website: www.joannesoroka.co.uk

email: ivorytap@soroka.plus.com

Ivory Tapestries
18 Clarence Street, Edinburgh EH3 5AF, Scotland, UK
Telephone: +44(0) 131 220 3355

Types of work: woven tapestries, hand gun-tufted rugs, paperworks, constructed textiles, banners and "kites", tie-dye, textile mixed media.

Born in Montreal, Canada, 1949. Citizenship: British and Canadian.

Employment:

Artistic Director, Edinburgh Tapestry Company (Dovecot Studios), 1982-1987.
Founded Ivory Tapestries, 1987.
Part-time tutor, Edinburgh College of Art, 1992-date.

Education:

BA, McGill University, 1970.
Diploma, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1972.
Post-graduate diploma (with distinction), Edinburgh College of Art, 1976.

Awards:

Entrance scholarship, McGill University, 1966.
John Noble Craft Award commendation, given by the Saltire Society, 1976.
Ontario Arts Council grant, 1980.
Judges Choice Award, given by the Handweavers Guild of America, 1980.
Elected to the Ontario Society of Artists, 1980.
Scottish Development Agency Travel Award, 1987.
British Council travel grant, 1988.
Scottish Arts Council travel grant, 1989.
Elected Professional Member, Society of Scottish Artists, 1989.
Index of Selected Makers, Crafts Council, 1992.
Wingate Scholarship, 1997.
Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers grant, 2000.
British Council grant, 2000.
Hope Scott Trust grant, 2000.
Scottish Arts Council Major Award for Individual Development, 2001.

Collections and Commissions:

Scottish Arts Council
Amnesty International, London.
Glenfiddich Distillery, Dufftown, Scotland.
Chase Manhattan Bank, Bournemouth.
Civil Aviation Authority, London.
Weatherall, Green and Smith, London.
Okura Hotel, Tokyo and Kobe, Japan.
Arco, Berkshire, England.
Baillie Gifford and Co, Edinburgh.
Isetan Department Store, Tokyo.
Co-operative Insurance Society, Edinburgh.
1st Quebec Corporation, Montreal.
Central Office of Information, London.
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Royal Insurance (at the Eastgate Shopping Centre), Inverness.
Laurence Rockefeller, Jr, New York.
Ian Hamilton Finlay, Lanark, Scotland.
and public and private collections in England, Scotland, Canada, USA and Japan.
Eleven solo and over 80 group exhibitions in the UK, Ireland, Canada, USA, Italy, Finland, Hungary, the CIS, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia and Japan.

Other professional activities:

Trustee, Lady Artists Club Trust, Glasgow, 1992-1997.
Council member, Society of Scottish Artists, 1995-1998.
Crafts Committee, Scottish Arts Council, 1996-1999.
Secretary, Society of Scottish Artists, 2003-date.

Statement about "Unmarked Lives", my recent tapestry series

I am a typical Canadian. My grandparents came from the four corners of the earth to seek a better life. My diverse family are Japanese, Scottish and Lithuanian- and Ukrainian-born Jewish. My recent work has been focused on the lives of my forebears, trying to represent their emotions, their dreams, their struggles. They were ordinary people. I am trying to remember lives which were often unmarked, to celebrate them. I hope that viewers will feel that I am honouring all our ancestors, all those who are unknown and forgotten. I am telling my own history, but also that of everyone else, the story which is the sum of human history. The theme is that we are all related, we are brothers and sisters.

Prices

COMMISSIONS

Tapestry
4 warps per inch (coarse weave) £150 - £180/ square foot
6 warps per inch (medium weave) £180 - £220/ square foot
8 warps per inch (fine weave) £220 - £270/ square foot
10 warps per inch (very fine weave) £270 - £320/ square foot

Other prices on application. Design fee 10%. VAT not applicable. Delivery within the UK included.

STOCK TAPESTRIES AND OTHER WORK AVAILABLE - slides or photos on request. Prices from £2000. Mini-tapestries and paperworks from £175.