About Ian
I'm a community-taught textile artist working in quilting, weaving and banner making. My banners are for causes both real and imagined. I see craft as both personal expression and political action. My work explores how textiles can cushion difficult truths while simultaneously unraveling systems of power one person at a time.
After twenty years in politics and business, I turned to textiles as a form of personal resistance and recovery.
My practice spans traditional and contemporary fibre arts. Whether solving the endless puzzles of quilting, finding meditative rhythm at the loom, or creating banners to help imagine better futures, I examine how these ancient crafts remain radical acts. Weaving and sewing are universal human practices, I believe these skills are instinctual waiting to be surfaced through the act of making.
Current Work
I'm building Colours of Pride, a series of wearable quilts, one for each colour in the Progress Pride flag. Each cape, poncho, or stole is designed to be worn, not hung on a wall. The series explores how the meanings Gilbert Baker stitched into his original 1978 flag, life, healing, sunlight, nature, harmony, spirit, still resonate (and still need defending).
I also make quilted protest banners. Some respond to specific political moments. Others imagine futures we haven't built yet. The lettering is always hand-cut and appliquéd, no vinyl, no shortcuts.
Podcast
I host Art Against Empire, a documentary podcast about artists using creative practices as resistance. The show combines interviews with archival audio and original research to tell stories about textile workers' strikes, guerrilla street art, Indigenous craft sovereignty, and anti-capitalist maker spaces. Season 1 launched January 2026.
Community
Over at Zak Foster's online home for fibre folks called the Quilty Nook, I host the LGBTQIA+ room and online sewing circles.
Background
Before textiles, I spent two decades in Canadian politics and media. I worked as a political analyst on CBC's Power & Politics, founded the digital communications firm MediaStyle, and served as Chief Impact & Communications Officer at Animikii Indigenous Technology, where I focused on anti-oppressive technology and Indigenous data sovereignty.
I studied at the University of Pennsylvania's Centre for Social Impact Strategy, graduating in 2017, then returned as a Teaching Fellow from 2018 to 2020. In 2023, I graduated from the University of Guelph's Horticulture program with a specialization in Natural Landscapes Management, adding another layer to my understanding of growth, patience and working with living systems.
This dual perspective, handcraft and digital systems, needlework and policy work, shapes everything I make. I use a lot of technology in my art practice: several sewing machines, digital patterning and cutting machines. Currently, I balance my artistic practice with work in anti-oppressive technology focused on Indigenous data sovereignty.
I live with my incredible husband in Montréal where we are building a 500 square meter St. Lawrence Lowlands eco-garden.