Fibre Artist, Teacher, Mentor - Meet Sandra Brownlee and Watch our 75th Anniversary Video

Sandra Brownlee is a practicing fibre artist, teacher, and mentor. She’s one of the seven Talent Trust scholarship recipients who appear in our 75th anniversary scholarship campaign video, which was created to help us double our scholarship funds for emerging Nova Scotia artists.

Artist Sandra Brownlee at the loom.

She began weaving in 1971, and received a Talent Trust scholarship in 1980 to support her studies in textiles. She received her BFA from NSCAD University, and continued her education at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where she completed her MFA in Fibers.

A scholarship can be an important part of a budding career. "It was thrilling, and it made what I was doing seem more real, and viable", says Sandra about her Talent Trust scholarship. "It put me on a really good path."

Sandra has received numerous awards, including the 2014 Governor General Visual and Media Arts Saidye Bronfman Award, a Canada Council B Grant, and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts.

She’s one of the ten artists in our 75th anniversary visual arts exhibition, which opens at Mount Saint Vincent Art Gallery in Halifax in May of 2019, and travels to Cape Breton University Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Yarmouth.

Believe in the creativity of Nova Scotians. Sandra Brownlee created this piece for our 75th anniversary video.

Sandra’s work began with weaving, and now includes working in notebooks and stitching words onto cloth. She created the “Believe in the creativity” piece for our 75th anniversary scholarship campaign video, which is part of our “Believe in the creativity of Nova Scotians” Talent Trust tag line.

You can find Sandra’s work in the Nova Scotia Art Bank, Canada Council Art Bank, Massey Foundation Collection at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, and Cranbrook Art Museum.

Sandra is a highly respected teacher. She currently offers her Tactile Notebook Workshops internationally, and has taught at NSCAD University, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.

We’d like to thank Sandra for allowing us into her studio and being so generous with her time to help us create our scholarship campaign video.




Be part of the campaign to double Talent Trust scholarship funds! Click here to donate. And thank you!

Pamela Ritchie: Art Jewellery Conversations Lecture in Vancouver

Pamela Ritchie is the featured artist in a speakers series called adorning expression: art jewellery conversations, presented by Craft Council of British Columbia.

adorning expression, part of the 2018 Art of Craft Lectures, is a series of three presentations “that provides lovers of fashion, art jewellery and those who see their bodies as a canvas for self-expression with an opportunity to explore the art jewellery scene in Canada today.”

The lectures feature the most recent Saidye Bronfman award winner, which is the highest honour for professional craftspeople in Canada. Pamela, who’s a jewellery artist in Hubley, NS, holds the 2017 Bronfman. 

She says this about her work: “I am interested in exploring linkages between the language of traditional craft processes and the developing language resulting from newer modes of production.”

Pamela’s lecture is on Monday, May 14, 2018 at the Orpheum Annex Theatre in Vancouver, and is co-hosted by Crafted Vancouver. 

For more information: 

craftcouncilbc.ca/happenings/art-of-craft-lecture-series/