About
Shiemara Hogarth is a Jamaican-born textile artist and designer in Brampton, Ontario. Her practice explores migration, ancestry, and place. She uses textiles to examine how memory, identity, and belonging form and endure over time.
Hogarth works with weaving, embroidery, digital printing, sculpture, and 3D forms. She treats making as both material exploration and research. With a background in History, Material Art and Design, and Craft Media, she combines traditional fibre and craft with contemporary processes to examine how body, landscape, and cultural inheritance connect. She delves into archival studies and ethnographic research to inform her understanding of cultural narratives, which she then translates into material choices.
Her work has been exhibited nationally, including at the Craft Ontario Gallery, and her MFA thesis project, Personal Geographies, was supported by the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship. Alongside her studio practice, Hogarth has curated select exhibitions and contributed to conversations around craft, identity, and representation through writing and public programming.
Education
2019 - 2021. Alberta University of the Arts
Research-led studio degree focused on contemporary craft, material inquiry, and interdisciplinary practice. MFA thesis Personal Geographies examined migration, memory, and diasporic identity through textile installation, integrating weaving, embroidery, digital printing, and 3D fabrication. Developed advanced skills in studio research, critical theory, and exhibition design. Awarded the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship in support of thesis production. Gained experience in academic research through working with an SSHRC Insight Grant–funded project team and teaching support roles across fibre and art history courses.
2015 - 2019. OCAD University
Professional design degree emphasizing material experimentation, textile processes, and conceptual development. Developed technical proficiency in weaving, felting, stitching, surface design, and mixed media. Undergraduate thesis Between: Mapping Home & Self explored geography, memory, and identity through textile installation, incorporating mapping and visual semiotics. Graduated with a strong foundation in design thinking, material literacy, and interdisciplinary making.
2006 - 2011. York University
Humanities degree focused on historical research, critical theory, and cultural analysis. Developed strong research, writing, and analytical skills with a focus on colonial histories, migration, and the Caribbean diaspora. This academic foundation informs a research-driven art practice grounded in archival inquiry and critical context.