From the Collection
Patrick Traer

September 19, 2008

This image and short article are part of a back-page series in On Campus News that celebrates the University of Saskatchewan art collection. Begun in 1911, the collection comprises more than 4400 objects, including many important examples from various artists and eras. OCN asked Kent Archer, director of the collection, to select and discuss the works in this series.

Patrick Traer has a BA in English literature (U of S and UBC), and an MFA in visual art from York University. He taught drawing, painting and multi-media, and chaired the graduate program in studio arts at the U of S as an associate professor. Traer recently took a faculty appointment in the fine art department at Concordia  University in Montreal.

He is best known for his embroidered textile works and upholstery, which often extend into sculptural installations and mixed media using video, photography, light-boxes,and blown glass.

In this untitled piece, the systemic, machine embroidered drawings on blood red, iridescent taffeta represent the body in an undefined space. The sensuous and erotic flow of the taffeta is juxtaposed by the obsessive and intricate embroidery that is both organic and neatly contained. The needle and thread have punctured and disrupted the fluid sensuous fabric, causing bulges and warping much like the nervous system of the human body. According to an essay by Helen Marzolf, "Traer's 'sewing' reinforces the legitimacy of textiles as art, and functions equally well to stake out another territory of masculinity, particularly one amenable to queerness."

Artist:	Patrick Traer
Title:	Untitled
Date:	1991
Media:	embroidery on shot taffeta
Credit:	Collection of the University of Saskatchewan, Gift of the artist, 1994