Farrier grows and processes flax for her papermaking, collaborating with soil, weather, and the slow transformations embedded in plant fibres. This intimate relationship with raw material shapes her artworks, which often carry the subtle marks of their origin: traces of stalk, root, fibre, and field. She repurposes domestic and agricultural textiles, weaving personal and cultural histories into her pieces while challenging patterns of waste, overconsumption, and environmental disregard. Her handmade paper works often emerge from long periods of observation and experimentation, inviting viewers to consider the narratives embedded in the material itself.
Alongside papermaking, Farrier creates contemporary textile artworks that combine fabric, thread, paint, and dye to form vivid abstractions. These works explore movement, colour, and the intuitive pathways of hand-stitching. Whether with paper or textiles, her practice centres the tactile and the handmade, celebrating the sensory and contemplative dimensions of slow craft. Through sustained engagement with material, Farrier cultivates not only flax but a deep sensitivity to her surroundings. This ongoing dialogue between hand, material, and place supports both artistic growth and a heightened awareness of environmental and social interdependence.
Before transitioning to full-time artistic work, Farrier earned a BA in Urban and Regional Studies and a Master of Public Administration. She later held leadership and program delivery roles at local and national levels within non-profit and government sectors. This background informs her ongoing dedication to community engagement, knowledge sharing, and the creation of collaborative spaces for artistic growth. She regularly offers workshops, mentorship, and public programming, fostering creative communities across Atlantic Canada.
Farrier is a juried member of the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design in both handmade paper and textiles. Her work has been exhibited regionally and nationally and is held in private collections throughout North America. She is the recipient of Arts Nova Scotia grants supporting the development and dissemination of her practice. In her creative space, Flying Finch Studio, Farrier maintains a vibrant creative environment dedicated to sustainable, place-based craft.
Her artworks, whether translucent sheets of flax paper or dynamic stitched compositions, embody the transformative potential of fibre. They honour the quiet intervals of making: soaking, retting, beating, drying, and the dialogue between material and maker. Each piece reflects her commitment to using craft as a method of attention, presence, and ecological reciprocity.
Within The Power of Objects, Farrier’s work demonstrates how crafted forms can hold ecological memory and relational knowledge. Her plant-based papers and textiles vessels and sculptures reveal the intimate processes of growth and transformation that shape her materials, illustrating how objects become carriers of place, season, and environmental care. Through her practice, Farrier embodies the assertion that objects hold communal power and are active participants: agents that connect us to land, memory, history, and a broader meaning of community.
