Molly Farquharson is a local fibre artist who uses thread, yarn, buttons, fabric, and found objects in her stitcheries. She grew up surrounded by fibre creations by her mother, grandmother, and greatgrandmothers and went on from following patterns to creating her own work. In addition, she lived and taught in the US, Japan, and Turkey, from where she collected many kinds of fibre art. Some of her work is punny, some ‘de nature’, and some abstract, with attempts to create order from randomness and to explore various genres and colours. She calls her work ‘breaking the rules stitchery’, as unlike the strict rules of cross-stitch, she uses various threads and yarns and changes direction at will. In 2015 she moved to Orillia from Istanbul. The first winter seemed brutal, so when she entered the arts scene here, she called her art Hibernation Arts, which then became the name of her gallery.
She has shown her art at Tango, Studio 204, Art & Home, Orillia Museum of Art and History, and various other locations. Finally in 2018 she opened her own gallery, Hibernation Arts, in the Arts District on Peter St. It has become a welcoming location for many local artists in media from painting to poetry. She has been on various committees, including the Orilllia Fine Arts Association, Orillia District Arts Council, and the Public Art Committee. She has also organized the Friday night Art Walks in downtown Orillia over the past few summers. You can follow Hibernation Arts on Instagram and Facebook or check out her website at hibernationarts.ca.
