Symposium 2018 :: Award Winners

felt::feutre canada is proud to announce this year’s winners of The Dyeing House Gallery Sculpture Award, The Ashford/Harmonique Two dimensional Felt Art Award and The Fiona Duthie :: Fine Felt Wearable Felt Art Award.

This year’s judging committee was made up of instructors from the seminar. Special thanks go out to our lovely judges and the gifted artists who are participating in the Shrine exhibition. We are in awe of your talent. We look forward to seeing your future endeavours.

We thank our amazing sponsors for making the felt :: feutre canada 2018 Canadian Felt Symposium a reality. Your support is deeply appreciated. We also thank you for supporting our artists and these awards.

The Dyeing House Gallery Sculpture Award 2018 was awarded to Christianna Ferguson  for her piece, Saint Marilyn. The piece which was made using Merino wool, recycled silk, mulberry paper, sumi ink, black stones and embroidery thread is a very personal piece for the artist as it’s a remembrance of a close friend.

In her statement Christianna says, “when I read about the theme I had an almost immediate sense of what I wanted to explore  Saint Marilyn is a shrine to a specific person but really explores ideas of aging and how we can have agency over what we want that to look like. My friendship with Marilyn redefined for me what it means to get older–that the experience of living doesn’t have to get smaller with age but quite the opposite… This piece for me has become a physical reminder of the important lesson my friend gifted me.”

Christianna lives in the village of Lakefield, near Peterborough Ontario. She recently learned she will have her first solo exhibition in November 2019

The Ashford/Harmonique Two dimensional Felt Art Award 2018 was awarded to Ayami Stryck’s for her piece Heart Sutra which combines bamboo, calligraphy paper, ink and wool.

Ayami has been practicing calligraphy for 45-years and she loves being able to use this meditative practice in her art. The piece began with Ayami writing the entire Heart Sutra on calligraphy paper which is called “Shakyo” in Japanese, she then layered the paper, 108 shells (108 is considered a sacred number) between wool, silk and more hand-made paper. It was then piece together, hand-stitched and attached to bamboo harvested by the artist.

“There’s an element of mystery working with fibres, the end product is always a bit of a surprise and I find that wonderful and fascinating,” says Ayami.

Ayami Stryck has been working with textiles for more than three decades. She has worked as a fashion Designer, Colour Coordinator, and a production manager for casual sportswear company.

The Fiona Duthie :: Fine Felt Wearable Felt Art Award 2018 was awarded to Tina Sharapova for her piece Blue Labyrinth.

This piece explores how sacred spaces don’t necessarily have to be places, that the human body can be a shrine as well. “We all carry divine energy, we are all connected to the Universal power,” says Tina.

The vest was made to look like ancient armour as a reminder of how warriors are protect their bodies. The labyrinth on the front represents “the travels our souls make searching for knowledge and happiness.

Blue Labyrinth was created using Merino, silk, viscose fibre, cotton, leather and copper. The copper pieces were handmade by Tina’s friend Mary-Beth Piper, a jewelry maker.

Tina was born in Moscow and grew up in a big family where everybody was able to make something with his or her own hands — embroider, carve wood, knit or sew. She tried different handicrafts as a child and decided to become an artist and an artisan to make beautiful things. Her formal art training took place at the Moscow College of Arts and Crafts with majors in carpets and tapestry making.

She now lives in New Brunswick. She’s a graduate of the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design.