Countering today’s fast-fashion by reimagining grandma’s handmade quilt is the focus of a project being undertaken by Selkirk College artist-in-residence Sophie Slater.
An alumna of the Textile Arts Program and owner of Mother Snake clothing, Slater has spent the last six weeks transforming a decade’s old quilt collection into stunning coats. The talented artist revealed the final results at a community talk at the Bear & Sturgeon last week.
“It has a nostalgia to it,” Slater explains. “There are some stats showing that all the clothing we could ever need is already existing in the world and we don’t actually need anything new. These quilts are beautiful pieces, so if they have lost connection to the family or you only have so many beds, it seems a shame to not turn them into something new.”
To get her started on the artist-in-residence project, Slater received eight quilts from Nelson resident Nicole Rhodes that were part of her grandma Dorothy’s estate. Handmade in the Prairies, the quilts were carefully handcrafted starting in the 1950s with designs and patterns familiar to more than 30 years of quilting culture.
The result is 10 wearable winter coats that carry a depth of meaning that far exceeds anything purchased from the rack of today’s fashion retail.
“It’s also about validating women’s labour and being grateful for the time they put into this not-for-profit task of quilting, it’s really special” says Slater. “It’s also been lovely to think of Dorothy while I mend and sew her quilts into something new.”
An Unexpected Change of Direction
Slater was raised in the United Kingdom and graduated from the University of Warwick with a bachelor’s degree in History of Art. With speciality in William Morris textile designs—the founder of the British Arts and Crafts movement of the late-19th Century—Slater worked in the UK’s stately homes and castles as a commercial operations manager, a role that included planning exhibitions, putting together events, arts programming and renovations for shops/cafes.
After six years of rewarding work, Slater took a break from her career to do some traveling. She left for Canada in 2019 and when the world stood still due to the COVID-19 pandemic, found herself in the mountains of British Columbia. While falling in love with the geography and vibe of Nelson, Slater was pleased to discover the Textiles Studio Program at Selkirk College.
“I didn’t plan to go to art school and start a textiles brand, I just wanted a little career break and then go back to London,” she says. “It was one of those coincidence moments where you find the perfect program in the perfect place where you are currently living.”
Already working on her own textile designs since she was a teenager, the creative process swung wide open in September 2021 when she entered the Victoria Street Campus in downtown Nelson to begin a deep dive into dyeing, printing, weaving and production development. Graduating from the nine-month program with the Class of 2022, Slater has taken what she knows, combined it with what she learned and is enthusiastically focused on her new pathway.
“Having a forward-thinking art college in the middle of the mountains with such an amazing culture is something I did not expect,” Slater says. “The support students get from the instructors is great, they are able focus on everyone’s individual passions and you get a lot of studio time.”
The multidisciplinary textiles artist specializes in sewing, willow weaving, natural dyeing and crochet. Mother Snake has a wide variety of clothing and accessories available, but her bread-and-butter are plant-dyed socks using natural fibres such as bamboo, silk, cashmere and merino.
“I’ve been sewing small, sustainable collections of clothes to make people think differently about how they consume fashion,” she says. “Recently, I have fallen in love with willow basket weaving, which I learned on Salt Spring Island.”
Slater has also been organizing the A Sunday Market series at The Royal in downtown Nelson that features a rotating lineup of 15 different local makers. In the spring, Slater will be holding a number of workshops through Selkirk College’s Community Education & Workplace Training (CEWT) Program, on both natural dyeing and weaving willow baskets or foraging backpacks.
A few of Slater’s reimagined coats are now display as part of the Alumni Show at the Victoria Street Campus in downtown Nelson (606 Victoria Street) that runs all February. The public is welcome to drop by the campus foyer to check out selected pieces from ceramics, textiles, blacksmithing and metal art.