Art

Next week, take a FINAL look at Bluebird Dress Factory and join us for an exciting conversation about the role of textiles in artistic practice: how can textiles be used in storytelling and preservation of memory? Can textiles help us heal?The panel discussion features:

• Susan Fohr, maker, Curator of Education, Textile Museum of Canada (moderator)
• Michèle Karch-Ackerman, the artist behind the Bluebird Dress Factory, currently on view at Campbell House
• Sage Paul, artist, designer and leader of Indigenous fashion, craft and textiles and Artistic Director of Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto
• Dorie Millerson, artist, Associate Professor in Textiles,  Chair of Material Art & Design Program at OCAD University

BIOS:

SUSAN FOHR is the Curator of Education at the Textile Museum of Canada. She started her museum career as a historic interpreter, and while working at Black Creek Pioneer Village she first developed an interest in textiles, learning how to spin and dye wool with natural materials. She holds an Honours BA with a specialist in art history from the University of Toronto.

MICHÈLE KARCH-ACKERMAN is a nationally recognized contemporary artist whose work is known for its provocative and touching mining of the “smaller” and often tragic histories of Canada’s past. A graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, her installations have been shown in over forty solo exhibitions at public galleries across Canada, including a recent retrospective at the Tom Thomson Gallery and participation in the Fashionality exhibition at The McMichael Gallery.

SAGE PAUL is an Urban Dene woman and a member of English River First Nation. Based in Toronto, Sage is an artist, designer and innovative leader for Indigenous fashion, craft and textiles, championing family, sovereignty and resistance for balance. Her work has been presented at Art Gallery of Ontario First Thursday’s, Festival Mode et Design (Montreal), a curated program by Ociciwan Contemporary Arts Collective at Western Canada Fashion Week and the Centre for Craft, Creativity and Design (South Carolina). She is the founding collective member and Artistic Director of Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto, sits on the Ryerson School of Fashion’s advisory board and designed/is delivering George Brown College’s first Contemporary Indigenous Fashion elective course. Sage is a recognized Woman of Influence (2018) and change maker (Toronto Star, 2018) and received the Design Exchange RBC Emerging Designer Award in the fashion category (2017). sagepaul.com

DORIE MILLERSON is an artist and academic based in Toronto. She is Associate Professor and Chair of Material Art & Design at OCAD University. Exhibiting for over twenty years nationally and internationally, her textiles and installations explore themes of memory, distance and attachments. She received an MFA in textiles from NSCAD University in 2003 and graduated with honours from the Ontario College of Art & Design in 2000. www.doriemillerson.com