Designers’ Corner: Amanda McCavour

Fibre artist Amanda McCavour stands next to her installation which won an Honourable Mention Award at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition this July 2009

Amanda McCavour

It’s no wonder that this young artist won an Honourable Mention award this year at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. Amanda McCavour’s dreamy creations reveal her mastery of fine art and skill in rendering fibre into a flight of birds or a cloudy sky. She is a graduate of York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts and produces various fibre arts installations for group and independent exhibitions. Amanda is currently an Artist in Residence at the Harbourfront Studio where she exhibits her work and teaches workshops.

Amanda describes her process for the winning installation: each bird is first drawn by hand and then stitched using free-motion technique stitching by machine and by hand. The birds are then trimmed and suspended as if rising from a nest of threads. Looking at the installation, the monochromatic colour and the delicate nature of the materials thematically unites the birds’ movements in flight while also making for an arresting panel as a whole.

The closer you look the more intriguing the project. I also really liked Amanda’s clouds, executed in a similar way but in cotton hues. They looked so light that you might think they really would float away if they weren’t mounted in a glass frame.

Amanda McCavour’s work completely captured my imagination and I think I might have to treat myself to a wall hanging of clouds this year in light of how much day-dreaming goes on in my office.

Images by Fashion in Motion with permission by the artist. For more information about Amanda McCavour and her work, check out her website. Visit the Harbourfront Centre’s website for more details about workshops offered by Amanda and other talented artists.