Bio

Bettina Matzkuhn explores themes of ecology, weather, and geography in her work. Using embroidery, paint, and fabric collage, she values the familiar and versatile language of textiles. Matzkuhn holds a BFA in Visual Arts and an MA in Liberal Studies from Simon Fraser University and is the recipient of Canada Council and British Columbia Arts Council Grants. In the 1980s, her animated films using textiles garnered awards and expanded her focus on materiality and narrative. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Canada, as well as in Korea, Mexico, and the United States. Her work is found in national public collections such as the Surrey Art Gallery, Cambridge Art Galleries and the Weldon Map Library at Western University. She lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the unceded homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ / sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) nations, where she also writes professionally on the arts, teaches, and volunteers.

Artist Statement 

Fibre interests me as a visual language. Textiles have a long history of incorporating social and personal stories. I see my work as a part of this continuum.  The versatile threads and textiles that I use form a vocabulary I have cultivated since childhood. I use it to speak of contemporary issues.

My work is about places I have encountered in person, and how the human presence –including mine– affects them. I grew up around sailboats on BC’s coast, and hike in many corners of Canada, which translates into a love of charts, maps, symbols, weather and landscape. My interest in local ecologies represents an ongoing learning and increasing alarm as the climate crisis intensifies.

I gather drawings, notes, newspaper clippings and diagrams in my sketchbooks along with photographs and test samples I make before and during the project itself. I have been fortunate to work with mentors from different disciplines such as sailmaking, meteorology and biology. Materials –from synthetics to recycled clothing to assorted threads– serve as my vocabulary and bring their own histories and connotations. I use a sewing machine as a construction tool, but hand embroidery lends itself best to extreme detail. Details allow me to convey an intimate sense of a place or a surface. The sheen, colours and textures of my materials convey opulence. I can think of nothing more opulent than the living world.