Abstract

This thesis investigates land-based fibre art practices that are carried out in the intertidal zones in the province of Nova Scotia, and the potential for such practices to generate an ecological worldview. To do so, the following pages focus on the processes of three artists, Alexa Bunnell, Doug Guildford, and Katrina Craig, who have all recently used fibre-based practices to engage with the specific character of the intertidal zones. This thesis weaves together evidence from secondary sources with primary material drawn from conversational interviews with the artists. My methodology draws from the diversity of approaches, including critical craft studies, ecocriticism, and new materialism.
This thesis briefly analyses different models for engaging with the landscape that were used in the Earth Art movement of the 60s and 70s, in order to locate a process that aligns with Tim Morton’s definition of developing “ecological awareness.” The body of this thesis analyses the themes that arose in the interviews. Firstly, the important role that bodies, materials and environments take in developing self-awareness and ecological awareness, as well as the unique traits of fibre-based processes that lend themselves to this process. Another section inquiries into the way Guildford, Bunnell, and Craig’s work hybridised the technical and artistic applications of fibre art. The last section explores the element of storytelling that takes place through their work, which lends itself to generating an ecological paradigm.
I contend that Bunnell, Guildford, and Craig’s art-making processes raise ecological awareness beyond the realm of art, in an exchange that social anthropologist Tim Ingold describes as “textility.” This creative modality allows these artists to contribute to generating an ecological paradigm.