October 17 – November 22, 2025
The Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in The Chaos
The Haakonson Family Gallery
Opening Reception for Members and Guests: Friday October 25th, 7 – 9 pm
Free admission
In The Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos, Noreen Crone-Findlay presents a compelling collection of her most recent mixed-media, free-form woven works. These pieces are deeply rooted in her dreams, a lifelong fascination with geometry, and timeless echoes of the Feminine Divine.
Over the past several years, Crone-Findlay has lived with a chronic illness that has reshaped her life in profoundly difficult ways. Personal tragedy has compounded these challenges, influencing both her life and artistic practice. In the midst of turmoil, art-making has become a vital centering process for Noreen — a place of solace that offers clarity, strength, and coherence amid the chaos. It is through weaving that she reclaims balance and breathes through the uncertainty.
Drawing from a lifelong engagement with dreamwork and meditation, Crone-Findlay channels imagery and emotional insight into her Oracle of Stillness figures. These daily practices guide her to the “Still Point” — a space of inner calm that gathers the threads of her life into moments of clarity. This focused stillness is the heart of the Oracle series.
Crone-Findlay has developed this body of work over several years, using a distinctive and innovative combination of weaving, lacemaking, and sculptural techniques. Each free-form figure is built on an armature — either welded in steel by her husband, Jim Findlay, to her precise specifications, or created on jigs she has designed herself. She weaves nearly all components on looms of her own invention, including special lace-making looms she created specifically for this work. Faces are either sculpted and painted or intricately woven. Beads and found objects are thoughtfully integrated, adding layers of narrative and meaning. While these figures reflect sorrow and emotional upheaval, they also speak powerfully of resilience, integrity, and the search for coherence. They hold space for both grief and hope — embodying the transformative power of beauty as a way to lift our gaze, catch our breath, and begin again.
Artist’s Biography
Noreen Crone-Findlay is a respected Edmonton-based artist, tapestry weaver, designer, workshop facilitator, and author of several acclaimed books on weaving. She has also invented a variety of fibre art tools and designed small looms for loom-building companies in the United States. Her instructional video tutorials on YouTube have gained a wide following and continue to be a popular resource for fibre artists around the world.
Between 1969 and 1975, Crone-Findlay studied drawing and printmaking at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. In 1974, she attended the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts, where she received her first formal instruction in weaving, spinning, and natural dyeing. Since then, she has continued to develop her weaving practice through a combination of workshops and self-directed study.
After relocating to Edmonton, Crone-Findlay worked professionally as a puppeteer for nearly 30 years. For 15 of those years, she was under contract with the City of Edmonton’s Waste Management Department. In that role, she wrote, created, and performed a series of popular puppet shows focusing on environmental stewardship, covering topics (4 fundamental “R”s) such as reducing, reusing, recycling, rethinking, and creative approaches to waste and sustainability. These performances were presented to children from kindergarten to Grade 3 in elementary schools across Edmonton.
In addition to her puppetry work, Crone-Findlay has taught workshops throughout Canada and the United States, sharing her expertise in puppetry, doll-making, crochet, knitting, lace-making, and various weaving techniques.
Her rich and diverse body of work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Western Canada, and her pieces are held in both public and private collections throughout Canada and the United States.
Top Image: A Blessing for the Bees, 2025, mixed media weaving
Photo by the artist
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