About Us / Members

Fibre artist Sharon Epstein was trained at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, and has attended the Banff Centre of Fine Arts in Alberta, Canada. Her artistic practice includes collage, screen-printing and stitching techniques and, over the past few years, she has been doing research into Judaic liturgical textiles. Her recent work explores the ritual and symbolism of Judaism and is influenced by the colours, richness and layering of South Asian textiles. Her printed and stitched textiles have been exhibited in Britain and North America, and she has work in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, and the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles. Over the past few years, Sharon has become increasingly fascinated with everyday ceremonial objects used in synagogues. This interest has culminated in several major commissions for synagogues in the United States and Canada, most recently for the newly constructed Congregation Darchei Noam Synagogue in Toronto, Canada.

Cathy Lang has an M.Ed. in Adult Education and a B.A. in Social Work, and is a non-profit manager, adult educator, co-operative developer and consultant. She combines this experience in social enterprise and cooperative development with a longtime passion for the textile and print arts. Cathy has studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design, the Toronto School of Art, Fleming College (Haliburton School of Fine Arts) and the Penland School of Crafts. She has also taken workshops in weaving, printing, dyeing, life drawing, and design. Her work has been featured in a number of group shows, and she is a founding member of the newly formed Contemporary Textile Studio Co-operative in Toronto, Canada.

Textile designer Rachel MacHenry received her M.A. from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London, England. She has also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, and was an artist-in-residence at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Canada. She is currently Studio Head/Textiles for the Craft & Design Program at Sheridan College in Toronto, and is a founding member of the Contemporary Textile Studio Co-operative, also in Toronto. As a designer, she focuses on the sustainable and innovative use of materials for functional textiles. Her design research centres on fair trade and environmental production and, in addition to developing studio textile work, she designs for artisan-made production. Rachel has worked extensively with community-based co-operatives in South Asia to develop textiles using local materials for overseas markets. Her eponymous children’s knitwear and felt line is produced with community cooperatives in Nepal and India, and is marketed in the United States, Europe and Japan. Clients include catalogue companies, museum shops and high-end retailers, and the line has been featured in magazines such as the New York Times magazine, Martha Stewart Magazine and others. She has also been involved in curating exhibitions related to textiles and design, and her work is part of the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England.

Gitte Hansen graduated from the Kolding Design School in Denmark. Her textile work has included two Harbourfront Centre residencies, numerous personal studios, teaching, and participation in gallery shows and craft fairs. She is particularly interested in the convergence of old and new textile practices, and believes that textiles, as an intimate part of daily life, have a direct impact on personal wellbeing, while also revealing a great deal about cultural values. Gitte’s current work explores cutting-edge textile technologies and sustainable natural dyeing methods. She works full-time as Academic Chair at Seneca College in Toronto, Canada, and is working on an M.A. in Design Practice.

Roohi Qureshi has a longstanding interest in the textile arts, and maintains a significant collection of textiles representing the traditional techniques of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Trained in moulage pattern drafting, Roohi is an accomplished seamstress and has experimented with techniques including embroidery, quilting and smocking. She is currently interested in block-printing textiles and non-representational acrylic painting.

Kate Busby is a graduate of the Crafts and Design Program at Sheridan College in Toronto, Canada. She has also completed a B.A. at the University of Toronto with a specialist in Visual Studies, and a major in Art History. Her work is collage-based, and explores both the functional and decorative aspects of textile design. Recent pieces feature bold colour, varied textures, and a playful mixture of pattern, and include a range of textured fabrics and hand stitched embellishments. Kate is interested in applying traditional craft practices, such as quilting and handmade felt, to a more contemporary aesthetic. Her work reflects a belief that handmade work speaks its own language, referencing the maker while also alluding to the human element inherent in all craft. As a textile artist, Kate strives to express the beauty of touch and texture, the excitement of colour and design, and the ability of an object to absorb and reflect memory.

MANGOEPEELER.COM

Freshly Peeled Mangoes....

Coming soon

coming soon

Artist Statement I am intrigued by the possibilities of textiles– of textures and fibres to evoke emotion. I believe that our sense of touch is one of the most powerful and profound vehicles of human experience. Thus, I am drawn to materials with strong tactile qualities as metaphors through which to explore this experience. Through creating textures from materials such as delicately embroidered tissue papers, tea bags, book pages, silk and cotton, and using techniques such as smocking, free motion embroidery, hand spinning and weaving, burning and the wearing away of material, I create figurative and abstracted forms that are densely layered, much like memory. Through these explorations I have come to understand that texture can be a trigger to unconscious memory, evoking emotions that are preverbal and profoundly personal - at once vaguely familiar and yet never encountered. Biography Noelle is a graduate of Sheridan Institute’s Crafts and Design Program (Textiles), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her studio work has earned numerous awards from Sheridan Institute, SAIC, the Ontario Crafts Council, and was awarded Best in Show (Fibre) at the 2009 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. Most recently Noelle’s work was selected for inclusion in the International Craft Biennale in Cheongju, South Korea, and the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad before embarking on a North American touring exhibition curated by the Canadian Craft Federation.

Coming soon.