My name is Alexandra Emberley. I’m an interdisciplinary artist working with textiles and garments to create installations exploring discourse, materiality, and form. My projects are inspired by history, myth, fables, and nursery rhymes, as well as archives, found objects, ornament, detritus, and personal memory. I bring these elements together through drawing, colour, pattern, and materiality, and the techniques of hand and digital embroidery, digital printing, silk-screen, Devoré, natural dyes, felting, hand-sewing, and tailoring.
I have a BA from the University of Toronto in Philosophy (Aesthetics) and Cinema Studies, a PhD from York University Faculty of Education, an MFA in Printmaking from the University of Alberta, and an MFA in Textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design. My work has been exhibited throughout Canada and the US, as well as in the UK, Slovakia, and Japan. I have participated in artist residencies in Banff, Halifax, Calgary, Philadelphia, and Germany. I have technical training in tambour embroidery from the École Lesage, Paris. Recently, I spent five months in the UK learning to draft, tailor and fit a bespoke suit jacket. I have over sixteen years of experience as an educator in art and design, developing and teaching courses in visual culture, film studies, and critical and creative research methods, and studio courses in drawing, printmaking, and interdisciplinary studio-based inquiry.
ACADEMIC EDUCATION
2023 MFA TEXTILES, “LEGEND”
RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN, DEPT OF TEXTILES, PROVIDENCE, RI
2013 MFA PRINTMAKING, “FUR STORIES: YOU ARE NOT WILD ENOUGH FOR ME”
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, DEPT OF FINE ARTS, EDMONTON, AB
2013 PHD LANGUAGE, CULTURE & TEACHING, “AN INTERDISCIPLINARY INQUIRY INTO ‘LEARNING FROM’”
YORK UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF EDUCATION, TORONTO, ON
RECENT EXHIBITIONS
NOV 1 2023 - APR 5 2024 “FOR D: BECOMING A TREE,” GALLERY 505, CALGARY. AB
JULY - AUGUST 2023 “MOTH MEMORY & BLACK BLOSSOM LACE”
CAAF RESIDENCY, cSPACE, CALGARY, AB
JULY 1 - OCT 15 2023 “DAPHNE & APOLLO II: BLOSSOM TULLE JACKET & WESTERN SHIRT” WITH “PETTICOAT JACKET”
NEW CONTEMPORARIES: SELECTED WORKS FROM THE CLASS OF 2023
GELMAN GALLERY, RISD MUSEUM, PROVIDENCE, RI
MAY 2- JUNE 3 2023 “LEGEND” MFA THESIS TEXTILES
RISD GRAD SHOW, PROVIDENCE CONVENTION CENTER, PROVIDENCE, RI
FEB 11 - JULY 30 2023 ”FOUR SAMPLERS”
SENSING FASHION, RISD MUSEUM, PROVIDENCE, RI
SEPT 7 - OCT 2 2022 “CHRYSALIS WAISTCOAT”
A MOMENT THAT LAST BEYOND NOW, SOL KOFFLER GALLERY, PROVIDENCE, RI
JANUARY 29 - JULY 10 2022 “THE WOLF & THE LAMB”
INHERENT VICE: HIDDEN NARRATIVES, RISD MUSEUM, PROVIDENCE, RI
MARCH 2022, “HYDRANGEA FLOWER PATTERN: BEADED YOKE WITH DEVORÉ SAMPLE”
INCREMENTAL GROWTH, SOL KOFFLER GALLERY, PROVIDENCE, RI
GRANTS, AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIPS
2024 ALBERTA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, INDIVIDUAL PROJECT GRANT: “AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A SUIT”
2022, 2023 RISD MUSEUM GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP, TEXTILES & COSTUME
2022, 2023 ROSANNE SOMERSON SCHOLARSHIP, RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN
2021 ALBERTA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, INDIVIDUAL PROJECT GRANT: “FOR D: BECOMING A TREE”
2020, 2022, 2023 RISD GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP
2020 ALBERTA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GRANT: RISD MFA TEXTILES
2018 ALBERTA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GRANT: ECOLE LESAGE
2012 ALBERTA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, GRADUATE AWARD IN ART & DESIGN
2012 QUEEN ELIZABETH II SCHOLARSHIP, UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
2010 HALIFAX REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY OPEN PROJECTS GRANT, “AN ARCHIVE OF BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES”
2010 ARTS NOVA SCOTIA GRANT, BANFF CENTRE VISUAL ARTS RESIDENCY, CALGARY, AB
FULL CV AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
