One to Watch: Vancouver-Based Textile Designer Maria Heo

Family and friends of Maria Heo know not to throw out any of their old clothes after a closet cleanout. The Vancouver-based textile artist uses only reclaimed material—much of it sourced from the people around her—to create her stunning woven wall hangings, baskets and coiled art.

“Nature is my major motif, and I want to do what I can for our beautiful planet,” says Heo. Born and raised on Jeju, South Korea’s largest island, Heo immigrated to Canada in 2000 and started working out of Covan02 Gallery in Vancouver in 2015. In 2017, she moved her practice to the city’s east side, settling in at Parker Street Studios.

Heo calls her mother “a true artist”: she practiced a traditional Korean patchwork called jogakbo, as well as crochet, Korean paper crafts and oil painting. Her work influenced Heo to explore design for herself. Heo’s art often blends elements from her Korean hometown with the British Columbian landscape: for example, she might weave a flower she remembers from her childhood into a Pacific Northwest forest scene. “There is both Eastern and Western influence in my work,” she explains.

By nature of using imperfect, donated materials, Heo gives her art a striking tactility that incorporates all kinds of textures, colours and weights. Still, each one-of-a-kind piece creates a cohesive, engaging image—it’s exactly the sort of art that transforms a blank wall into a space that feels personal and homey. That tracks, given that Heo’s own sense of home is woven right in.

This story was originally published in the May/June 2023 print issue of Western Living—find the digital issue here.