About Us / Members

Fibre artist Sharon Epstein was trained at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, and has attended the Banff Centre of Fine Arts in Alberta, Canada. Her artistic practice includes collage, screen-printing and stitching techniques and, over the past few years, she has been doing research into Judaic liturgical textiles. Her recent work explores the ritual and symbolism of Judaism and is influenced by the colours, richness and layering of South Asian textiles. Her printed and stitched textiles have been exhibited in Britain and North America, and she has work in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, and the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles. Over the past few years, Sharon has become increasingly fascinated with everyday ceremonial objects used in synagogues. This interest has culminated in several major commissions for synagogues in the United States and Canada, most recently for the newly constructed Congregation Darchei Noam Synagogue in Toronto, Canada.

Cathy Lang has an M.Ed. in Adult Education and a B.A. in Social Work, and is a non-profit manager, adult educator, co-operative developer and consultant. She combines this experience in social enterprise and cooperative development with a longtime passion for the textile and print arts. Cathy has studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design, the Toronto School of Art, Fleming College (Haliburton School of Fine Arts) and the Penland School of Crafts. She has also taken workshops in weaving, printing, dyeing, life drawing, and design. Her work has been featured in a number of group shows, and she is a founding member of the newly formed Contemporary Textile Studio Co-operative in Toronto, Canada.

Textile designer Rachel MacHenry received her M.A. from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London, England. She has also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, and was an artist-in-residence at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Canada. She is currently Studio Head/Textiles for the Craft & Design Program at Sheridan College in Toronto, and is a founding member of the Contemporary Textile Studio Co-operative, also in Toronto. As a designer, she focuses on the sustainable and innovative use of materials for functional textiles. Her design research centres on fair trade and environmental production and, in addition to developing studio textile work, she designs for artisan-made production. Rachel has worked extensively with community-based co-operatives in South Asia to develop textiles using local materials for overseas markets. Her eponymous children’s knitwear and felt line is produced with community cooperatives in Nepal and India, and is marketed in the United States, Europe and Japan. Clients include catalogue companies, museum shops and high-end retailers, and the line has been featured in magazines such as the New York Times magazine, Martha Stewart Magazine and others. She has also been involved in curating exhibitions related to textiles and design, and her work is part of the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England.

Gitte Hansen graduated from the Kolding Design School in Denmark. Her textile work has included two Harbourfront Centre residencies, numerous personal studios, teaching, and participation in gallery shows and craft fairs. She is particularly interested in the convergence of old and new textile practices, and believes that textiles, as an intimate part of daily life, have a direct impact on personal wellbeing, while also revealing a great deal about cultural values. Gitte’s current work explores cutting-edge textile technologies and sustainable natural dyeing methods. She works full-time as Academic Chair at Seneca College in Toronto, Canada, and is working on an M.A. in Design Practice.

Roohi Qureshi has a longstanding interest in the textile arts, and maintains a significant collection of textiles representing the traditional techniques of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Trained in moulage pattern drafting, Roohi is an accomplished seamstress and has experimented with techniques including embroidery, quilting and smocking. She is currently interested in block-printing textiles and non-representational acrylic painting.

Kate Busby is a graduate of the Crafts and Design Program at Sheridan College in Toronto, Canada. She has also completed a B.A. at the University of Toronto with a specialist in Visual Studies, and a major in Art History. Her work is collage-based, and explores both the functional and decorative aspects of textile design. Recent pieces feature bold colour, varied textures, and a playful mixture of pattern, and include a range of textured fabrics and hand stitched embellishments. Kate is interested in applying traditional craft practices, such as quilting and handmade felt, to a more contemporary aesthetic. Her work reflects a belief that handmade work speaks its own language, referencing the maker while also alluding to the human element inherent in all craft. As a textile artist, Kate strives to express the beauty of touch and texture, the excitement of colour and design, and the ability of an object to absorb and reflect memory. Kate is currently working on a community-based project with the OCC and the Greenbelt Foundation, acting as project curator for an anniversary quilt.

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Kym has an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington in Seattle and a Diploma in Textile Design from Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. Kym lived and worked in Japan for four years and, during that time, travelled extensively throughout Asia, immersing herself in Asian culture, which inspired an interest in, and affinity for, textiles and surface design. She is currently working on surface designs for printed fabric, as well as creating blankets with wool and silk. Kym’s artistic awards include the Dirk Lokhorst Award, the Association of Textile Mill Representatives Excellence in Design Scholarship, and the Filosa Award (2007). Her textile work has been featured at the Interior Design Show/IDS 09 as part of DESIGNGENNEXT, which features the work of Sheridan College Crafts and Design students, and at the Textile Museum of Toronto (2008). She lives in Toronto with her husband and three young children.

