BIO
The Cloth Care Collective was founded by Anita Cazzola and Eija Loponen-Stephenson in 2019. They met at OCAD University where they studied Sculpture/Installation & Textiles. Their artistic kinship grew through common research and visual/material investigations into mending, women’s work, body-cloth-space relationships, and the politics of craft.
Each member of the collective brings a unique methodology to the table, but all practices are rooted in the poetics of caring for cloth, objects, and space. The CCC’s goal is to disseminate repair skills with communities to encourage sustainable textile maintenance, shifting ideologies surrounding consumption and waste.
Collectively and individually, CCC has hosted 14+ mending workshops across Canada, engaging hundreds with cloth care practices. Members have independently produced: artist books on mending; conducted and written several research papers investigating the psychological, social, and environmental aspects of repair; and have begun creating a series of zine publications. In April 2019, Anita began leading a bi-weekly Mending Club from her studio, and now Eija and Cleo host a second iteration of the Club in Toronto. Mending Club creates space for reciprocal empowerment. CCC members have exhibited work professionally in galleries across the province including Abbozzo, Art Gallery of Peterborough, United Contemporary, and Ignite Gallery.
