In the world of fibre art, Ann Fales emerges as an artist whose creative journey is as vibrant and diverse as the pieces she creates. Born in Vancouver, when Fales was five years old, she contracted the mumps, which confined her to her room with little to do. To help the young mind stay busy, her grandmother gave her an embroidery tablecloth kit, which she cherishes to this day. From that point on, Fales taught herself embroidery and sewing.
Her skills have helped her in many ways. Fales earned a B.A. in Anthropology (University of Washington) and an M.A. and Ph.D in Adult Education and Adult Development and Aging (University of Chicago). “During that time, I sewed for the wives of fellow students to make money through school.” Her do-it-yourself attitude followed her throughout her life. When she and her husband found their way to Belleville, Fales recalls a time when she “went into a store downtown that sold funky clothing and had fibre art on the wall. There was a piece that had a picture of a swamp on it. I thought about buying it, but then realized I could make that! Though I had never learned quilting. So I took a course at Foxboro Fabrics and got hooked into the quilting world.”
Later in life, Fales and her husband both retired from their academic careers and made their way back to Fales’s home province of British Columbia to be winter caretakers on a floating fishing lodge. “The fishing lodge was in Barkley Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, between Uculet and Bamfield. It is adjacent to the Broken Group Islands which are part of Pacific Rim National Park.” They were there for seven months the first winter, with limited contact and cold nights. Fales found herself picking up her quilting once again. “I gained inspiration for my pieces from the things I saw while out there isolated—whales, wood on the beach—so that was my first art piece.” When they came back to Bay of Quinte area, Fales decided she would focus more on quilting and took the fibre arts diploma course at St. Lawrence. “I didn’t actually get the diploma. I didn’t care; I just wanted the knowledge, not the piece of paper.” During that time, Joan Sheppard was an important mentor in the fibre arts group for Fales, and she was able to pick up great techniques.
“The opportunity to express my own images of nature and even thoughts or feelings gets expressed in the art, and I find the vehicle of fibre/cloth/stitch in that form much more appealing than paint or drawing. People ask me what my inspiration is, and I often say it’s the fabric itself. I will get out my storage containers of fabric and play with them. Sometimes a photograph that I’ve taken of nature, but sometimes it’s the fabric that informs the piece.” Fales expresses that when she is creative in other forms, like drawing, she feels too much like a perfectionist—too self-critical. Fibre art is so personal and real. “You can play with it and feel the inspiration,” says Fales. In a world where perfectionism often stifles creativity, Fales finds liberation in the imperfections of fibre art. Here, she can play, experiment, and surrender to the ebb and flow of inspiration without the burden of self-criticism. After all, isn’t that what art is all about?
Fales has taken advanced studies in quilting design, exhibited her work in many shows and has received many awards. She is a member of Quinte Arts Council, Quinte Fibre Artists, Tweed and Area Studio Tour, Stirling Fine Artist, Quinte Quilters’ Guild, Canadian Quilting Association, Prince Edward County Quilters’ Guild and is a current member of Gallery One-Twenty-One.
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