About the Artist

Passionate about all things creative, Toronto-based Graphic Designer and Visual Artist Gabrielle Lasporte has been the creator of many diverse art pieces across many forms of media . Having recently adding another creative genre to her repertoire, she is now designing works in the mostly unknown medium of Modern Batik (creating artwork by applying wax and dyes on fabric.)

During her career, Gabrielle has found much inspiration in the female form. She uses feminine beauty and the essence of nature to reveal the struggles, victories and character of womankind itself. The multicultural, multigenerational approach of her body of work emphasizes her vision for a true sisterhood and invites the viewer to escape the boundaries of society.

Gabrielle is one of few accredited Modern Batik instructors in North America. She has taught Modern Batik in many environments including Toronto District School Board classrooms – teaching elementary school children and instructed private classes teaching the medium to adults. Gabrielle has shown her works at various events in the Greater Toronto Area including the Manifesto Festival Art Exhibit, The Square Foot Show, the Queen West Art Crawl, and others. A strong believer in making things happen for oneself, she recently co-created the About Face Collective. The Collective is comprised of portraiture artists intent on creating opportunities to get both their art and their message out to the World.

For more information or inquiries about commission work, please email or call the studio line: 416.465.8707

About Modern Batik

The Indonesian art of batik painting was introduced to East Africa in the 1960s. It involved simple outlines, light through dark dyes and the use of wax resistance as the basis for separating colours. By the end of the 1970s, however, a whole new form of this basic art form emerged from two Ugandan brothers, Henry Lumu and David Kibuuka. A new technique was developed that would revolutionize the art of batik painting. Using the same traditional materials of water-based dyes, wax and fabric, colours were applied in reverse order, starting with the darker hues and ending with lighter ones. Just as important, more control was gained over the intensity of the dyes by applying them by paintbrush as opposed to submerging the fabrics within the dyes themselves. This revolutionary approach allowed to create detailed, refined images with dramatically enhanced tonality, shading and depth. Another technique was developed coined “fragmentation”. This modification added increased background depth, broadness and a richer palette of colours to their batik creations, allowing control of detail and richness comparable to that of any acrylic and watercolour painter. These are the innovative elements that were created to develop the art form which we today call “Modern Batik Art Painting”.