When Candice Weber immigrated to Canada in 2016, she brought with her the two best things about the U.S.: her mom’s green pea and ham soup recipe, and treating the arts like the snack aisle at a Walmart – why choose when you can have it all?
Born, raised, and seasoned across California and the Midwest, Candice has collected influences from film, TV, textile, and visual arts. She has achieved something many of us could only dream of doing: making her anxious thoughts work for her. Candice redirects her repetitive, anxious, and intrusive thoughts into animation, beading, weaving, sewing, collaging, and creating new forms and textures in whatever medium she’s feeling that week.
Despite her use of multiple mediums, Candice’s works all live together in harmony thanks to her sharp eye and careful observational style. She finds inspiration in computers glitching, tidepools at night, and her own body. She has trained her hands to work at the speed of her mind, a feat only very few artists can achieve. She is able to ideate, plan, and complete multiple projects based entirely on experimentation and “what if?”s.
Candice recently decided to lean into her gifts for teaching and has started offering more workshops out of her studio. Run, don’t walk to sign up to learn from her – I have never been bored around Candice, and I don’t think you will either.
-Written by Karla Monterrosa- close friend, co-conspirator, and fellow clog in the overachieving eldest daughter to sappy artist pipeline.
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Which ‘hood are you in?
I live and work in my favourite neighbourhood, Chinatown! It’s a vibrant area full of art, food, culture, community, and history. Very honoured to have called it home for the last 9 years.
What do you do?
That’s always changing and evolving, but the short answer is I am an interdisciplinary fiber artist focused on things like embroidery, beading, crochet, weaving, and rug making. I also have been experimenting with mediums like sculpture, paper clay, printmaking, mosaic, painting, or whatever is peaking my interest at any given time. I am lucky enough to have a space at Gore Studio that I can dedicate to my process of artistic experiments. I also work full time in the animation industry and make about one short form animation as a part of my personal practice per year. If I’m not making art in some manner, you can most likely find me roller skating, gardening, playing video games or gossiping with friends!
What are you currently working on?
I’ve spent the last year focusing more on teaching. I’ve been lucky enough to work with a couple different organizations around the city to offer workshops. I’m partnering with the Eastside Arts Festival this July (18-27) to offer two workshops- Creating Sculptural Elements in Embroidery and Introduction To Goldwork Embroidery. I also have some fall workshops in collaboration with Vancouver Tool Library, and offer my own small-scale workshop series out of my studio space when I can.
Where can we find your work?
I, along with my studio mates at Gore Studios, always participate in the Eastside Culture Crawl which in all the studios in the area are open to the public in November. This year, I’m already working on several new pieces to show and new starter DIY kits for people interested in things like weaving and goldwork embroidery.
I can also be found online on my Instagram and TikTok. My website has my work as well as my full list of workshop offerings and events calendar.
