Next In Fibre: Fibreworks 2026

In 2024, Cambridge Art Galleries celebrated the 20th anniversary of Fibreworks with Next In Fibre, combining the strengths of two legacy biennial exhibitions, Fibreworks and SHOWCASE. Established in 1982, Fibreworks celebrated the historical textile industry of the Grand River region and shaped the strong contemporary permanent collection of Cambridge Art Galleries. SHOWCASE, inaugurated in 2005, highlighted the best of early career Ontario-based artists. Drawing on the rich histories of both exhibitions, Next In Fibre continues as an invitation to the next generation of artists to challenge and innovate the future of fibre art.

Next In Fibre: Fibreworks 2026 presents the work of ten artists selected from more than 300 submissions from across Canada. The featured artworks reflect a wide range of material and conceptual concerns shaping contemporary artistic practice. Artists draw on the historical and cultural labour embedded in textiles to imagine Black and Métis futures, explore fibre as an everyday material that can serve as a conduit for activism and poetry, and experiment with the integration of photography and realism into fibre-based forms. 
 

This exhibition was juried by Suzanne Carte (Artistic Director, Art Gallery of Burlington) and Maria Hupfield (Artist; Assistant Professor, University of Toronto) with Cambridge Art Galleries staff. 

Featured Artists 

AJA Louden · Ava Katz · Christy Kunitzky · Eva Kolcze · Ioana Dragomir · Margaret Firlotte · Maria-Margaretta Cabana Boucher · Négar Devine-Tajgardan · Sky Weir · Tara Lynn MacDougall

Banner: Ava Katz, The Watcher, Silk, thread, wire, acrylic paint, polyfil, carabiners. 60 x 60 x 25 inches, 2026. Image courtesy of the artist.