The driving focus of my artistic exploration for the last few years has been to evoke experiences of what the Celts describe as “thin places” – where the veil between the physical and spiritual worlds is rubbed thin. Our senses detect differences in colour, light, texture and even time, and yet tangible description always seems just out of reach.

I am currently in the midst of a series of related works that are evolving from reflections on a number of personal experiences  of this thinness. The fragmentary nature of deconstructed screen-printing and my desire to use only natural dyes have imbued a richness of texture and colour. It is another layer in making a memory tangible.

Take Our Fear Away

Christ Church Cathedral agreed to loan their blue advent vestments to be part of an installation piece created for of the exhibition "Boys with Needles" at Museum London, ON (2002) and The Textile Museum of Canada (2003).

Mazinaw Narrows, 2014

16" X 28"

Included in the Canadian Touring Exhibition Edge of the Forest.

Natural dyes on tussah silk, pieced, stitched with naturally dyed silk threads.

Finding Trinity at St. Columba's Landing, 2015
28” x 30.5”

Private Collection
Natural dyes on cotton organdy, bojagi inspired machine pieced, stitched.

Common Threads Indigo Quilts

Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver

Two quilts created as part of a larger community project that resulted in 26 quilts made with predominantly indigo dyed fabrics.

Fragments from the Sacred Grove, 2014

32" x 78"

Private Collection

Included in the BC Touring exhibition mended.

Natural dyes on cotton organdy, bojagi inspired machine pieced, stitched.

stitched textiles

Iona Cloister Meditation, 2015

28" x 28"

This work is available for sale, please contact the artist.

Shaped resist with natural dyes on silk, hand-stitched with silk threads also dyed with natural dyes.

Thomas Roach