I work at the intersection of fibre arts, architecture, historic preservation and urban and cultural landscapes. Through the fabrication, manipulation and assemblage of thread, yarn and fabric to make two- and three-dimensional works, I explore people’s perceptions of everyday domestic environments, and interpret Canadian built heritage and cultural landscapes, offering new perspectives of both their production and transformation.

I conjugate a variety of techniques and mediums to consider the creation and construction of buildings and cities, as there are many parallels to be made with the design and fabrication of many forms of fibre art. My works convey multifaceted interpretations of lived space. They provoke critical reflection on the part of the viewer, contest the status quo, offer alternative perspectives on architectural design, and reveal power relations encoded into the built environment, often unconsciously, by its designers. By playing with the way I exhibit my creations, I seek to share the underlying significance a place has for various groups within society. I make fibre art that helps make sense of and critique the ways place and space structure human relationships.

Tania Martin is a fibre artist based in Québec City. Trained as an architect, an architectural and cultural landscapes historian, she is also a professor at the Université Laval School of Architecture. There she teaches architectural design studio, historic preservation and the study of Canadian built environments. She holds a Ph.D in Architecture from University of California, Berkeley and a Fibre Arts Certificate from Haliburton School of Art and Design. Her work has been published in Uppercase.

Tania is expanding her academic research activities to embrace artistic creation in the fibre and textile art domains. She communicates ideas and raises questions about our everyday surroundings using visual and tactile media alongside words and images. Tania seeks opportunities to disrupt disciplinary boundaries by transposing drawing conventions and architectural design principles through fabric, batting and thread, as well as machine embroidery and hand stitching. Soft, wooly, comforting, organic, and fragile, fibre and textile works contrast playfully and significantly to the perceived hardness of buildings constructed in stone, timber and concrete. Through their juxtaposition she invites the viewer to imagine and confront spaces differently, using other senses and nontraditional points of reference.

Instagram handle: @taniamartinstudio