Arts and Entertainment

Orangeville-based artist finds beauty in imperfection through wabi-sabi

April 29, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Local artist Fabienne Good has been interested in and followed the ideas behind the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi in her art. Basically, wabi-sabi embraces the ideas of imperfection, incompleteness and impermanence.

Admitting that nothing lasts forever and accepting imperfection leaves the door open to self-acceptance, that we can be flawed and forgiven.

It also leads to an interesting approach to making art that has captivated Good for some time.

The Citizen interviewed the Orangeville-based artist earlier this week to delve into her philosophical fascination with broken vases, which have been mended with gold in a way that shows the breaks, as a famous example.

“I promote wabi-sabi in art,” Good said, noting that she also enjoys working with materials which she dyes in the shibori way. This involves twisting and folding the material, which varies from project to project, creating unpredictable patterns with each piece.

“I keep making knots and twisting the material every time to enjoy the charm of imperfection,” she said. “Wabi-sabi talks about aging, too. How we are getting older and celebrating that nothing lasts forever, with a sort-of acceptance of that. Standing against perfection. Celebrating anything not having to last forever.”

Some of her work is done in tandem with her friend, Elif Raskin.

Recently, Good worked on an exhibition on the actions of Shifting Landscapes, which was centred on buildings, and she took the opposing stance of their deterioration, which, as she remarked, were not “altogether new ideas.”

Good turned her attention to the Dufferin Forest perspective of its changes over time, describing moments when you come across it on your own and “you think you have discovered it.”

For a significant portion of her artistic life, Good has been a paper sculptor, using primarily glossy magazines as her medium, to twist into very tight rolls, fine enough to act as straws with which she has woven many pieces of art as sculptures and useful objects, large and small, all the way to baskets of many sizes, shapes and colour combinations to wallets. What was amazing, especially with the wallets, was that they seemed never to deteriorate.

Coming back to paper sculpture, she defined them to represent landscapes as a different way of visualizing what landscapes can be.

During a visit to western Canada, she went to see the Hoodoos, those 20-foot sandstone towers of erosion over millions of years, yet sufficiently fragile that protection against climbing them can result in large fines and even jail time.

Good was less impressed with the magic around them as giants protecting people than she was to see them as something to think about, as shifting landscapes. In this quiet space, she considered the empty time for thinking, the gratitude for boredom, surely a space for creating. As a child, she enjoyed being by herself for a long time with a lot of thoughts.

Back home, she commented in contrast, “I like my hands being busy.”

The pieces she has made show her interest not only in the work – the idea and the object – but also in the byproduct.

She keeps circling around the same thing, saying, “Even when you’re doing a project you have done before, there are always shades of difference. There is a natural progression until the passing. The interesting thing is when I’m doing different things, the ideas are revolving the same thing.”

There are priorities always, and for Good, it is promoting the importance of creativity. People say they are not creative, but those muscles need exercise – like yoga – but you get better like a muscle you have to treat or train.

“I used to teach kids from three to four years old,” she related. “They wondered at first what to think but they began filling in their notes –using their own ideas.”

She talked about the upcoming Tapestry Music and Art event coming up at Headwaters Arts Gallery at the Alton Mill Arts Centre, in which Good is participating and helping with the show. She admires those six-by-six-inch canvases, displaying small artworks, reflected by the music chosen for the single day of the show.

What is so important about creativity, for Good, is that it drives innovation and enhances complex problem-solving.

“It allows individuals to navigate challenges with fresh perspectives, turning obstacles into opportunities, and keeps the mind active,” she said.

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