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The Surface Design Group, Vancouver, British Columbia
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Surface Design encompasses the coloring, patterning, and structuring of fibre and fabric, and includes processes such as dyeing, painting, printing, stitching, embellishing, quilting, weaving, knitting, felting and papermaking. British Columbia has a vibrant community of surface designers, all of whom are invited to join the Surface Design Group in our quarterly meetings. We are a purely informal, unstructured group and our meetings are also very informal. They move around between members' homes and businesses and are held every three months or so. We do not organize workshops or attempt to teach techniques to each other, although sometimes technical issues are discussed in a meeting. Our past meetings have included the following:
Internationally, surface designers are served by the Surface Design Association (www.surfacedesign.org) whose mission is to increase awareness, understanding, and appreciation of textiles in the art and design communities as well as in the general public. The SDA is best know for their highly regarded Surface Design Journal and for the international conference held every two years in Kansas City. Many participants in the Vancouver Surface Design Group are members of the SDA, but such membership is not required to attend our meetings. History Surface designers have been getting together for many years in Vancouver. The late Peggy Schofield was probably the first BC representative for the Surface Design Association and began to gather Vancouver surface designers together in the early 1980s to provide support and inspiration for each other. She was instrumental in bringing an international conference of surface designers to Vancouver in 1981. Subsequently, various other people took over this role. In 2004, SDA members and others in British Columbia who are interested in surface design decided to get together on a more regular basis, usually in Vancouver, to share their knowledge and experiences, and generally support each other's artistic endeavours. There is a smaller group that gathers every two months on the Sunshine Coast (Sechelt/Gibsons/Pender Harbour). Mission The mandate of the Surface Design Group has always been similar to, and is certainly inspired by, the mandate of the SDA:
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