Lindsey McTavish is a Toronto-born artist and designer who lives & works in the beautiful mountain town of Nelson British Columbia. Designer, mother artist & entrepreneur, she is inspired by color, texture, the diversity of the Canadian landscape & her surrounding environment.
Having studied Fibre Arts for 3 years at The Kootenay School of The Arts in Nelson, B.C. followed by 2 years at the Academy of Design in Toronto where she graduated from the Fashion Design program, Lindsey has made a successful career of selling her line of Clothing & Handbags under the namesake label of Lindsey M Collections, and is also one of the proud owners of the Craft Connection Gallery in Nelson B.C. The Gallery carefully curates & displays a collection of works from artists and craftspeople from across Canada. You can find Lindsey’s felted tapestry work throughout the year at 378 Baker St in Nelson, as well as in other various shows & exhibits throughout the year in Ontario & British Columbia.
“The following pieces are made by hand felting then quilting (with an industrial sewing machine), un-spun sheep’s wool & silk, Some of the more detailed subjects are needle felted first, and then laid on a background and wet felted together to bind and join the components together. Wet felting is the process of manipulating sheep’s wool with soap and water and layers until the fibers bind together and become a non-woven “fabric”. Because of its durability, felting has been used to make many functional items throughout history, such as yurts that are lived in by nomadic Mongolians, rugs, jackets, slippers, hats, etc… As for my use of it, I am creating 2 dimensional, ”felted tapestries”. In my work, you’ll often see painterly-like scenes that I refer to as Feltscapes – landscapes & scenes that are reminiscent of works by members of the Group of Seven, although I’m also often inspired to work on other subjects that I find myself interested in, such as people, birds, animals, florals & abstracts.”