Ixchel Suárez
Artist Statement


Tapestry and Fibre Art has been a medium I have developed for 27 years. Though not exclusively because I have worked in other fibre and textile techniques like batik, basketry, fabric design, paper making, etc. It is through tapestry I have found a language and an expression for my ideas. There is a tendency to compare the art of tapestry with the inseparable art of painting. The distance however is considerable, for there is a basic difference between tapestry which is a manual craft, subject to a model, and painting, which enjoys complete creative freedom. Tapestry, one might say, loses certain spontaneity, yet other characteristic which distinguishes from painting contribute to its richness and provide it with immense artistic resources.

In these many years, my themes have been most of them inspired in Nature and the Maya Culture. In my formal training as a Graphic and Textile Designer, photography has been a great support and through my lens I have captured many interesting textures around the World. Being in Canada I have been lucky enough to travel across many Provinces and found so much visual inspiration of diverse elements I want to interpret into Tapestry.
Some of my commissions that have been in large scale format have given me the opportunity to explore the medium even better. Through different materials and fibres I have found away to express the essence of the image in a textile language. That is my fascination.

Tapestry weaving however is a time consuming art. Now a days, with the tremendous technological revolutions, communications and speed of life and this constant movement of the world tends to be a not so logical space for such a slow art, requiring infinite patience. But it is precisely in this escape of motionless time that I have found in tapestry my greatest refuge. It makes my mind travel to other time and space. It makes my body enter into a relaxed moment where I can deal with the every day life stress.