Sonia Chow, Charlottle Little & Maggie Sigrid Wilde
Over the month of June 2025, artists Sonia Chow (Halifax-based), Charlotte Little (Halifax- and Toronto-based) and Maggie Sigrid Wilde (South Shore-based) were artists-in-residence in NSCAD’s Textiles/Fashion department as part of the Sow to Sew Summer 2025 Artist Residency themed on flax. Co-hosted in partnership with the Flax Fibre to Fabric Project led by faculty member Jennifer Green, the thematic residency invited makers to investigate the material qualities of flax fibre and its byproducts to promote sustainable textile production and circular making. This was accomplished by providing a site for studio-based making to creatively explore the potential of this material from the ground up.
The artists approached flax from three distinct perspectives. Working with locally grown flax processed at TapRoot Fibre Lab in the Annapolis Valley, they investigated the properties of flax through processes of felting and papermaking (Chow), dyeing and weaving (Little) and ropemaking (Wilde). The outcomes from the artists’ studio explorations were presented in the two-week exhibition “Flaxology” at the Anna Leonowens Gallery from September 16 to 27, 2025, and discussed during a panel talk on September 17, 2025.
About the Flax Fibre to Fabric Project
Flax Fibre to Fabric is a four-year research project funded through NSERC/SSHRC that supports the development of a local fibre flax industry in Atlantic Canada through trans-disciplinary and community-based research, collaboration, and engagement. The Flax Fibre to Fabric Project aims to define critical methods, processes and infrastructure to prepare Atlantic Canadian communities to adapt to the effects of climate change by connecting farmers, fibre mills, craftspeople, and consumers to promote the growth of sustainable textile supply chains.
Fall 2025 Exhibition
“Flaxology: Sow to Sew Summer 2025 Artists-in-Residence Sonia Chow, Charlotte Little, Maggie Sigrid Wilde,”
- Anna Leonowens Gallery, September 16-27, 2025
Motivated by the intention of coaxing meaning from what has been deemed “waste,” Chow applied material interventions to transform the undervalued byproducts of flax-to-fibre processing, particularly flax tow. During the residency, Chow explored the tactile and aesthetic properties of these byproducts to create unexpected objects through intensive felting and papermaking techniques. By further combining the byproducts with roving and weaving waste, she created composite textiles that open up the myriad potential of the byproducts of flax processing which are so often overlooked.
Little exercised speculative design to examine possible futures for Nova Scotian fashion and textile systems. Utilizing pin-weaving, also called weaving-to-form, as well as historical Nova Scotian weaving patterns and local natural dyes, Little created garments and textiles that act as artifacts from an unknown future. Her engagement with flax as both a salient actor in Nova Scotia’s textile ecology and as a future-making material highlights the unique relationship flax had and may have in the past, present and future of coastal communities.
Wilde engaged with flax through process-based ropemaking while researching the fibre and its local material knowledge in maritime culture, specifically in relation to traditional wooden boatbuilding and rigging. Working in the maritime industry themselves, Wilde transformed the long-line fibre into functional cordage, testing the strength, durability and flexibility of local flax in these new material constructions. Through this process, Wilde reconnected to the lineage of flax use in marine contexts, tracing the loop between agriculture, craft and the water.
Links
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NSCAD University, “Sow to Sew Project welcomes three new artists-in-residence,” June 2025.
NSCAD University, “Sow to Sew Speakers’ Series: Sonia Chow, Charlotte Little & Maggie Sigrid Wilde,” September 2025.
About the Artists
Sonia Chow is a Halifax-based interdisciplinary designer, artist and educator whose practice blurs the imaginary boundaries between art, craft and design. A design career of over 25 years had her based in Toronto, Tokyo and Hong Kong. She was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts for Graphic Design in 2011 for work spanning branding and identity, publication, packaging and interior graphics. Carving a 4-tonne ice sculpture at Icehotel Sweden compelled her return to school to concentrate on making art. Chow was Artist-in-Residence at Centre for Craft Nova Scotia’s wood studio (2022-23) and at the Textile Museum of Canada (2024).
Website: https://www.chowpourian.com/
Social media: @this.is.skatt (Instagram)
Charlotte Little is a textile artist and researcher investigating fashion ecologies and localized textile production in Canada. She holds a BFA in Textiles from Concordia University (2022) and an MA in Fashion from Toronto Metropolitan University (2025) and has worked professionally in the textile industry. Based in Halifax and Toronto, her work blends academic research and artistic practice, focusing on radical sustainability, speculative textile design, and place-based knowledge. Future goals for her practice include hyperlocal investigations and interdisciplinary collaborations with sustainability science. Little has exhibited publicly at venues including the Royal Ontario Museum, The Image Centre, and Design TO Festival. She has held a previous Artist-in-Residence position at the Icelandic Textile Centre.
Website: https://charlottelittle.cargo.site/
Social media: @lothlo (Instagram)
Maggie Sigrid Wilde is an interdisciplinary settler artist, educator, and aspiring boatbuilder based in Nova Scotia’s South Shore. Wilde received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with dual major in First Peoples Studies and Art Education from Concordia University. Their art practice revolves around intergenerational process-based fibre arts, land- and place-engaged creation and relational art. Wilde has generational ties to the South Shore of Nova Scotia and subsequent crafts from the area. They believe art is a vessel for community building, education, connection, experimentation, and healing by prioritizing togetherness.