EXHIBITION
GAIL PROTTI: BLOOMWORKS
On View From: Sept 1 - Oct 31 2026
A GARDEN OF FRAGMENTED MEMORIES
Memories are gathered over a lifetime. Some remain vivid, while others soften and fragment, held not in perfect detail but in the quiet presence of things we choose to keep.
Bloomworks: A Garden of Fragmented Memories began with vessels. I was thinking about what a vessel holds — not only flowers or water, but traces of use, fragments of memory, and the lives of materials before they reached me.
I work almost entirely with reclaimed, thrifted and vintage textiles, yarns and threads because they arrive already carrying histories. A tablecloth, scarf, piece of lace, grocery bag, dyed cloth or discarded sheet can become part of something new without entirely losing what it once was. Through hand stitching, embroidery, crochet and painting, I join these fragments slowly and visibly. The stitches construct, draw, repair and connect.
The garden is a recurring language in this work. As a lifelong gardener and former Master Gardener, I think of memory as something that grows. Some memories bloom brightly, while others fade back into the landscape, yet all contribute to who we become.
Each flower represents a fragment of memory — a small moment, relationship, place or emotion that continues to shape us long after it has passed. Flowers grow from painted surfaces, textile vessels and furniture. Roots extend beneath a heart. An umbrella becomes a gentle fall of blossoms, while a table holds a small imagined landscape.
The cats emerged from the vessels after Mister Mochi came home with me as a kitten. They introduced a more playful presence, but they belong to the same world of gathered materials and remembered forms. Moving quietly through the installation as witnesses and companions, they offer a sense of comfort, curiosity and belonging.
The installation brings familiar domestic objects into a garden-like space. Chairs, a table, a teapot, an umbrella and a rug suggest a place to gather. The vessels and wall works hold quieter and more private memories.
I am interested in the way ordinary materials can carry emotion, and in the tension between permanence and fragility, repair and change. I want seriousness and playfulness to exist beside one another.
Bloomworks is not a reconstruction of one particular garden or memory. It is a garden made from fragments — some inherited, some found, some altered and some imagined — brought together through colour, texture and handwork.
It is an invitation to wander through that landscape and discover the fragments that continue to flower.
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EXHIBITION ARTWORK
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You’re Invited
ON VIEW:
Sept 1 - Oct 31 2026
HOURS:
10am-4pm Tues - Sat
LOCATION:
The Old School House Arts Centre - Upstairs Gallery
Admission is free:
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terminal at the front desk.