Pattie Dolan — Weaving a Rich Life Tapestry
by Sally Hansen
The “fabric of our lives” is a literary metaphor alluding to all the complex layers that comprise a human existence — our bodies, our emotions, our spirituality, the genetic code we inherited, the experiences that shape us, the options we are given and the choices we make. Using subtle tones and a lush palette of textures, Pattie Dolan creates fabric art metaphors. By deconstructing and reconstructing common and found objects on her loom, sometimes incorporating felting and papermaking, Dolan weaves fabric canvases that urge us to step close and reconstruct from our own perspective.
Weft, Warp and Woof
Many of Dolan’s pieces are sculptural. Her main focus is on textures. Works range from small framed papers to large hemp kimonos on steel frames, and a gorgeous white felted coat adorning a 10-foot mannequin. Her pieces merit careful scrutiny. In one piece I discovered long steel nails woven into the hemp body of the fabric. Some pieces have many layers and she often includes other fabrics and lace and handmade paper. Sometimes Dolan incorporates objects found at the race track or in the Pakenham fields surrounding her spectacularly designed and decorated home. Walking the family’s two dogs twice a day provides lots of opportunity to search for unusual and exciting additions to her pieces. Friends donate unusual fabrics, and she has collected exotic fabrics from all over the world.
Adventure Loomed
Pattie Dolan was born in Vancouver, and graduated from the Royal Columbian Hospital School of Nursing in New Westminster. She moved to Pakenham for the first time in the summer of 1975, with her husband, Dr. Michael Dolan, who had attended medical school at the University of Ottawa. While working as a nurse in Almonte and Arnprior, Pattie met a young weaver named Stephen Brathwaite who, with partner Ian Paige, had a “cutting-edge arts and crafts gallery at the end of Pakenham’s five-span stone bridge.” Pattie was intrigued and Stephen was encouraging, advising her on the purchase of her first loom. Her first fabrics were sewn into jackets by her sister, and their mother still proudly wears one of the garments made by her two daughters.
In 1978-79 Pattie studied midwifery at the University of Alberta in Edmonton to pursue her interest in childbirth, finding it a “lovely way to bond with women”. In 1980 the adventurous couple talked to recruiters in Toronto, and moved to Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, to work at a military hospital that also provided services to the Saudi Royal Family. In 1982 they extended their escape to warmer pastures by moving to Kentucky where Michael completed his residency in emergency medicine at the University of Louisville.
Pattie joined a Louisville weaving group and began making functional pieces such as rugs and table runners, employing traditional over-shot weaving. “I loved the whole process — from start to end, I loved the motion of weaving; I would just get lost in it.” Their son and first daughter were born in Louisville, and by the time they returned to this area in 1986, they had purchased 199 acres of Pakenham countryside and had a basic dwelling built on it.
The Dolans’ third child was born in Ottawa, and Pattie got a job with the Victorian Order of Nurses, doing home nursing in a rural setting. She found providing nursing services in patients’ homes very rewarding, with the emphasis on the patient rather than on the “system”, and the patients much happier being in their own homes.
Even Michael’s hobby of racing a Lotus Elan did not appease their appetite for adventure, however, and in 1991 the family moved to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where Michael practiced emergency medicine at Saudi Aramco’s large hospital. Pattie took her loom, and during their seven-year stay, she intertwined her weaving with her parenting. Her art imitated her life, becoming more adventurous and international. Soon she was participating in solo and group exhibits, and receiving commissions for tapestries to hang in corporate headquarters. In Saudi Arabia she signed her pieces M. P. Dolan (her first name is Mary) to avoid sexist bias.
During their annual summer sojourns back to Pakenhan, Pattie had the good fortune to be instructed in papermaking by a family friend, Wendy Cain, who just happened to be an art instructor at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. “I found it fascinating, and I loved the instant gratification of seeing what I had created.” Back in Saudi Arabia, she produced a series of Saudi papers, responding to the so-non-Canadian natural and manufactured landscapes. She also taught hand-papermaking to fourth-year interior design students at the Women’s University in Dammam.
When their son Patrick finished Grade 9 in 1998, they had to choose between sending him away to boarding school (expatriate students were not allowed to continue their education in Saudi Arabia past Grade 9) or returning to Canada. They came home to Pakenham where Michael renewed his family practice, and now also works in the emergency department of the Almonte General Hospital, and as an anaesthesiologist.
In 2002 Pattie Dolan had a huge exhibit at the Mississippi Mills Textile Museum. Again with Stephen Brathwaite’s encouragement, she joined the Mill Street Gallery Artists’ Co-op, now housed next to Fitzgerald’s Restaurant in the Victoria Woollen Mill at 79 Mill St. in Almonte. Co-op member artists are usually on site on weekend afternoons, and the servers at Fitzgerald’s will be delighted to assist you with an art purchase any time the restaurant is open (Tues–Fri lunch 11:30AM–2:30PM, Sat & Sun brunch 10:30AM–3PM, and Tues–Sun dinner 6–9PM). Fitzgerald’s phone number is 256–2524.
From November 2 to 4 Pattie Dolan will be the featured artist at the 27th Annual Exhibition and Sale of the Ottawa Valley Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild. Admission is free at the Glebe Community Centre at 175 Third Avenue in Ottawa. Hours are from 4–8PM on Friday, and from 10AM–4PM on Saturday and Sunday.
You can contact Pattie Dolan by email or by phone at 256–8198.