July 18 | Painting with Thread with artist Par Nair
Saturday, July 18, 2026
1 to 4 PM
Free | Registration required
About the Program
Join us for a free, hands-on embroidery workshop with exhibiting artist Par Nair to create a small, hand-stitched work inspired by the Varley’s 2026 Summer Exhibitions.
Drawing from traditions of painting and mark-making, this program approaches embroidery as a gestural, expressive medium, where needle and thread are used much like brush and paint. Participants will be introduced to a floating embroidery technique that encourages fluidity, experimentation, and personal interpretation, rather than following a fixed pattern.
Over the course of three hours, participants will explore intuitive ways of working while responding to abstract imagery from the current exhibitions.
Open to all skill levels. All materials are provided.
About the Artist
Par Nair (she/her) is an Indian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist and educator who lives and makes in the GTA (Canada). Par’s art practice pays tribute to ancestral and cultural roots, while intimately and speculatively reimagining diasporic futures through oil paintings, hand embroidery, installation, and creative writing. Par acquired her Master’s (MFA) in Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design from OCAD University and has shown her works nationally and internationally. Notable showings include Art Museum at University of Toronto, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Bradley Museum, The Textile Museum of Canada, Eastern Edge Gallery (NL), Craft Ontario, Xpace Cultural Centre, Onsite Gallery, Project Casa (Montreal), Hamilton Artists Inc, Riverdale Art Gallery, Rajiv Menon Contemporary (LA), Nuit Blanche ‘23, and The Kochi Biennale (India). In 2025, Par was shortlisted as a finalist for the CIBC National Art Award and the Salt Spring National Art Prize. Her practice has been supported by several OAC and CCA grants over the years. Par currently holds the position of Sessional Faculty at OCAD University, where she teaches painting, drawing, and art theory.
