Saturday May 31 from 2 - 4 pm

reception and artists lecture Storytelling: the conception and creation of the Crown Project

Contact: jacqueline@jatreloar.com, cell 416 435 8005, www.jatreloar.com

Jacqueline Treloars Great Crowns for the Queen of Heaven is an ongoing, multi-segmented project. Treloars fascination with the crowned statues of the Virgin Mary has evolved from her years living in the inner city of Palermo where religious processions and festivities are a part of the fabric of the city. Her Coronas Magnas Reginae Caeli series is inspired by the Vergine Maria Del Monte Carmelo in the church of Carmine Maggiore, Palermo, Sicily and the wonderfully exuberant crowns worn by the Mary Queen of Heaven statues in southern Spain.

Traditionally, a crown represents legitimacy, triumph, power, glory or immortality. Not only does it make a person optically taller, but also it announces that this person is endowed with superior virtues, skills, and potentially god-like qualities. A crown protects and alienates.

It is not by accident, that Treloar has chosen this utmost symbol of institutionalized superiority to be the carrier of the most personal and intimate confession possible. We are not intimidated by the priceless wealth of gems, pearls and gold any more. Instead, we are exposed to memories of spinning carousels, flea markets, family reunions, birthday celebrations, toys, trinkets, treasure chests and treasured memories. By incorporating images of her own friends and family members, Treloar inverts the crowns untouchable sacredness into a vulnerable personal statement, which communicates universal concepts of human experience such as birth and death, aging and dependency as well as the strength of family bonds and social relationships.

The upcoming installation consists of a set of four 5 ft diameter, hanging, elaborately festive crowns each representing a season of life and of nature, which are suspended from the ceiling of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto from May 19 to June 15 and encompass the citys Doors Open program on May 24 and 25, 2014. The four smaller 16 x 12 crowns, based on those of Constance of Aragon in Palermos Cathedral, are the precedents for the much larger crowns and stand beside them. The crowns are accompanied by four 10 ft sq net and nylon panels representing the magnificent Benedictine Monreale Cathedral cloister located on the hills outside of Palermo. The inlaid mosaic patterning in the cloister columns is transformed by stencils, transfers and beading into messages and cards from dear friends and loved ones.

Elements used: fabrics, findings, heat transfers, stencilling, stitching, beading