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Vickie Newington, SCA 9847 Palistone Road S.W. Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2V 3W1 Phone - 403-281-1182 Email - Vickie@VickieNewington.com Website - www.vickienewington.com Biography I am an experienced and accomplished fibre artist, whose love of creating started as a small child. To this day, my favourite media are glass, fibre and mixed media, as they are versatile and very expressive. In 2000, I enrolled in the very intense City and Guilds of London Design and Embroidery program, and graduated in 2004 from Part I.  Fibre-based, the course taught me to experiment with different materials such as Tyvek (a fibrous material that bubbles when heated), tissue paper made stitchable, and Timtex (a very stiff kind of felt) in a contemporary fashion, pushing the limits of what they could do. I cannot help but explore further with fibre. The City and Guilds course gave me the confidence to put my work up where others could see and enjoy it. Since then, I have been very active in various organizations and groups, exhibiting, and selling my work. I joined the Society of Canadian Artists in 2003. Travelling to other provinces and countries make me realize how much I enjoy architecture, and gardening makes me appreciate Mother Nature. Anything visually textural is interesting to me, it gets me thinking about how I could render it with fabrics and glass. Today, I work full time as a fibre artist. I exhibit regularly and my work appears in private collections in Canada and the United States.  My dream for the future is to continue growing and learning as I create my art, and share my knowledge with others, which satisfies my soul. Artist Statement Working with textiles has been a lifelong pleasure for me, and fusing glass is a new love. I have a passion for trying new techniques and concoctions that can be adapted for my use as a glass and fibre artist. I am fascinated by the richness of layering – the way an image appears and disappears underneath another image that is partially visible - that allows the viewer to make up their own stories about what the images are or what has happened to them.  I approach design in a painterly fashion, being aware of contrasts, leading the viewer’s eye around, and using other “guidelines” of painting. I  work with lines, form and most especially texture. My new pieces are inspired by the colours and waves of water ruffled by the wind in a Yukon lake, tiny insect holes in the ground, weathered corrugated metal, or the drop-dead gorgeous changing hues of an Aurora Borealis. After quickly sketching out some ideas, I enlarge the image to use as a pattern. Then I begin the piece by fusing some glass together, using sheet glass for the bulk of the design, and incorporating fine bits of glass called frit to add more colour and texture. Choosing appropriate fabrics to complement the glass, be they smooth or nubbly, shiny or matte, I then apply a “basecoat” of colour. When this layer has dried, I stamp, stencil, or silkscreen to give me an all-important texture, and then the real fun starts with embellishment – beading, stitching by hand or machine, applying other fabrics, or a myriad of other possibilities.   The most important aspect of a successful piece of art is that it must first and foremost be a good design. Then, it must exhibit skilled craftsmanship, and the techniques used must be appropriate to getting the point of the work across to the viewer. My methods are labour intensive, and sometimes unorthodox, but chosen to work well with my vision, and maintain a high quality of craftsmanship. Fabric is tactile – it is warm, versatile, and very flexible. Depending on the final look I’m after, I can create a look that is hard and shiny, fuzzy and squishy, or crumbling due to age. Sometimes leaving the edges raw and unfinished makes my work livelier, more spontaneous, with threads at the edges dangling off the piece. Glass is just the opposite - it is hard, shiny, and does not "give" at all. It provides a lovely contrast to the fibre. The sizes of my pieces vary from miniatures to very large works, and most of them hang on a wall. They are sold in galleries and through commissioned orders. Curriculum Vitae SOLO SHOWS Sechelt Art Gallery, confirmed                                                                            Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada                   2012 Terrace Gallery                                                                                                     Terrace, British Columbia, Canada                  2010 Allied Arts Council Gallery                                                                                   Red Deer, Alberta, Canada FibreEssence Gallery                                                                                          Vancouver, British Columbia., Canada            2007 Alberta Craft Council                                                                                            Edmonton, Alberta, Canada                              2000 SELECTED JURIED AND CURATED EXHIBITIONS Western Showcase Silent Auction Stampede                                                 Calgary, Alberta, Canada                                   2011 Women of Fibre, Whyte Museum, Articulation                                                 Banff, Alberta, Canada Textiles show, Airdrie Library                                                                             Airdrie, Alberta, Canada                                      3-person show, Jubilee Auditorium                                                                   Calgary, Alberta, Canada                                   2010 International Contemporary Masters,      Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Arts                                                        Las Vegas, Nevada, USA      Women Rock, Articulation, Canadian Quilters' Association                           Calgary, Alberta, Canada Urban Textures, Articulation, McMullen Gallery                                                Edmonton, Alberta, Canada                              2009 Urban Textures, Articulation,  Mennonite Centre                                              Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Cherry Blossoms, Friends of fibreEssence, fibreEssence Gallery                Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada             2008 Meta Incognita, Articulation, Mary E. Black Gallery                                         Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Changes, Free Spirits, Akokiniskway Gallery                                                  Rosebud, Alberta, Canada                                 2007 Meta Incognita, Articulation, Banff Centre for Performing Arts                       Banff, Alberta, Canada