Helen Frances Gregor
(1921-1981)
Born in Prague in 1921, Gregor moved with her family to London, England in 1939, where she graduated from the Royal College of Art. A year after arriving in Canada in 1951 she launched the teaching of textiles at the Ontario College of Art, now OCAD, in Toronto. Gregor's tapestries are represented in public and private collections worldwide.
Throughout her prolific career, she became known for her pioneering use of color, texture, and complex weaving techniques, often combining traditional methods with modern artistic expressions. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms using spun and unspun wool dominate rather than traditional figurative designs. Gregor introduced powder-coated aluminum rods, adding a new element to her weavings.
“Colour is the strongest element in describing what matters most to me. Colour has expressed for me melody and the variation of the themes.
My uncle Rudolf Lorenz, a designer of interiors and furniture in Vienna, greatly influenced my work. I was the gifted niece.
I have tried to express form in the use of wool and natural fibre, in the contrast of hot & cold, the combination of metal and wool.”
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