Artist’s Bio

Born in and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, Vicky Taylor-Hood has experimented with a variety of artistic media before finding her niche in the fibre arts. Originally intent on an academic career, she studied at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, earning a B.A. and an M.A. in Religious and Mediaeval Studies. She then studied German culture, history and language at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton.

Her first exposure to art came at a young age, having grown up in a family replete with artists and artisans. She worked mostly in watercolours and pencil until she discovered textiles and fibre arts in 1994. Since then she has created dozens of traditional and innovative quilts, by both hand and machine and in recent years has gravitated to art quilts as a means of personal expression and interpretation. As of late, this obsession has become a full-time occupation, with her work residing in private and public collections throughout North America and Europe.

Her work is inspired by the seascapes, landscapes and ecology of the Atlantic Provinces’ varied regions and reflects her love of the many faces of her native land. She is fascinated by the stark juxtaposition of ocean, land and sky found along the coast and seeks to capture in her work the many moods of this environment. Her academic background, exploring as it does the island’s religious and cultural heritage, has deepened and refined her expression of Newfoundland’s strong connection with the sea.

She lives and works in Torbay, Newfoundland with her husband, daughter and their three dogs. Her work is available through the Devon House Gallery of the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador in St. John’s, the Handsmith Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from her studio in Torbay (by appointment) and can be seen on her website at Sea Strands .