Amanda Rataj is an artist, weaver, and arts educator based in Ontario with a BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design University. She is a Contract Lecturer at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Fashion school and Art Educator at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her craft practice is based in an exploration of pattern and materiality.
For commission requests, questions about weaving patterns, or anything else,
please contact Amanda by email at amandaratajtextiles (a t) gmail (d o t) com
The best way to find out what I’m currently up to is through my monthly newsletter: https://amandarataj.substack.com/
Recent exhibitions include Soft Curve, Hard Line, DesignTO Festival (2026), Generation, Craft Ontario Gallery (2023), Mass Wasting, Craft Ontario Gallery (2020), Craft ’19, Craft Ontario Gallery (2019), Crosscurrents: Canada in the Making, The Textile Museum of Canada (2018/19), and Nothing is Newer Than Tradition, the Art Gallery of Burlington (2017).
I’ve also given artist lectures, including: Conscious Consumption: Focus on Local Linen at the Textile Museum of Canada (2018), at the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners Central Regional Seminar (2018), and Ideas Forum: Living Well, Toronto (2017).
If you’d like to learn more about my practice, there are a few online profiles on my practice including: Workshop Magazine (2021), Warp and Weft’s Field Notes series (2020), A Butterfly in my Hair (2020), and The Gathered Gallery (2017).
I teach private and group weaving lessons on a range of topics, from beginner rigid heddle to floor loom weaving. If you’d like to learn more about your loom and how to weave, please be in touch.
My textile design work is available as downloadable PDF patterns for home weavers to use – you can purchase them through my web shop. You can find the free and paid patterns on the Gist Yarn website, as well as an extensive series of articles I’ve written on weaving techniques and topics.