Hi! My name is Alexandria Masse
Who am I?
My name is Alexandria Masse (she/her). I’m a textile artist from Windsor, Ontario. I moved to Nova Scotia for 4 years to get my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Textiles/Fashion and graduated in 2022.
Last year I received the Fluevog emerging artist grand and made this giant spider Abigail.
When did I get involved with textiles?
When I was a kid I always found myself very drawn and connected to textiles. I always wanted to take my clothes or stuffed animals apart:
I was hand sewing all my life then taught myself to use a sewing machine when I was 13
From there I started making my own clothes and experimenting more with how things could be constructed
when it was time for me to go to high school I decided to go to the arts high school in my area, there were classes like sculpture painting and printmaking
I found with every project I automatically reached for textiles
I starting making clothes with lights in them, this was my sculpture final in high school that also doubles as my prom dress
This is Casper the 6 legged dragon. He was the first large scale soft sculpture I made.
After graduating high school i received a full ride to NSCAD University where I got my BFA in Textiles/Fashion.
In university I tried so many different things, my focus was fashion but I constantly found myself going back to textiles.
This is the moth collection I made, each moth is based off of a moth in this area and for each coat I experimented with rug tufting, quilting and inlay faux fur.
This is the centipede I made for my undergraduate solo exhibition, she is 13 metres long, I made over a dozen eggs and when the exhibition was finished I shipped those eggs to people all over the world.
Being an artist online
During the pandemic in 2021 I started posting the things I made online, from there my creations started going viral and people started to follow me, view and like the things I made.
I started making things that went viral and from there I was able to make more connections in the art community.
What are my inspirations?
When creating I am very connected to the women in my family. I utilize a lot of practices passed down by women and I am very aware of it. A lot of these craft practices are considered craft and not “real art” .
My goal is to include these mediums in the art world but also cherish and honour all the women who have been doing this for decades and not regarded as artists.
I think there is a big importance in continuing the traditions of matriarchal craft practices and also seeing them in places outside of the home.
Dim Sum at the Silver Dragon
My moms side of the family immigrated to Canada when she was young and when I was growing up my grandparents owned a restaurant, it closed when I was about 10 but I have a lot of memories of being in that space. A lot of my cultural connections are connected to food. So I made a series of headwear inspired by dishes served at dim sum. You can read about it more on my website if you’re interested.
Making the giant spider for Fluevog
When I’m creating giant bug sculptures I’m thinking about all the women who do needle point, knitting, crochet, sewing at home but aren’t considered “traditional artists” are they not considered artists because they are women? Or because they utilize a practice that has historically been dominated by women? Or is it a combination of both. When creating this I was thinking about how maternal the spider is. Spiders weave their own textiles the same way mothers knit and crochet. That textile knowledge is passed down to the next generation.
When creating the spider I wanted to make something in the same realm as my 13 metre long centipede. In my head I knew the spider was the next thing I had to do.
The spider base is something I made out of thrifted fleece blankets. The pattern on the blankets didn’t matter because I was going to cover it with crochet pieces.
The next step was adding galvanized steel to the legs so they could stay in place. The steel could be bent with a lot of force so that is how I was able to bend the knees. I created outer pockets on each leg to slide the steel rods into.
(The second photo is it on my parents dining room table, that is where I worked on it most of the time)
Here is a photo of a bunch of circles I made laying out on the table, ready to be sewn onto the spider base. The hard part of constructing the spider was over. From here I essentially needed to crochet all of the pieces that were going to go on the outside. I used 100% Canadian wool and my approach was to crochet a bunch of circles, wash and dry them and sew them individually onto the spider base
Easy right? Well no, it took me literally a month of nonstop crocheting circles. I ended up needing over 200. Hand sewing them to the base was not an easy task, as you can see in the second photo I had to equip myself with a headlamp and lay in some awkward positions to get it done.
After that I rolled her as best I could into the back of my parents car and drove up to Toronto and she has been here at the Distillery District Fluevog store since.
It took a little over 2 months to physically make Abigail, but essentially from when I woke up to when I went to bed all I was working on was this spider. Every waking moment I was working on her.
Love Confessions
In this series I lived in Portugal for a month at an Artist Residency. Essentially all I did for a month is work on art all day.
Other Pieces
I asked people online for their anonymous love confessions. About plutonic or romantic situations. I find the topic of love relating to crushes, feelings and emotions is so immaturely relatable. I’m fascinated with the way people care for other people so deeply.
I made 14 tapestries in total. At this point in my practice I was dying all of the yarn myself, something I now enjoy and do all the time.
Why Wool?
I use 100% Canadian Wool I dye at home using acid dye. I purchase the wool in bulk from Fleece Artist, a brand based in Halifax Nova Scotia (where I lived for 4 years). All of their wool is regionally sourced and manufactured in the Maritimes.
Once I receive the wool I dye it in small batches, usually 1-4 hanks (balls) at a time. If I only dye what I need, I won’t have many scraps.
Working with wool allows me to felt it. Soap, heat and agitation will cause the wool fibres to attach to each other which is felting. This allows me to manipulate it and make structures for my soft sculptures.
In the Garden - Over the past summer I did a 3 month long artist residency in Windsor where I made 6 giant insect sculptures, each insect was chosen from ones I would find in the backyard growing up in Windsor Ontario.
They are all very large and between 2 and 5 feet long. I built them very similarly to the the spider where I would make a base out of thrifted fleece then crochet the pieces to cover that base. Over the past year my dying skills have improved greatly so I dyed all of the pieces myself.
Between Projects
(commissions, patterns, sponsored content)
Between these large projects I make a living by doing comissions which is custom requests for wearable art, usually balaclavas and clothes.
I also sell patterns for some of my crochet pieces. I will make a tutorial on how to recreate one of my pieces on youtube and sell the written pattern for a small fee.
Lately I have been working on sponsored content. A company will reach out to me with a project in mind and I’ll do that project and post it on social media.
All of these things allow me to make money to then buy materials and take periodical breaks to make larger works of art.
What is my goal
I love to display my art in public places, I think it’s such a privilege to have the things I create in a public space. People can go about their day and be introduced to subjects that are very fun. Giant colourful insects are very fun!
When creating things for a public space I have to keep in mind they subject matter someone is being exposed or introduced to. When you create something with a gallery in mind you can explore different subject matter because the viewer is attending a space where they know they’ll be exposed to that. When I create something for a public space I need to keep in mind how will the effect someone’s daily life.
My favourite reactions is when people say wow how fun, incredible and fantastical. I want someones day to be changed, they see something they think wow how cool. Giving someone a positive experience or reaction is my goal.