Thoma Ewen
Starwatch, 2020
165 cm x 147 cm
Thoma Ewen
Offering, 2021
122 cm x165 cm
Thoma Ewen’s Statement
My work in tapestry over the past forty-five years has been an intuitive investigation of what it means to be a human being influenced by the natural landscape and beauty of the earth. It is a visual exploration of the forces or energies that move through everything on and beyond the planet. Light, both physical and metaphysical, is an important element and a great source of personal inspiration. I try to communicate a sense of harmony and movement in the universe. To me, weaving is a contemporary metaphor for the interconnections between all living systems of our biosphere.
Starwatch is about looking to the sky to find meaning in the cosmos. It was finished in March 2020, during covid lockdowns in Canada. Weaving it -and being immersed in its energies- allowed me to transcend the extreme physical confinement that everyone, all over the world, was experiencing at exactly the same time.
Offering, woven during Covid lockdowns in 2021, is about radiating heart-centered energy and transforming fear into love.
“Hado: Unfolding” was inspired by the writings of the late Japanese Scientist, Dr. Masaru Emoto. In his book, The True Power of Water, he relates that hado is the Japanese word meaning the intrinsic unique vibration of every living thing. It also can be interpreted as health, chi, or breath, as in the breath of life. Through this tapestry, I endeavor to communicate the luminosity of new life unfolding.
Thoma Ewen
Unfolding, 2018
165 cm x135 cm
Thoma Ewen’s Biography
Thoma Ewen is a Canadian tapestry artist who has been designing and weaving tapestries for 45 years, working from her studio at Moon Rain Centre, located in the Gatineau Hills north of Ottawa, the capital of Canada. She has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Mexico, England, France, Poland, Ireland, Guatemala, Venezuela, and China. She is a curator and a participating artist in the collective exhibition “Woven By Hand: Contemporary Canadian Tapestries”.
Moon Rain Centre is known for its dynamic and profoundly moving collective weaving projects such as The Vision Weave Project and its textile art events have made textile arts visible and accepted as contemporary art. Thoma is the author of The Living Tapestry Workbook, a beginner’s guide to designing and weaving tapestry. Through her teaching, writing, and conference presentations, she communicates the ancient indigenous belief that weaving is a sacred path, and illustrates how tapestry’s vital contemporary role is to transmit the energy of peace.