Introduction by Melody Armstrong:
I would like to introduce Toby Cote, a fine fibre and glass artist from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Juried in glass and fibre with the Saskatchewan Craft Council, she works in a variety of mediums including wool, cloth, and hand-dyed fabrics as well as stained glass with copper foil construction, hand painted glass, and sculptural creations using glass frits and powders.
Toby’s textile process could be described as painting with wool in an expressive manner, while her glass work could be described as painting with light and glass. She often references family history which reveals an ancestral presence.
She incorporates traditional fibre techniques including hand hooking, embroidery, sewing and stitching in her projects. Toby focuses on landscape, portraits and sculptural pieces, connected by a common thread between past and present, demonstrating accomplished technical skills and a strong connection with the land and its people.
Her art has been showcased in many exhibitions, has won awards for excellence in craft in Dimensions 2019 and Focus on Fibre Art prizes as well as having a hooked rug piece belonging to the SK Arts Board Permanent Collection and her work is held in various North American private collections. Her glass works have been part of commission installations in Canada and the United States.
To find out more you can go to Toby Cote’s website at borealisboutique.com and visit her Etsy shop at etsy.com/ca/shop/Borealis1Boutique
Interview with Toby Cote
Borealis Boutique
Website: borealisboutique.com
Instagram: @borealisboutique
What kind of artwork do you create?
I create fibre art and glass art. My fibre work consists of hand-hooked rug wall art and sculptural pieces. My glass work is comprised of stained glass panels, hand-painted and kiln-fired glass, and sculptural glass art using glass frit and powders. I use my own original sketches and patterns in my work.
What first drew you to your medium?
My grandmother was my first, greatest inspiration to fibre art. Spending time with her, learning from her as she taught me the value of doing quality work in a time-measured tradition, and taking pride in my work.
In the glass, the light and transparency of glass in a window with the colours ever-changing in the natural light drew me into work with these time-honoured materials.
I seem to be drawn to centuries-old arts and handcrafted items working with my hands and thinking of people who did this same work hundreds and hundreds of years ago, creating the work in the same manner.
What is the inspiration behind your work?
The environment is my biggest inspiration. Landscapes, wildlife and prairie scenery comprise most of my work. My family photo collection encompasses hundred-year-old photos and inspires scenes with family members in unique poses evoking genuine expressions. As I work, I often think about what these landscapes were like before my time, and how my ancestors would have done work similar to mine.
Tell us a story about a particular piece:
I wanted to challenge myself in the fibre arts area. My piece, entitled ‘Buttercream Roses’ involved the design and creation of a sculptural 3-d hooked rug piece from sketch to completion. This piece would be a 2-tiered ‘cake’ structure. I sketched a repeating rose and vine pattern on a buttercream frosted background and created a watercolor to determine the wool colors. From this color plan, I transferred the pattern onto linen foundation cloth and chose the colors to resemble a frosted, two-tiered layered cake. The sides and top of the first and second tier are hooked using the traditional rug hooking technique with strips of wool on linen foundation cloth. The second tier was joined to the first, using cotton yarn and crocheted together to resemble piped frosting. I then structured the piece over an armature assembled to support the hooked rug fabric.
Buttercream Roses was invited to two exhibitions, the Juried show ‘From Scratch’ at the Saskatchewan Craft Council in 2020 and secondly in 2021 it was invited to ‘Luscious.Tasty. Delicious.’, an International Juried Art Exhibition held in New York. The piece was sold in that show.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on a sculptural hand-hooked rug piece in response to an invitational exhibition which will be held later this year.
The piece will be a 3 dimensional teapot shape. The teapot body will have representation of an homage to Alice in Wonderland. I’ve sketched a pocket watch, (see sketches below), a mad hatter hat and a grinning Cheshire cat wrapping around each end of the spout and handle to create a pattern that has been transferred to a flat foundation cloth. It’s a challenging project to represent the fine detail of these images in the flat realm of rug hooking and then create the teapot armature shape from the work, but it will be unique and I enjoy a challenge.