Linda McBain Cuyler - Artist statement:
I have always been most interested in art that involves fibre. It’s not a fascination I can fully explain, so maybe it’s genetic since my mother also loves fabric. After experimenting with several techniques – batik, weaving, quilting – I have now settled on a favourite. I generally use a combination of acrylic painting and free-motion machine embroidery to produce my artwork – with a smattering of appliqué and hand embroidery.

My educational background includes a Bachelor of Interior Design degree from University of Manitoba. I have also taken a wide variety of fibre art workshops and courses, including a few on teaching adult students. After a short career as an actual interior designer, I worked as a computerized embroidery designer. In 1989 I started my own company, Bannerworks!, designing and sewing appliquéd fabric banners. As art took over from banners, I became a full-time fibre artist and my company morphed into my current fibre art business.

Most of my inspiration for design comes from landscape or nature. I go about my daily life with an internal dialogue that may resemble, “What nice clouds...there’s a fantastic gnarled tree...look at the shadows across the road...too bad I don’t have my camera...where am I going again?” From the times I have remembered to bring my camera, I have a large selection of images that I work with. I crop, edit, combine, and adjust to improve the images.  I design in my head, and with rough sketches before I rush headlong into a project and worry about the details as I go along. Though people think I am patient because of the kind of work I do, I am still too impatient to do much hand embroidery – painting and machine embroidery is quicker!

A lot of my work is traditional landscape or garden imagery. I usually paint the background fabric first, and then add thin threads in the background and thick threads in the foreground to create depth. I like bright colours and contrasting textures. Lately I have been moving away from traditional landscapes and have been incorporating aerial views of the landscape into my work. I like the patterns and textures of satellite images, but it also reminds me of the interconnectedness of land use and its appearance.

I have been developing my technique and selling my work for almost 20 years. Recently, Malcolm Gladwell wrote that you need to put in 10,000 hours to become really good at something. My machine and I have been together for those hours – becoming the best of friends. These days I divide my time between creating large, framed, one-of-a-kind pieces (for exhibits and commissions), producing a line of small embroideries and greeting cards (sold at many gift and gallery shops), teaching workshops and participating in retail craft/art sales.