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As a child, Noelle Hamlyn wore her crib blankets thin by rubbing the flannel between her fingers. It was therefore not surprising that she became a fibre artist. Noelle is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Crafts and Design Program (Textiles) at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. The Ontario Crafts Council has awarded Noelle two OCC Scholarships: the Mary Diamond Butts Embroidery Award, and the Mary Robertson Textile Scholarship. Recently, Noelle’s installation Sanctuary was selected for inclusion in the International Craft Biennale in Cheongju, South Korea, and as part of a North American touring exhibition showcasing Canadian craft, which debuted at the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. Noelle was awarded Best in Show — Fibre at the 2009 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, and Best in Show at the 2009 Cabbagetown Art and Crafts Sale, held as part of Toronto’s Cabbagetown Festival. This past January, Noelle participated in Come Up to my Room at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. Noelle lives in Toronto, and splits her time between her studio overlooking the Credit River, and a shared studio at 401 Richmond Street West.

Joey Suriano is a recent graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Halifax, with a major in Textiles. He has also completed the textile design program at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. He draws inspiration from art, animation, design and illustration, and applies it to his work in craft. Joey explores handmade textiles through two-dimensional, three-dimensional and functional objects. He hopes to build a career through education, while also inspiring others through his craft.

Kerry Croghan is a graduate of the Crafts and Design Program at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, where she studied Textile Design. Her current focus on commissioned work often combines references to the past with her passion for experimentation with material and processes. Recent exhibitions include participation in the Radiant Dark Assets & Virtues show during the Toronto International Design Festival. A previous summer resident at the Harbourfront Centre’s Craft Studio, Kerry lives and works in Toronto, where she is currently a member of the Contemporary Textile Studio Co-op.

Thea Haines studied Textile Design at Sheridan College and holds an Honours Degree in Art and Comparative Literature from McMaster University. Her interest in textiles grew out of her fascination with the history of domestic space and social mores, and the inherent connection of textiles to all aspects of human life and culture. Her current body of work references language of instruction, etiquette, and correspondence, which formerly dictated the literal and theoretical constructs of domestic life, and often incorporates pieces from her collection of disused household objects. In her recent work she has been engaged in an exploration of women’s work of the past (tasks such as cooking and preserving, cleaning, sewing) and leisure activities (album-keeping, letter writing, collecting botanica and ephemera). Recent work employs use of contemporary print processes, natural dyes and earth pigments and traditional hand stitching methods, and is largely installation-based. In her recent work she has been engaged in an exploration of women’s work of the past (tasks such as cooking and preserving, cleaning, sewing) and leisure activities (album-keeping, letter writing, collecting botanica and ephemera). She was a resident in the Textile Studio at Harbourfront Centre from 2006-2009. Currently she is an instructor and acting technologist in the Textile Studio of Sheridan College’s Craft and Design Program, and has been developing her emerging curatorial practice.

Ana Galindo earned her bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (Azcapotzalco, Mexico City). She started her career as a graphic and textile designer in 1990, where she worked in different venues as instructor, staff and free-lance designer, including the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City. In 1998 she received a Fulbright fellowship to pursue a MFA degree in Fiber Arts at the Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA), where, after graduation in 2000, she became a full time faculty member.

In 2007 she returned to Mexico City where she continued her surface design endeavors while attending various art and design courses.

Since moving to Toronto in 2009, Ana has been working on establishing a surface design studio-production practice and is currently teaching at the Textile Studio of Sheridan College, Oakville Campus.

In her sculptural fibre practice, Norah Deacon draws from her own history to create work that addresses how our familial and cultural experiences nurture and inform our identities. Working primarily in paper, she creates lace-like material exploring texture, pattern, light, strength and fragility. Norah’s sculptural work commemorates everyday objects, referencing the balance between vulnerability and permanence. Recently, her work has focused on ideas of memory, expectations, boundaries and the inescapability of self-definition. Norah Deacon is a graduate of the Craft and Design Program at Sheridan College, where she specialized in fibre arts. Previous to this, she earned an Honours B.A. in Studio Art and Art History at the University of Guelph. Most recently, Norah has completed a four-year term as an artist-in-residence in the textile studio at the Harbourfront Centre. She has exhibited in numerous exhibitions both in Canada and the United States.