About

Stephanie Symns is an artist & textile designer living in Christchurch, New Zealand following 20 years in Vancouver, Canada. 

 

In 2008 Stephanie began studying Textile Art at Capilano University, following years of making domestic textiles in traditions passed on at an early age from her grandmother.

 

She has received grants from the Handweavers Guild of America, The Textile Society of America and ArtStarts in Vancouver.

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Her works use pattern and deconstruction as a device for abstraction to exemplify continuums/in-between spaces rather than binary definitions: analog and digital; craft and art; feminine and masculine. The openness of this approach allows for an optimistic zone of possibility and an invitation to recognize and rethink learned frames of reference - a little nudge towards tolerance and open-mindedness.

 

In recent works using the quilt as a canvas the stitching of fragments becomes an inherently optimistic practice exemplifying the resourcefulness traditionally associated with both quilt-making and other forms of domestic endeavor.

 

Stephanie creates both artworks and functional goods by dyeing, weaving, drawing, painting and printing. She also uses her original artwork to develop vibrant patterns for the surface design industry.

 

In 2015 she created textile design studio Antipod Workshop and her work has been published in Gray Magazine, Uppercase Magazine and on Design Milk.