Stride Gallery's +15 Window has been transformed into a colourful mixed-media diorama by Calgary artist and crafter Mia Rushton. In this small universe behind glass, clouds are suggested with strands of braided yarn and screen-printed paper cutouts. A series of two-dimensional paper houses, barns, and scrubby bushes are positioned next to oversized sculptural pine cones, tree branches, and abstract forms sewn from printed fabric.

In the Hidden Places is an imagined version of a real place, and was conceptualized by Rushton as an homage to her grandmother who grew up on a homestead in the rural community of Smokey Lake. Rushton tells me that her grandmother, who has always been supportive of her work, has a creative practice of her own, and the two share similar sensibilities. Both women are voracious collectors and pocket bits of the natural world: things like pinecones, acorns, leaves and broken pieces of branches are taken home and added to their stockpile. Rushton's work, with its colourful patterns and repeated forms, imitates something of the obsessive, repetitive practice of collecting.

With the idea of collecting in mind, Rushton's work can be read as a sort of treasure map. Evocative of a frequently-traveled pathway, a long rope-like form sewn together with pieces of colourful hand-printed fabric, weaves through, contains, and connects all of the elements of the piece. Does this map show the stomping grounds of the artist's grandmother? Does it imagine where the best finds are at different times of the year?

When I first encountered the installation, what came to mind is the recently released Japanese video game Noby Noby Boy. The central character of Noby Noby Boy is a worm-like creature whose striped body expands from tip and tail as it ingests creatures and objects. I don't know if Ruston was consciously referencing Noby Noby Boy when she made this work, but she knows the game--we've played at my house. It's interesting that Ruston's DIY craft approach shares similarities to the aesthetic of something designed for Playstation 3. There are formal affinities: Rushton's three dimensional "pathway" echoes the body of Boy, and her focus on collecting also links to the premise of the game.

As a review of Noby Noby Boy explains, "the game play happens on a flat plane spotted with houses, playground and sports equipment, animals, flowers...that look like [they] came out of an overturned toy box." Players, "let go of gaming conventions, enjoy Noby Noby Boy as a toy, rather than a challenge to beat...and simply play." Similarly, In the Hidden Places suggests a narrative that isn't intended to be classified or necessarily solved. Look at the work yourself and turn your imagination loose to play.

In the Hidden Places runs April-May 2009 in the Stride +15 Window Space, EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts