This year's spectacular Founder's Tree in memory of Festival of Trees founder Charles V. Keating was created by textile artist, Adriane Abbott. Here's a little more information about her.
Biography: Adriane Abbott
A trained textile designer, Adriane Abbott is a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and Ryerson University’s School of Fashion Design. She spent the following 15 years running a small business entitled Blanket Statements. Her decorative blankets and throws were sold in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and New York and won awards for colour, innovation in craft, and excellence in design. Adriane’s studio received many commissions. She recalls a day in 1991 when Prime Minister Brian Mulroney ordered a blanket to present to French President Francois Mitterand. At first, Adriane believed it was a practical joke orchestrated by a friend.
Concurrent with her work at Blanket Statements, Adriane co-founded Studio Rally, a celebrated guide to fine art and craft studios in Nova Scotia. This work developed her interest in marketing and in 1999 she left her studio work to take on the role of director of Communications and Development at NSCAD, her alma mater. In 2008 she left NSCAD to direct the Advancement Office at the University of King’s College, a role she holds today.
Adriane reprised her Blanket Statements designs for the Festival of Trees Signature piece in 2006. For the past five years she has worked with the Keating family to select artists who would create the Founder’s Tree. Having recently re-opened her studio, Adriane was honoured to be asked if she would make the Founder’s Tree for the 20th anniversary.