

“Some textiles carry a history. Some of them carry a narrative from a different culture. They all come together in my work. I just love how they all seem to work together.” Alice Vander Vennen

Alice Vander Vennen trained as a sculptor at Calvin College, USA and at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Her work is held in public, private and corporate collections both here and abroad.