Sola Fiedler is a tapestry artist from Vancouver who has recently gained a lot of attention for her latest work featuring her home town.
“Using yarn from recycled sweaters, Fiedler meticulously weaves large-scale cityscapes in pinpoint detail, from the number of floors in a building to the colour of the trees and water. She is best known for her tapestry tributes to the cities that have hosted Olympic Games, including Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002, and Sydney, Australia in 2000. Her work captures the architectural elements and spirit of each city at that moment in time.
“Fiedler grew up in London during and after World War II, when recycling played a fundamental role in daily life. Since winning a prize in 1973 for Best Fibre Art in Vancouver, B.C., her work has been collected by notable corporations and individuals including Crown Zellerbach, Woodward’s, the CIBC, UBC, CBC, and Jim Pattison. Fiedler has exhibited in numerous galleries across North America. Her work is more relevant than ever today, as young artisans worldwide claim craft traditions like weaving as their own.
I’m constantly amazed by Tapestry weavers (and have a massive crush on Erin Riley). Sola’s work blows me away with it’s complexity and size.
If the picture above was a painting, it would be impressive enough, but the fact that it’s woven is stunning. The time, the dedication and the ingenuity in creating pieces of work like this are astonishing.
I love that Sola started out by unravelling jumpers to get the materials for her work. It’s a great reminder that this kind of art is accessible for all of us (breadth of creative vision notwithstanding) and it adds another layer of charming to this extremely evocative work.
Sola has made a video about her work, and it’s wonderful to hear her talk about the work and to enjoy the process. You can find out more about Sola at her website and on her Facebook page.