Fantasy, Grand National, Kitchener/Waterloo Art Gallery                               Kitchener, Ontario, Canada A Sense of Place, Society of Canadian Artists, Leighton Art Foundation   Millarville, Alberta, Canada Changes, Free Spirits, Leighton Art Foundation                                             Millarville, Alberta, Canada Meta Incognita in conjunction with the Calgary Opera Company,                Articulation, Jubilee Auditorium                                                          Calgary, Alberta, Canada Members’ Show, Society of Canadian Artists,                Art Gallery of Northumberland                                                             Coburg, Ontario, Canada                                   2006 Still Related, 2-woman show, Sidestreet Gallery                                             Wellington, Ontario, Canada InSeries, Alberta Craft Council                                                                          Travelling, Alberta, Canada Just For Fun, Focus on Fibre Arts Association                                               Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Changes, Free Spirits, Cityscape                                                                     North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Changes, Free Spirits, McMullen Gallery                                                         Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Related, 2-woman show, Sidestreet Gallery                                                    Wellington, Ontario, Canada                               2005 West Coast Textures, fibreEssence                                                                 North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada           Badlands, Articulation, the Station                                                                    Okotoks, Alberta, Canada Spring Grandeur, Society of Canadian Artists, Gallery on the Grand           Waterloo, Ontario, Canada All About Alberta, Alberta Craft Council                                                           Edmonton, Alberta, Canada texture of time, 2-woman show, Alliance Francaise,                                       Calgary, Alberta, Canada Members' Show, Society of Canadian Artists Juried Exhibition                   Guelph, Ontario, Canada                                    2004 City and Guilds Graduation Exhibition                                                             Calgary, Alberta, Canada Elemental Inspiration – Out of the Wildfire, Whyte Museum                            Banff, Alberta, Canada Constructions of Canada, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery                              Kitchener, Ontario, Canada Canadian Landscapes, Invitational Show, Quilt Museum                               La Conner, Washington U.S.A. Pan Canadian Quilt Show                                                                                  Hawaii, U.S.A. New Members’ Show, Society of Canadian Artists, Heliconian Hall            Toronto, Ontario, Canada City and Guilds of London Show, Cultural Centre Gallery                              Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada Fantasy in Fibre, Free Spirits, Bowman Centre                                              Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada                              2003 Appleby Gallery                                                                                                   Oakville, Ontario, Canada                                   2002 Avens Gallery                                                                                                       Canmore, Alberta, Canada   AWARDS AND COMMISSIONS Floral Sunshine - Private Commission                                                            Calgary, Alberta, Canada                                   2007 I See the Sea - Private Commission                                                                Calgary, Alberta, Canada                                   2005 Empty Nest - Best of category, Focus on Fibre Arts                                       Edmonton, Alberta Canada Barn I - Honorable Mention, Society of Canadian Artists Show                    Guelph, Ontario, Canada The Healing Tree - Best in Show, Focus on Fibre Arts,                                Edmonton, Alberta, Canada                               2004 Hilltop Town - Private Commission                                                                  East Wallingford, Vermont, U.S.A.                     2002 RESIDENCIES Ted Harrison Artist Retreat                                                                                 Yukon, Canada                                                    2009 Banff Center                                                                                                         Banff, Alberta, Canada Banff Center                                                                                                         Banff, Alberta, Canada                                        2008 ARTICLES AND TELECOMMUNICATION Meta Incognita Explores Frobisher, by Vickie Newington, Summer Issue, Canadian Quilters’ Association, 2007 Contemporary Calgary Fibre Art by Vickie Newington, Summer Issue, Canadian Quilters’ Association, 2005 Profiles by Chuck Ruff, St Albert Gazette, Alberta, Canada, 2003 Gallery Exhibition Wide-Ranging by Christopher Nash, Stony Plain Reporter, Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada,  2003     A Woman’s Work is Never Done by Mary-Beth Laviolette, Calgary Herald Interview, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2002 Free Spirits Exhibition, Shaw Television Interview, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2002   Alberta Winter Games 2000 Calendar, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, 1999  EDUCATION City and Guilds Embroidery and Design, under Gail Harker, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2000-2004 Studied painting weekly with David Kitler at the Jon Williams’ Studio, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 1997-2000 Independent studies, 1978 to present including Techniques Only with Gail Hunt, Frescoes & Fragments and Raising the Surface with Maggie Grey, Pyrotextiles with Amanda Jones , Surface Embellishment with Glenys Mann, Designing from Nature with Ruth Mc Dowell, and many others. College of Art and Design, Calgary Alberta, Canada, Foundation Year, 1984 BSc in General Studies, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 1973-1977 AFFILIATIONS Society of Canadian Artists Alberta Craft Council Visual Arts Alberta Association    Articulation Leighton Art Centre CAR/FAC Warm Glass Guild Home     The Artist     Her Work    Her Associates Calgary, AB, Canada Phone 403-281-1182 - Vickie@VickieNewington.com © Vickie Newington.  All rights reserved