Abstract

This thesis examines contemporary Canadian textile art by three women: Ann Newdigate, Barbara Todd and Colette Whiten who, through their respective mediums of tapestry, quilting, and embroidery, challenge existing systems of meaning through a strategic critique of dominant cultural ideologies. Simultaneous to this discussion it seeks to examine how traditional and institutional structures have contributed to the devaluation of textiles, while at the same time considering the possibility textiles provide for an intervention into those systems.