After teaching the technical aspects of textiles for what seems like a lifetime, a retired Pat Farrell-Frederick is now taking her love for art to a new level by addressing social issues.
The 77-year-old recently had one of her pieces on show at the Rotunda Gallery in the DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality exhibition in commemoration of International Women's Day. Her piece titled Senior Women Can Code, focussed on the issue of ageism - the stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination towards others or ourselves based on age.
"The older folks are often left behind regarding technology, but many still have the will to learn. These senior ladies have mastered binary coding and have presented themselves in a matrix showing off their hats proudly. They have overcome contempt in the form of ageism – (You too old to learn anything) and have outsmarted the adage 'You can’t teach old dogs new tricks.' Yes, our generation can learn and function in the new normal world," Farrell-Frederick said in her artist statement.
[caption id="attachment_1012420" align="alignnone" width="768"] - Senior Women Can Code.[/caption]
She hopes that her participation in the DigitALL exhibition can serve as inspiration for other people in her demographic – the dinosaur era – as some young people describe it. She believes it is important that people understand the necessity to confront their fears and areas of insecurity. She said although she still struggles with a lot of the technology, she has overcome quite a lot of it, and explained that this was the reason for submitting Senior Women Can Code for the exhibit. She said when she saw the call for submissions from the gallery, she told herself, “Aha! Here’s my chance maybe to put something out there that would tell older, senior ladies that they can do this.”
But this is not her first piece to be exhibited at the Rotunda Gallery. She said she has had pieces there almost every month for the past two or more years, and even at this stage she continues to be a mentor to less experienced artists and to encourage young people to get into her particular genre – the use of textile and fabric. The range, type and texture of fabrics she uses is unlimited, as she utilises whatever is available, as well as what is most suitable for the particular piece.
Over the years her work has been shown at many other exhibits, the first being in 2007 at the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago. This was also the first time that she sold a piece, defining her professional entry into the art world as a fibre/fabric artist.
[caption id="attachment_1012416" align="alignnone" width="577"] Pat Farrell-Frederick says although she still struggles with a lot of the technology, she has overcome quite a lot of it, and this was the reason for submitting Senior Women Can Code at the DigitALL exhibit at the Rotunda Gallery. -[/caption]
Farrell-Frederick considers herself to be a creative, more specifically, a fibre/fabric artist, and her activities and environment easily bear this out. She told WMN
