top of page

BIO

Anke Fox

01.A_edited.jpg

Anke Fox began her career as a weaver in 1986 in a small studio on Granville Island in Vancouver, where she apprenticed with silk ikat weaver Diana Sanderson. From 1988 to 1990 she studied textiles at Capilano College in North Vancouver to further her education in weave structures. Two semesters in the Fiber Department at Concordia University in Montreal introduced her to a more conceptual approach to working in textiles. Anke Fox finished her textile studies in 1992 with a Major in Textiles and a Minor in Art History at the NSCAD University in Halifax.

Since then Anke has been working as the technician in the Textiles Department of the NSCAD University, providing technical support to faculty and students. She independently oversees several large studios, weaving and dye&print facilities and maintains a broad range of textile equipment, including a computerized Jacquard loom from Digital Weaving Norway and a laser cutter. Her responsibilities also include the instruction of health and safety precautions, the maintenance of two separate budgets and research of new equipment and supplies, as well as the hiring and supervision of student assistants. The experiences gained in the department over the past 22 years have been invaluable to her understanding of numerous technical aspects in the textile field.

Simultaneously Anke has been very active in pursuing her career as a textile designer. Through her intense exploration of textiles she has acquired a broad range of techniques, from felting to basketry, from dyeing to large-scale photo screen printed images, from tapestry to computer generated weaving.

Her work has practical applications as well as the ability to provoke contemplation in the viewer. The textiles carry the sensuality of a finely crafted object as well as thought and emotion. Anke Fox has exhibited her textiles widely in design competitions in North America, Europe and Asia. She has received numerous grants to pursue her craft and has won awards for her work.

Since 1994 Anke has also developed and taught various weaving, tapestry and dyeing courses at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design and the Continuing Education Department at the NSCAD University.

In addition she developed and managed a Tapestry weaving project at Robert Jamieson School in Oyster Pond, N.S. in 2000/01. This very successful project was funded by the 4C’s Foundation in Halifax.

From 2004 to 2009 Anke Fox co-owned 'Armstrong Fox Textiles' a successful textile design company that designed and manufactured innovative fashion accessories and textile products for the interior and furnishings market. In 2006 the company won the national Textile Design Competition for the Hespeler Public Library Expansion Project in Cambridge, Ontario.

From January 2009 to August 2011 Anke Fox was part of the @lab research team at the Centre for Cultural Technology & Innovation in Halifax. This interdisciplinary three-year project was funded through ACOA's Atlantic Innovation Fund to develop electronic textiles for architectural applications.

In the Fall of 2013 Anke Fox was artist-in-residence in the Dalhousie University Medical Humanities HEALS program where she worked with students on a community tapestry project.

Anke Fox is a very dedicated and passionate textile designer. She enjoys technical challenges and problem solving. She is a hard working, efficient, independent individual who stays focused and pays attention to detail.

bottom of page