Where can I see her art?
Instagram: @katybiele
Website: https://www.katybiele.com/
Art Interiors Gallery in Toronto.
Katy Biele is a multidisciplinary artist from Chile currently living and working in Victoria BC, Canada.
Her Story
"I liked art since I was little. I studied design in college."
Katy left Chile in 2012, "I went travelling and never returned. I mean I have visited but have not lived there again". She travelled solo for years to New Zealand, Australia, and Asia. "I went to New Zealand first as there was a one year work visa for Chileans. So I took any job I could get and travelled during my free time. I met my Canadian husband on one of my travels ten years ago, we moved to Canada eight years ago and now we have a 3 year old daughter". She now lives with her family in Victoria BC and tells me "it has not been an easy road".
"There was always a feeling of fear and uncertainty of becoming a full time artist. But I see it more possible here in Canada. The country is more liberal and art is more accessible. I first came in touch with embroidery in India, with gypsy women of the dessert, but it was very difficult as the patterns were intricate and well structured. I then took some contemporary embroidery classes with a Chilean artists which were more free style. And from there on, practicing by myself. My inspiration comes when I just go ahead and start trying. I believe the key to making art is to persevere."
Katy aims for a "slow life without hurry". "To reach a mental state and space to create from the heart. To create art from your authentic self. To be able to create a magical connection with what is inside us."
Her Work
"El Manto (The Quilt) started just before the pandemic. I began embroidering and creating knots, and these knots started to show texture. So I continued making layers and putting them together, and it became bigger and bigger. The colors represent our Latin American culture. And it was my way of bringing the warmness of my culture to Canada. I love to go camping to the forest here in Victoria BC, it looks like the south of Chile. So I began to place what I had created in trees and it felt like it belonged in nature. El Manto is meant to cover us and to cover the forest. Like the quilt that covered us when we were children. It is cozy, warm, homey, and vulnerable, as it has holes in it, it is not perfect. I am in the process of making another one."
Something to hang on to was part of the 2023 Gathering exhibition at the Textile Museum of Canada.
This work is created as part of Gathering, featuring community stories told through our global collection. Grounded in community participation, Gathering explores themes related to migration and diaspora, the search for comfort in the domestic and familial, reclamation of ancestral traditions through contemporary artistic responses, and the relationship between textiles and the environment.
"I started incorporating faces in my artwork a long time ago and they have evolved. The faces are always women. It is a way to honor my women ancestors - my mother, my grandmother. In Something to hang on to, you can see the women are together and hiding. It speaks about the cosmos and the Earth. Of how emigrating makes us feel a void, vulnerable but strong." Katy tells us "most of the artists were immigrants", including herself. "My artwork questions where is home?. And I have come to realize that home is not a physical place anymore. But a feeling. Art makes me feel grounded. It lets me grow roots."
What are you focused on now?
"I am taking it with calm. I have a collective exhibit with around 10 other artists coming up next February in Ontario at the Royal Gardens. I also have an exhibit coming soon in my studio. And I would like to create more mixed media imaginary landscapes, where I mix both painting and embroidery on the canvas, for the Art Interiors Gallery in Toronto. I also teach online and in-person watercolor and embroidery workshops. My classes aim to teach people to find their voice. And of course, taking care of my 3 year old daughter."
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