Sola, a senior Canadian fiber artist, is best known for her large-scale tapestry tributes to Olympic host cities. Her works capture the architectural and spiritual essence of each city at a specific moment in time.

Since winning the Best Fiber Art prize in 1973 in Vancouver, B.C., Sola’s work has been acquired by a wide range of notable institutions and individuals, including the Key West Museum, the ResMed Corporation in San Diego, Canuck Place, the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, Jim Pattison, and the City of Surrey.

Her tapestries have been exhibited in numerous galleries across Canada and the U.S., including her own “Soft Space Studio” in Deep Cove, which she opened while attending the Vancouver School of Art.

Over the next two decades, Sola traveled to the cities of Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Sydney, Australia, weaving in public and on location. In 2001 she was awarded a Canada Council for the Arts grant to create the Salt Lake City tapestry. Sola returned to Canada in 2009 to start work on the Vancouver tapestry.

Born in 1936, Sola grew up in London during World War II, a time when reuse and recycling were integral to daily life. Her tapestries transform the concept of thrift, elevating it into a glamorous art form.

Using yarn sourced from thrift stores and estate sales, Sola creates inviting, colourful landscapes filled with rich detail and a warmth inherent to her materials. Her work has widespread appeal and is more relevant than ever today, as young artisans around the world embrace craft traditions like weaving as their own.