Featured Artist: Olivia Mae Sinclair

Typically books made from fabric are intended for children and infants. Olivia Mae Sinclair’s books however are made for lovers, survivors, artists, her, him, them and me.

This provocative body of work by textile artist Olivia Mae Sinclair will be featured in the Craft Ontario's Shop Window from February 3rd to March 4th.

Check out the Olivia Mae Sinclair Collection for work available to purchase!

Olivia Mae Sinclair is a textile-book artist. Her intuitive and trauma-based practice is guided by sloppy craft and imperfection. She is addicted to infatuation and Redbull. She is a maker of books, love and other grotesque things.

Sloppy Craft as defined by honouring the process of making over the final piece. Handwriting is an important part of the books and sloppiness to articulate the intimacy and confessions held within. Sinclair wants the audience to be equally dazzled and disgusted by the books - but in order for this to happen, the audience must engage and touch the pieces, usually in a public setting. Relational Aesthetics is one way she likes to think about audience and the work.

Sinclair analyzes the emotional implications of power and sex between female and male identifying individuals. The form and shape of the books demonstrate the theme of deterioration through manipulation such as cutting, ripping, and fraying. Techniques include screen printing, sewing, and machine embroidery. The books have a raw and rough quality to them as they borrow the visual language from sketchbooks, journal entries and the zine community. Overall, her question remains; how do we read with our entire body?

Sinclair has recently graduated from OCAD University's Interdisciplinary Master's in Art, Media and Design program. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Craft and Design at Sheridan College. Olivia is a current Artist in Residence at Harbourfront Centre.

See Olivia's available work to purchase online.