Bio
Marta Mouka is a textile artist who creates collages using a unique approach to needle felting. She works with woven silk, often contact-printed with plant material, to make finished textiles with a smooth texture and soft-focus colour transitions. She experiments with centuries-old techniques of dyeing with natural dyes and combines them with the more contemporary method of botanical monoprinting.
Marta studied graphic design and visual arts at the College of Applied Arts in Brno, Czech Republic. She ran a graphic design studio in Toronto for 14 years, specializing in magazine art direction. Her extensive graphic design experience brings a strong sense of composition to her work.
Marta has been creating art for over 30 years. Since 2008 she has been a full-time textile artist, living and working in Tweed, Ontario. She has held solo shows and participated in juried group exhibitions, and she has received a number of awards. Her art is held in private collections across Canada.
Artist Statement
Nature Recorded on Silk and Mountain Range are ongoing series of abstract fibre artworks featuring botanical monoprints.
The organic evidence captured on silk documents the beauty, mystery, and healing properties of plant material. My work relates to Canadian nature in a very physical and literal way.
I follow centuries-old techniques of dyeing fabric with natural dyes and combine them with the more contemporary method of contact-printing with leaves, stems and flowers, and roots. The process of unlocking pigments and tannins in the botanical material is as important to me as the graphic vocabulary that shapes my work. The monoprinted silk is then collaged, needle-felted into its final form, and detailed with hand-stitching and fused silk.
In my creative process, I draw inspiration from books, Buddhist philosophy, and my daily contact with Ontario’s rural landscape.
My work is available at these galleries:
CRAFT ONTARIO SHOP
1106 Queen St. West, Toronto ON, M6J 1H9
416-921-1721
www.craftontarioshop.com
Gardiner Museum Shop
111 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C7
416-586-8080
www.gardinermuseum.on.ca
Quinn’s of Tweed Fine Art Gallery
345 Victoria St. North, Tweed, Ontario K0K 3J0
613-478-0000
quinnsoftweed.ca
Gallery One-Twenty-One
48 Bridge Street East, Belleville, ON, Canada K8N 1L6
613-962-4609
www.gallery121artists.com
META4 Contemporary Art & Craft Gallery
200 Queen St., Port Perry, ON, Canada L9L 1B8
905-985-1534
www.meta4gallery.ca
CV
Solo Shows
2023 The World of Thread Festival
Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre, 2302 Bridge Road, Oakville, ON
2017 Nature Recorded on Silk, Laurier Gallery, Liberty Village, Toronto, ON
2016 My Silk Route, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
Juried Exhibitions
2023 Juried Show, Expressions, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2022 Juried Show, Shifting Narratives, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2019 Juried Show, Expressions, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2018 Juried Show, Liminal– Subliminal, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2017 Headwaters Arts Festival, Alton Mills Arts Centre, Alton Village, ON
2017 Juried Show, Expressions, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2015 Juried Show, Expressions, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2015 Carnegie Craft 2015, Juried Exhibition, The Carnegie Gallery, Dundas, ON
2014 On the Wild Side, Curated exhibition of fibre and textile art. Gallery 1313, Toronto, ON
2014 Juried Show, Perspectives, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2014 Backyard Perceptions, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2013 Expressions 2013, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2013 The Salon Prize, Studio 22, Kingston, ON
2012 World of Threads Festival, De Rerum Natura, Joshua Creek Heritage Art Centre, Oakville ON
2012 Juried Show, Perspectives, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2012 Juried Show, Zeitgeist, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2011 Juried Show, Perspectives, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
Awards
2023 Juried Show, Expressions, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
2023 Craft Ontario Community Award
2019 Juried Show, Expressions, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
Ontario Arts Council Award
2017 Juried Show, Expressions, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
Award: 2017 Juror's Choice
2015 Juried Show, Expressions, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
Award: 2015 Juror's Choice
2014 Juried Show, Perspectives, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
Award: 2014 Outstanding Abstract
2012 Juried Show, Perspectives, John M. Parrott Gallery, Belleville, ON
Award: 2012 Impact Award
2012 Glen Murray Award
Group Exhibitions
2022 Evolving Traditions, John M. Parrot Gallery, Belleville, ON
2019 Evolving Traditions, John M. Parrot Gallery, Belleville, ON
2017 Evolving Traditions, John M. Parrot Gallery, Belleville, ON
2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 — TOAE (Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition), Toronto, ON
2015 Quinte Fibre Artists, Gallery One Twenty One, Belleville, ON
2013 Evolving Traditions, John M. Parrot Gallery, Belleville, ON
1998 Little Art Show, Toronto, ON
1997 Fall Art Salon - 97, Toronto, ON
1996 Fall Art Salon - 96, Toronto, ON
1995 The Group Bijou, Toronto, ON
Education
College of Applied Arts, Brno, Czech Republic
Teaching
2015 – present, Eco-Printing in the Barn, Workshops, Tweed, ON
Workshops with noted artists
2019 The Natural Dye Studio at Maiwa with Charllotte Kwon & Sophena Kwon
2018 Eco-print and more in France with Caroline Nixon & Nicola Brown
2015 Master class with Irit Dulman
2014 Workshop with Dorothy Caldwell
2013 Workshop with Gunnel Hag
