Uploaded March 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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Jane Kidd is a 2016 winner of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.
Directed by Black Rhino Creative: Ryan Mah and Danny Berish
Co-production of the Canada Council for the Arts and Black Rhino Creative
Presentation of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Independent Media Arts Alliance
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal, arm's-length Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957 "to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts."
For more information, visit: ggavma.canadacouncil.ca
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Transcript:
I spend a lot of time putting quite a lot of detail so that there’s a lot to look at in the works from a close range as well as a more graphic image which you might see from a little bit of distance. I really value that kind of allowing the viewer to move in and out of the work at different ranges. I think that also draws them into the process because as you come close to a work, you see the subtleties. And in recognizing these subtleties I think you get a sense of the maker’s hand.
When you’re handling materials, when you’re physically manipulating something, there’s nothing between me and what I’m doing. There’s not a paintbrush, there’s not a press. You’re very intimately involved with what you’re doing.
I use symbols all the time. Anything I work with usually has many references. Some might be fairly obvious and others are much more cryptic.
I was really interested in places where people still do things by hand and they had a kind of aesthetic that I was much more interested in. Even now, though I might be dealing with different subject matter in my work, I’m constantly looking back at the history of textiles for links that will connect my work to that history.
I think hand processes will continue and it may be because we’re moving into a digital age where we’re so removed from everything we work with. We really have no idea how it’s made or how it functions. Most people don’t know how their computer functions. They don’t know how most of the things they live with actually work. Whereas with a handmade object there’s a very direct human connection to that object – and it’s knowable, it’s understandable.
Please subscribe to support the arts in Canada.
Jane Kidd is a 2016 winner of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.
Directed by Black Rhino Creative: Ryan Mah and Danny Berish
Co-production of the Canada Council for the Arts and Black Rhino Creative
Presentation of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Independent Media Arts Alliance
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal, arm's-length Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957 "to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts."
For more information, visit: ggavma.canadacouncil.ca
_________________________________________________________________
Transcript:
I spend a lot of time putting quite a lot of detail so that there’s a lot to look at in the works from a close range as well as a more graphic image which you might see from a little bit of distance. I really value that kind of allowing the viewer to move in and out of the work at different ranges. I think that also draws them into the process because as you come close to a work, you see the subtleties. And in recognizing these subtleties I think you get a sense of the maker’s hand.
When you’re handling materials, when you’re physically manipulating something, there’s nothing between me and what I’m doing. There’s not a paintbrush, there’s not a press. You’re very intimately involved with what you’re doing.
I use symbols all the time. Anything I work with usually has many references. Some might be fairly obvious and others are much more cryptic.
I was really interested in places where people still do things by hand and they had a kind of aesthetic that I was much more interested in. Even now, though I might be dealing with different subject matter in my work, I’m constantly looking back at the history of textiles for links that will connect my work to that history.
I think hand processes will continue and it may be because we’re moving into a digital age where we’re so removed from everything we work with. We really have no idea how it’s made or how it functions. Most people don’t know how their computer functions. They don’t know how most of the things they live with actually work. Whereas with a handmade object there’s a very direct human connection to that object – and it’s knowable, it’s understandable.
