Thing to Wear

Thing to Wear is a collection of kimono-inspired garments created by students, staff, faculty, and alumni from the Alberta University for the Arts (AUArts) under the expert guidance of Associate Professor, Bill Morton.

Curated by Jolie Bird

Thing to Wear is a collection of kimono-inspired garments created by students, staff, faculty, and alumni from the Alberta University for the Arts (AUArts) under the expert guidance of Associate Professor, Bill Morton. Upon returning from Japan in 1983, Bill began teaching in the Fibre Program at AUArts (previously Alberta College of Art + Design). During this time, he also offered kimono construction and painting on silk workshops at Pearson College UWC, Red Deer College and the University of Alberta. Students enrolled in Bill’s courses have had the opportunity to produce kimono, and over the last five years, he has generously offered a kimono construction workshop twice a year to anyone in the school with a desire to learn. Many of the pieces are innovative, incorporating fibre processes such as digital printing, papermaking and eco printing alongside traditional methods like weaving, brush blending, wax resist, indigo, and potassium permanganate dyeing. Programming including a gallery tour, technical demonstrations by AUArts Fibre majors, and a talk with Bill provide some historical context into panel garments from Japan, and his experience working under master dyer, Kunio Isa.

Bill Morton is a Calgary-based artist and teacher. His work is collected and shown in the United States, Japan, China and Canada. A graduate of the Alberta College of Art (1967), he studied in Japan from 1969 to 1983 including ten years apprenticing with a Master Dyer.

“My process is open-ended, offering limitless opportunities for exploration of colour and pattern. Each piece reflects a particular state of mind. The techniques I use take time and patience and require focus as unanticipated variations can occur when material, colour and process coalesce into something new.” -Bill Morton

Jolie Bird is a textile artist who lives and works in Calgary, Alberta. She completed her MFA at NSCAD University in 2013 and had also studied at the Alberta University of the Arts and Capilano University. Currently, she is the Educational Art Technician for the Fibre Program at the Alberta University of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited locally, nationally and in the United States. Bird recently returned from Japan where she studied Kasuri weaving for a month at the Kawashima Textile School in Kyoto.

all images courtesy Chelsea Yang-Smith