Chantelle Andersen

Chantelle Andersen is a textile artist from in Makkovik, Nunatsiavut, NL. She studied Textiles: Craft and Apparel Design at the College of the North Atlantic in St John’s, NL, and honed her skills in the weaving and surface embellishment stream. As part of her final year, she displayed her work during a fashion show at the Resource Centre for the Arts, in St. John’s, in May 2012. Andersen creates wearable artworks such as amautiit and adds contemporary modifications and ornamentation to her pieces. Her technical proficiency involves machine embroidery, beadwork and manipulating natural materials such as moosehide. Her Woven Wool Amauti (2012) was displayed as part of curator Heather Igloliorte’s travelling exhibition SakKijâjuk: Art and Craft from Nunatsiavut. Andersen wove an amauti in shades of blue, first completing the outer layer before lining it with a silky fabric and then weaving in a wool trim [1].The garment’s geometric pattern creates a tactile texture and speaks to both the past and the present.

After completing her education, Andersen began teaching at the Makkovik Craft Centre. The centre is an important resource in the community and has existed in various places and forms since 1973; in 2013 a new centre was built where people continue to come together to create. Andersen strives to learn as much as she can from elders and adept seamstresses for her own practice and to share this knowledge with others. Andersen has also expanded her artistic practice to work more with sealskin and continues to converge time-honoured methodologies with present-day modalities. Most recently, one of Andersen's designs was selected to be produced by Canada Goose for their national campaign, Project Atigi.

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Accomplishments

2019: Parka design selected by Canada Goose to be featured in Project Atigi campaign.