This event is a performative textile installation occurring over several days, prior to design week, where the artist/designer will hand-tie modular units of naturally dyed, fused, laser etched, and laser cut silk fabrics together. The finished yardage, and textile installation, will remain on view for the duration of DesignTO.

“Endurance is defined as the “struggle to continue against a mounting desire to stop,” an act that requires both the brain, mental, and body, physical, to accomplish the task set out before you (Alex Hutchinson). Much like the years invested in my long distance running practice, my systematic exploration of materials and process has become an act of endurance. One in which I reflect upon the relationship I have as a maker to my desire to do.

Throughout history and western philosophy the body has been conceptualized as a biological object that is set apart from and is to be controlled by our rational faculties and mind. Phenomenology, which explores the greater complexity in subject-object relations, and also brings attention to the integrated relationships between mind and body, and intentionality and action. By threading together concepts surrounding the body, subjectivity and materiality in an effort to take up space among the tenacious women of my past, my research and creation project aims to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of the female form and investigates the impact memory, orientation, and performativity have on the embodied female experience.”

– Natalie Gerber

Natalie Gerber’s interest in textiles developed while studying at the Alberta University of the Arts, and later through post-graduate studies at the London College of Fashion in London (England). Gerber’s artistic practice addresses the intersection of craft and design, explored through interdisciplinary experimentation in textiles, ceramics and print media.