My work as a painter is combined with my skills in weaving and textiles to create dynamic painted surfaces with dense handwoven subjects. Currently I use a traditional knot-tying technique to make woven jute ‘drawings’ to use as the design for the surface of a painting. 

In a repetitive process, I slowly build up woven forms similar to the way a drawing is made, using spontaneous manipulations of jute cord. The weaving begins with only a vague plan and the design of the handwoven image materializes in the moment.

My work draws from feminist textile works and their material strategies from the 1960s and 70s. I borrow from this rich history to weave eccentric female forms as materially complex images woven into the painting’s surface.

Sarah Cale was born in Montréal, Canada and has lived in Brussels, BE for the past five years where she relocated to teach at La Cambre. Her work has been shown internationally and has been funded by the Canada Council for the Arts since 2018.

@scalecale