Marie Noelle Fontan
Marie Noelle Fontan is a French textile, fibre artist, born in 1948 in Toulouse.
She studied Art History in Toulouse, though weaving has been part of her life since childhood.
In the 1980s she travelled to Guatemala, among other places, to study traditional Maya weaving techniques – on-site and in museums.
What distinguishes her work is that she doesn’t just weave cotton or wool, she gathers natural vegetal materials (plants, leaves, twigs, seeds, bark, etc.), lets them dry, and integrates them – often without dyeing – into woven structures.
Marie Noelle Fontan bridges traditional craft with conceptual, ecological art: vegetal materials become threads, nature becomes textile, and through that transformation she evokes memory, transience, and a slow, meditative time.
Her practice emphasizes respect for nature’s materials: she doesn’t impose color or uniformity, instead she listens to what each plant offers (shape, texture, color) and lets it decide its place in the composition.
Marie Noelle Fontan work challenges conventional boundaries of “painting” or “sculpture”: the art is alive with history, growth, decay – shaped by seasons, geography, and human hands.
Marie Noelle Fontan works are in public collections across Europe, and have been exhibited widely.
Among her awards: she won the “Grand Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris” (2007, Arts & Crafts category).
Recent exhibitions include, for example, a show at Galerie Papiers d’Art in Paris.
ft/ Francis Kizinski
