Kathleen O’Grady
Kathleen O’Grady is a Saskatoon-based clothing designer and textile artist. She has been working and designing with textiles for more than 40 years. Kathleen creates one-of-a-kind pieces and small collections with an emphasis on quality craftsmanship, devoting great care and attention to each part of the design process. Combining old-world sensibilities with contemporary design, she creates garments that have timeless and enduring appeal. Found and naturally dyed fabrics add accents to one-of-a-kind pieces. Her work with natural dyes includes a line of naturally dyed scarves. These explore an infinite palette of colour, as she creates and discovers nuance and variation with each encounter of the dye vat. Along with natural dyes, Kathleen incorporates screenprinting and hand embroidery.
Kathleen’s extensive travels in Southeast Asia, Japan, India, and Africa have given her an appreciation of textile traditions from around the world. In the mid-1980s Kathleen lived in Greece for a year and Japan for two years. Kathleen understands textile as legacy, giving context to the importance of heritage, tradition, and community. She recognizes the impact of globalization on traditional craft communities and the need to bring greater awareness of the living legacy these communities represent.
Her work Perseverance was featured in Saskatchewan Craft Council’s From Scratch exhibition in 2020. The work incorporated scraps from the cutting room floor, given new life as they were transformed “from scratch” into a wearable statement piece. In the making of this work, Kathleen pursued a long-time calling to deepen her work in textile surface design using printing, applique, and Japanese hand stitching (sashiko) with natural dyes.
How do you define craft?
Craft is the age-old ability to start with an idea and bring it to life by the work of one’s own hands. In craft, individual steps are accomplishments in their own right, and when combined together, lead to a bigger goal. Craft is part of who I am – the need and desire to create beautiful things and share them with others.
Where did you learn your medium?
I was influenced by my mother, a passionate maker of beautiful clothing. In addition to the skills that were handed down to me, I received training in fashion and surface design at Vancouver Community College, Capilano Community College, the University of Washington, Pratt Fine Arts Center, and the University of Oregon. I trained in natural dye techniques at workshops led by world-renowned instructors in Vientiane, Laos; Oakland, California; Seattle, Washington; Eugene, Oregon; and Vancouver, Canada.
What inspires you?
I’m inspired by beautiful fabrics and the creation of beautiful garments.
I’m inspired by the natural world; repeat patterns and shapes with an organic display. Working and experimenting with natural dyes. Working with natural fibers as the medium.
I’m inspired by travel, by other cultures and their crafts. Having traveled in Europe, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, and Africa, I have come to understand the importance of heritage, tradition, and community in the creation of textiles.
CONTACT
Kathleen O’Grady Design
