Isabel Rorick & Robin Rorick: Roots That Connect Us All – A Mother & Son Collaboration

November

Stonington Gallery is very proud to present an exhibition of the art of renowned Haida weaver Isabel Rorick and her son, carver and painter Robin Rorick. Isabel is the great-granddaughter of the great turn-of-the-century Haida artists Isabella and Charles Edenshaw. She and Robin have dived deep into their family roots to research and understand the magnificent processes behind the Edenshaws’ famed woven and painted objects. Isabel has spent most of her adult life studying Isabella’s woven works in museum collections. The 2013 Vancouver Art Gallery “Charles Edenshaw” exhibit was a muse for her son, Robin Rorick, steering him towards the decision to paint his mother’s weavings for this exhibition at Stonington Gallery.

Among the most fascinating aspects of the rich and ancient weaving traditions of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the collaborations between men and women artists. “Roots That Connect Us All” shines a light on the historic Haida artistic collaboration of women weaving and men painting those weavings. This art form was immortalized in the painted weavings of Charles and Isabella Edenshaw. Often acknowledged as the greatest historic artists from the Pacific Northwest Coast, Charles and Isabella’s collaborative works are among the finest objects held in museum collections throughout the world. The recent Retrospective exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery of Edenshaw’s work provided a rare opportunity for scholars, artists and the public to view a collection of work loaned from museums throughout the world. More information–including the exhibition catalog–is below.

Exhibition Dates:

November 3, 2016 - November 26, 2016

Involved Artists:

Isabel Rorick, Robin Rorick

Featured Works

“We are all a part of a giant complex weaving of life that requires respect and love to further interconnection. The trees are nourished by earth’s elements and by the life cycle of the plants, insects, fish and all the other animals. In return the trees provide gifts of life for all those who are living. It is the same for the roots that connect us to our ancestors.

Weaving, painting and carving are a part of this sacred cycle and the energies that we portray are stories that come through us when we allow it and when we take the time to listen and feel. This is the way of our ancestors.” -Isabel & Robin Rorick

In our thirty- five years of curating many important and memorable exhibitions, this show is among the most meaningful. Excellence is a rare thing. Charles and Isabella Edenshaw’s art marked a seminal time in the art of the Haida. We are truly honored to exhibit the collaborative works by the Roricks this fall, and to be the site where this familial and historic art form rises once more.

Isabel is widely considered the finest living spruce root weaver on the Coast, continuing the tradition of weaving exquisitely fine hats and baskets. Her paternal grandmother, Selina Peratrovich, taught her to weave spruce root baskets from materials they had gathered at Masset. Isabel deeply respects the fact that ‘Auntie’ Dolores Churchill has been her mentor, and is feels proud and fortunate to have learned from ‘Nonny’ Selina, who was so important to her. It was only after Selina passed that Isabel realized Selina had been the last active spruce root weaver of her generation.

Robin Rorick was raised on Haida Gwaii and on Hornby Island, BC, and has taken up the mantle of his heritage. A carver of great elegance and refinement, his work has the tension, flow and dynamism of the Haida masters. He has recently been mentored by Robert Davidson in the method of painting on woven spruce root. For this exhibition Robin will be painting weavings by his mother, much as Charles Edenshaw did on Isabella’s weavings. He will also debut carved sculpture, including an exquisite Eagle Panel in cedar.

COLLECTORS’ PREVIEW: November 2nd, 6-7:30 PM

Artists will be in attendance, speaking on their family history and research on the works of Isabella and Charles Edenshaw.