Hanna Yokozawa Farquharson

I never imagined when I moved to a small town in Saskatchewan, Canada in February 2011 that I would find the inspiration to become an artist, specifically a textile artist.

I began finding inspiration in the people around me, in the world of nature, Saskatchewan and from Japan where I grew up.

I bought a sewing machine and started sewing in 2016.

In 2017 I wanted to participate in Quiltcon. I was drawn to minimal designs that expressed what I knew as Japanese “Wabi-Sabi” concept. Wabi-Sabi means finding beauty in imperfection – and beauty in simplicity. Richness does not mean something shiny, gold or silver. In imagination we find a history behind an object, the people who were part of it, the depths within that open to us – this is all part of Wabi-Sabi. I am inspired by a piece of old tree bark, a lake, stones, the long white winter …

My mother had encouraged me to be the artist I could be. 

She always wanted me to find something I really liked, really wanted to do. I tried many crafts and art forms. Now I know when I design textile art that much of what I had done helped me but they were not enough, they didn’t point to any future. In textile art I find I am free to express myself. As a young woman I attended kimono classes – learning how to wear them, how to care for them. I watched my mother carefully holding, hanging, folding the kimonos. There was a beauty in the movement of her hands as she did this. I feel this when I use my sewing machine/hand stitching and when I feel the fabric that has a life of its own.

Life unfolds and today I appreciate the way it is unfolding and the new worlds I am discovering in the community of artists.  Artists have an energy, a power. I am enjoying that circle.

See Hanna at work in this video!