Gabbi Knapp
BIO
Gabbi is a textile artist who, at the time of writing this, is living and working in the GTA alongside some very dear friends and her cat. By textile artist she means an artist for whom textiles — the materials and techniques, and also all of their devotional labour, and practiced skill — are the medium of choice. She is a lifelong fantasy nerd, poetry reader and yearner. She upholds the importance of things being incredibly cool. She takes everything really seriously and believes that if only she is sincere enough, metaphorical doors will keep opening when she asks them to.
CAPSTONE PROJECT
ELEGY FOR A SPEAR
Elegy For A Spear is a zine and a textile art installation. It is a matrix of narrative geometries. Within it, a knight-errant seeks her love and her purpose: the comet she has sworn to serve.
This is the coolest, most sincere story I could think of, and I used it as a framework to explore the binary star of longing and relief. The knight is longing; within her is a hole and it consumes and propels her. She is the tripartite avatar of loneliness, desire, and devotion. The comet is not relief but could offer it. Many moments of longing orbit one moment of sublime relief, which is both the genesis of the story and its end. It is in the mutual collision of knight and comet that relief comes in the form of a stilling inextricability. Intermingled, they are washed out in light.
FEATURED Work
Title: Elegy for a Spear
Dimensions: 160 x 170 cm
Year: 2025
Materials: Linen, hemp, cotton, viscose, and silk cloth; natural dyes, iron; cotton and linen thread, beeswax
Title: Piece 3
Dimensions: 25 x 25 cm
Year: 2025
Materials: Cotton cloth; natural dyes, iron; cotton and linen thread, beeswax
Title: Piece 7
Dimensions: 21 x 42 cm
Year: 2025
Materials: Linen, hemp, and cotton cloth; natural dyes, iron; cotton thread, beeswax
Title: Piece 11
Dimensions: 41 x 20 cm
Year: 2025
Materials: Linen, hemp, cotton, viscose, and silk cloth; natural dyes, iron; cotton thread, beeswax
Title: Concept Study: Reverse, Thought, And Actuality Of A Hole
Dimensions: 31 x 64 cm
Year: 2025
Materials: Hemp, cotton, and silk cloth; natural dyes, iron; linen thread, beeswax