Originally from Winnipeg where she obtained a Clothing and Textile degree and a Master’s degree in Marketing Research, Ida Marie has always worked with fibre, first with sewing and, since coming to Salt Spring, with spinning, weaving fabric, tapestries and baskets, doing kumihimo (Japanese braiding) and working with silk fusion.
“In my past life I played the harp and worked in fashion retailing so being surrounded by beautiful city clothes was my artistic starting point. But here on Salt Spring I am surrounded by the beauty of nature so I work to juxtapose the two, preferably on a very small scale. It is a way of connecting the past with the present and wondering how it will all turn out.
For silk fusion I lay out dyed silk fibres and fuse them together with a textile medium to make sheets which I then dampen and mold into shapes. Recently, I have discovered how versatile gut is, even though it handles like wet plastic wrap. My husband and many other people help me in ‘shopping’ for natural materials from farms, beaches and the woods but the ‘fibre’ is where I begin.”
Exhibitions
2004 Artspring Anniversary Show, Salt Spring Island, BC
2006 “Grand Ideas”, American Tapestry Alliance, Grand Rapids, MI
2006 “e:motion” , Saltspring Island, BC
2006 “Eye for Colour”, Saltspring Island, BC
2007 Silksters’ Gallery, Treenway Gallery website
2009 The Loft Gallery, Maple Bay, BC Warmland Calligraphers’ Guild Show