Sophia Lengle b. 1997 is a visual artist based in the Canadian Prairies
My studio is in
ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ amiskwacîwâskahikan / Edmonton / Treaty 6 Territory & Métis Homeland
Use the contact form to arrange for a studio visit
Use the contact form to arrange for a studio visit
My practice brings together narratives and processes based in the makeshift (i.e. fixing and affixing things creatively with limited resources), labour as occupying space/belonging, and personal sanctuary. This is consistent whether my compositions are created through weaving, painting or writing. Often, I work between these disciplines, for example: I bring the idea of tension and accumulation to the table when I approach compositions in painting. Or when I work with text, I am accompanied by the rhythms of weaving and the subconscious imagery I explore in painting.
I experience weaving as a process that allows vast mental space for dreaming while grounding me in my body. It is a self-imposed labour that grants me a sense of belonging within community, including the lineage of weavers that came before. I implement the makeshift in all the minute decisions that accumulate into cloth, but I am not weaving only to make cloth. I compose thread by thread and line by line, and this creates a surface that exist as process, tool and record.
2020 BFA Alberta University of the Arts
2024 MA Gerrit Rietveld Academie/Sandberg Instituut
Documentation of the site-specific installation I made within Koit (Koidu Seltsimaja) in Viljandi, Estonia during the BEAMS artist residency Summer 2026.
“By lifting the textures of the tile floor through rubbings I have something of the building to take back home with me to the Canadian prairies to continue working with, but without actually disturbing or taking away from Koidu Seltsimaja. The idea is to scan in all these drawings and work them into an animation.”
“Koit cloak room” paper, graphite, dandelions, cotton string, 2026
During the exhibition BEAMS residency, founders Shawn Pinchbeck & Evelin Langle-Nõmm introduced the artists. Eveline translated what each artist said into Estonian for the guests.
Evelin: Sophia, tell us about the work you created here.
Sophia: I knew I had around 10 days to create a work so I spent the first day just thinking about Koit’s history as a theatre and then speculating where I’d be within that world. I’m not going to be on stage, no way I’d be on stage! I’d probably be in the cloakroom. I would be here you know, guarding the coats and maybe looking through the pockets… haha! I just felt like this was a space I could take care of. It is not very large and I like that it is partially enclosed. When I first saw the space it was full of theatre props and stuff. I took everything out, swept the floor and wiped all the tiles down by hand. That’s how I began. I was not thinking too much about what work I would be creating just then. Whenever I start making a site specific work I do a little cleaning to start. Working from this distance (the distance of my outstretched arm) while cleaning the floor is similar to the posture and distance I hold when I’m drawing. I’ve always been drawing, it is a big part of my practice.
So, this encounter of cleaning the floor lead to the work, maybe you’ve already put it together, but these drawings are for the most part rubbings of the floor.
About the dandelions
I was in a north facing part of Koit and it was a cold start to the summer. After hours of working on the cool tile floor I would go on a walk to warm up and refocus my eyes. On these walks I started collecting dandelions— something I’ve done since childhood, but these were the longest dandelions of my life. I found one that was over 90cm long! I would bring the bouquets of dandelions into my cloak room studio and tie them in small bundles to the hooks to dry. When I came back the next day to resume the process of making the graphite rubbings I would be greeted by these lovely globes of white seeds. I hadn’t realized that the dandelions would open the night after they were plucked!
I tend towards weaving simply. In 32,000 passes of the shuttle —over, under—I grieved the loss of a loved one —over, under—accumulated into narrow bands of cloth to trace arched windows.
“pair of woven arches” cotton thread, kunststoff thread, nails, 384” x 8” (x2), 2025
Created for Caleb Witvoet’s exhibtion
Up Worlds Down Words
at the Hotel Maria Kapel 16th century chapel, turned studio/exhibition space in Hoorn, West Friesland, NL.
aisle sow
when I speak the title aloud, with no written support, you could hear
I’ll
Isle
Aisle
sow
saw
sew
when I speak the title aloud, with no written support, you could hear
I’ll
Isle
Aisle
sow
saw
sew
“aisle sow”, canvas, wood glue clamps, cotton woven, linen woven, acrylic, ink, pigments, 10’ x 10’, 2024
leaned up together
Indulge my gentle touch
warm tones of thrumbing and voice
drawing and weaving speak a similar language
overlapping accumulates into new ground
to build from
the work is mostly done for now
we are leaned for a while
slow to get up
shy even
Indulge my gentle touch
warm tones of thrumbing and voice
drawing and weaving speak a similar language
overlapping accumulates into new ground
to build from
the work is mostly done for now
we are leaned for a while
slow to get up
shy even
“leaned up together”, paper, ink, gouache, cotton, beech wood loom, rusty steel bits, masking tape, 20” x 28” (drawing), 2023