Gayle Platz

b. Toronto, Ontario, Canada

In the early 1970s, two young experimental weavers, Gayle Platz and Marilyn Foubert, established a shop-studio in Winnipeg whimsically named “Frolicking Fantasy.”

The weavers, who had met at Sheridan College in Toronto, were given an exhibition of the same name at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1974. It highlighted their interest in structure, material, tactility, and an expanded understanding of what fibre arts could be. In Large Tapestry Weave, Platz combines wood, bouclé, and chenille into an organic shape with a prominent negative space—a work that demonstrates a myriad of tactile and formal possibilities.