Joanna Rogers

Joanna has always enjoyed finding an oddness in things and strives to give visual voice to the incongruities she encounters, or imagines, as she goes about her daily life.

Joanna works with textiles, found objects and photographs. She is drawn to traditional surface design techniques such as hand dying, shibori, and hand weaving. The haptic nature of fibre is very important to her as it creates an immediate connection between the maker and each piece as it is constructed. She enjoys working slowly, savouring the feel of the material. The found objects she uses have been discarded. This detritus becomes precious and significant when presented as a collection.

Experimentation is a key element in all Joanna’s work. She loves the thrill of working with, and exploring, the unknown.

Joanna studied Anthropology at Trent University, Peterborough and Textile Arts at Capilano College, North Vancouver, where she was taught by Ruth Sheuing and Lesley Richmond, two fibre artists of world renown.

Joanna is grateful to have lived on Pender Island, part of the traditional lands of the Tsawout First Nation, since 1999 and continues to be inspired by the natural beauty surrounding her. Joanna’s practice is driven by her response to the continued and worsening destruction of the natural environment and the effect this degradation has on native species of flora and fauna.

Joanna has shown her work in galleries across Canada and in the US. Her work crosses the boundaries of Fine Craft and Fine Art and has been exhibited in both contexts since 1994. She was selected as a finalist for the 2017 and 2021 Salt Spring National Art Prize.

Images of Joanna’s work have appeared in local and global publications.