Anxiety, discomfort and the regret of consuming too much sugar are feelings most of us experience during a trip to the dentist. A dose of inspiration is the last thing anticipated amid an intimate encounter with prodding dental tools. For Sola Fiedler, however, a trip to the dentist more than 30 years ago filled her with a bolt of creativity that laid the foundation for her career as an artist.
“I’m lying in the [dentist’s] chair on the 19th floor of the building and looking down on Vancouver,” she recalls, “thinking ‘the whole city is going to change!’”
“Change” was imminent with the upcoming Expo ’86. At the time, Sola didn’t own a camera and didn’t know how to paint or draw, but knew she needed to capture the city before it transformed forever.
Born in 1936, Sola grew up with knitting as a daily part of life in London during World War II and realized she could use those skills to “paint a picture with yarn.” The notion of painting with yarn is known as tapestry, a form of textile art created by weaving thread, and it became Sola’s primary mode of artistic expression.
“[Weaving] is something I’ve done since I was a child,” she says. “I never went to university or anything to study art. It’s just something I do – it’s like breathing.”
After her first tapestry, Sola discovered how much she loved the process, to the extent that it became integrated in her identity.
“When I did my first tapestry, I discovered it was so beautiful to be alone working that I renamed myself Solo. And then a Spanish friend said, ‘no, change it to the feminine – it’s Sola.’ Now I’ve been Sola for over 30 years.”
While Sola embraces the solitary creativity associated with being an artist, her work captures anything but an isolated existence. The majority of Sola’s works depict hyper-realistic cityscapes, most often featuring Olympic host cities leading up to the big event.
The excitement that surrounds the Olympics keeps Sola consistently engaged with her work. “It takes an enormous effort and dedication to spend years doing something, it has to be kind of important.” She continues with a laugh, “I get very excited about celebrations. Any reason to celebrate – I’m there!”
Sola’s creative process is particularly outstanding as she doesn’t use any photographs for reference. Instead, she takes her time traversing through each of the cities she illustrates, memorizing the height of buildings, the intricacies of landmarks, and the intersections of streets before returning to her tapestry to weave in more details.
Today, Sola, 82, is working on a tapestry to commemorate the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Having recently visited the city to begin preparations for the work, Sola realizes this piece will be different from all her previous works.
The process will include collaging more interesting parts of the city together without creating an exact replica of the cityscape as she normally does.
“I’m thinking of myself as being a drone that’s going up to check out certain areas, instead of the entire city,” she says. “That’s where my head is at. I have all sorts of interesting dreams of what I’ll put into the tapestry.”
Another reason this tapestry will be different from her previous works is Sola’s stage of life.
“I’m not going to do [the LA tapestry] quite as large as I normally do, which will give me a better chance at finding a home for it,” she says. “I’m always conscious of the fact that I’m in my 80s now, and time is finite. I used to think I had forever, but once I hit 80, I began to think ‘okay, you got to plan a little more carefully.’ It’s better to finish it if you can.”
Due to her focus on accuracy and detail, many of Sola’s tapestries function as historic documents that capture a specific moment in the past. Yet, Sola is always looking towards the future, particularly a more sustainable future.
All Sola’s pieces are created using recycled fabrics, many of which come from old sweaters she finds and unravels to match details in her cityscapes. This environmentally friendly process is both a statement and a way of life.
“I think it’s really important that I use recycled materials with everything I do; it just comes naturally, and it feels right.”
In fact, alongside planning towards the 2028 Olympic tapestry, Sola dedicates much of her time to recycling. “I work a lot on recycling because that’s how I grew up during the war – so that again is like breathing. I rescue about 700 cashmere sweaters every year from the thrift store and I restore them to new.”
This sustainable future Sola advocates for is one she is determined to experience.
“I’m really looking forward to celebrating my 100th birthday in the middle of the 2036 Olympics,” she says. Sola’s mother lived to three months shy of her 100th birthday, so a centennial celebration is in her favour.
“I have the genes and I take very good care. I exercise a couple of hours a day and I eat the most nutritious diet I can find – I haven’t eaten sugar for 40 years. I’ve been working on living to be 100 for a long time because there is so much to live for and I just want to enjoy every moment of it as much as I can.”
When Sola speaks about her tapestries, many of which require thousands of painstaking hours to complete, it is clear how much joy the craft has given her over the last four decades. It has become a recent mantra to dedicate her time to the things that bring her joy and is something she wants to communicate through her work.
“I think it’s important to think ‘does what I’m doing right now spark joy?’ or ‘what I’m planning to do – will that spark joy?’ And I think that’s a really neat way of looking at life. It really has been fun lately to think about what I’m doing and if it sparks joy. It might help other people to think about it that way, too.”
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