Inspiration
This project is a reply to the pivotal Joyce Wieland works "Reason Over Passion" and "La raison avant la passion." The famous quote by Pierre Eliot Trudeau
In 1968, inspired by the air of possibility around new prime minister Pierre Trudeau, artist Joyce Wieland expressed her appreciation with needle and thread. She produced a multicoloured quilt, appliquéd with Trudeau’s evocation to the nation: “Reason over passion” meant to be a call to govern based on evidence-based thinking.
Almost a decade later, during a particularly tempestuous time in the Trudeaus’ crumbling marriage, and with the Wieland piece close at hand, Margaret Trudeau ripped the letters off the quilt and hurled them down the stairs of 24 Sussex at her perplexed husband.
Dr. August Klintberg in a Fogo Island Arts Residency decided to flip the script. He not only reversed the phrase but literally flipped the fabric and stitched it in on the reverse. While Wieland’s letters were appliqueing August made them part of the pattern ensuring they would never be broken. That strength of character was needed in the building of the Fogo Island Inn, which some said was neither practical, reasonable or rational.
The quilt is a limited edition of ten and produced in both French and English editions in keeping with Wieland's work.
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