Poorthing Designs

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Poorthing Designs

Abby Nowakowski (she/her) is a queer, interdisciplinary artist using labour, printmaking, painting, illustration and installation.

05/31/2026

Quilt square for Mo ~
I can’t get over this tender placement for my dear pal
💫

This was a flash piece, and I never ever ever get sick of tattooing quilt inspired drawings. I love how familiar and nostalgic many of these designs are, and will never get sick of merging my love for textiles with my love for tattoos.

It makes me smile to think of these quilt tattoos as small fragments of the blankets they were once home to. A little form of comfort to be worn on our skin.

Thank Mo for picking this piece, it fits you perfectly!

05/27/2026

Guess who’s a seamstress now 👀
Me!

The last time I made a patterned garment was in high school home etc ~ so I was feeling a little rusty. Luckily hosts loads of cutie classes, including this Henrietta skirt (which was a great beginner pattern).

Thank you for teaching the class and for inspiring us along the way 🌸 I’ll definitely be sewing this guy up again and again.

Pattern:
Fabric: Me Made — cyanotyped thrifted bedsheet

05/22/2026

Floral for Abbey 🌸
A dreamy blue + green flash piece that I’m still daydreaming about ~

Abbey wanted this flash but asked if we could tattoo it fully in colour. I typically like to note that colour takes much longer with handpoke, but it’s something I’m always up for!!! I mean, look how cute 🕺🏽

Thank you Abbey for asking for this flash to done in colour and for being so patient with the handpoke process. I hope it heals tenderly for you!

05/17/2026

Breaking the Silence on Sexual Assault: A Cyanotype Workshop for Reflection & Healing

Yesterday we gathered in recognition of Sexual Assault Prevention Month and we used creation as a form of activism. Hosted by this workshop was a space for care, solidarity, and to show support for survivors and their communities 🩵

Folks were invited to cyanotype bandanas so they could tell their own stories and proudly wear them 🌞 Along with smaller cyanotyped quilt squares that are now being quilted into a community banner that will hang at built up of empowering messages and imagery embodied with hope.

The process of cyanotyping felt right, since you have to surrender to the sun, the wind, and the clouds. You can’t have full control when collaborating with nature, but you can make yourself present: tend to the fragments being exposed on your fabric, witness the changing hues to predict the best timing, and make yourself open to the uncertainty.

Thank you to all the participants who came out and surrendered to the sun. Thank you to for offering a creative form of reflection and resistance 🦋

This program was supported by funding from: Mississippi Mills Community Fund and the Ottawa Community Fund

05/16/2026

Diving loon for Marijke
Ignore their bruises — they just played a derby bout 👀

This piece was based off a flash design that had already been tattooed, so we simplified and redrew it to be new. I love how we ended up incorporating Marijke’s freckle into the composition 💕

Thank you Marijke + Petra for making a visit to my rural studio! It was nice to finally be able to tattoo you in my space 💐

05/14/2026

𝘞𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, community-sized heat bag made up of upcycled fabric and toasted rice + community-sized handmade tea bags filled with sweet aromatic tea blends 🌸

ABOUT THIS EXHIBITION
May 9–July 18, 2026

Emma Allain, Jennifer Anorue & Kateryna Kostelna, Chris Chrysler, Antoinette Karuna, Narmin Kassam, Kellyann Marie, Abby Nowakowski, and Jasper Lyon Wicke

Mending is a process through which we repair interpersonal rifts and physical damage. To intentionally repair requires attention, vulnerability, and embodiment. As an act of service, mending can be collaborative and reciprocal. In a world of increasing division, political polarization, and conflict, how do we reconnect with one another to heal?

𝘔𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘞𝘢𝘺𝘴 explores how mending practices can be used to repair our relationships, cultures, and societies—and even ourselves

05/13/2026

Redfin pickerel for Donovan ~
We’re getting closer to the season that this little tatted guy will meet a real pickerel face-to-face 🐟

Thank you Donovan for having a great idea for placement and for choosing this cutie flash. I can’t wait to maybe see it healed and in the water!

This tattoo was done during my visit to awhile back.

05/11/2026

We 💚🩷 art festivals!
This year’s poster is brought to you by me — a woman-ish kind of human!

When the folks from Women’s Art Fest approached me to illustrate this year’s poster, I was transparent with them about my identity and they were open to me taking a somewhat “poetically awkward” direction with this illustration to stay true to my flare of gender-fluidity 💫

This poster is a reflection of the many roles and hats we might wear, all while looking absolutely fabulous! Sometimes I feel like there’s a little community all inside of me, and with this poster I got to explore that concept a little more 💕

You can see my chaotic illustration style in the 2nd slide, and how this character is built out of 3 of me decorated with my tattoo flash designs.

Keep your eyes peeled for more festival updates by following

05/10/2026

Added a little colour into Brooke’s moth ~
We tattooed this luna moth a few months ago (maybe even a year ago but what is time) and Brooke was ready to give it a little extra sparkle but giving it colour.

Since the line work was already so soft, I wanted to make sure the greens of the wings felt more like a gentle wash.

In love how the tones feel just a little bit magical ✨

05/09/2026

Always tapping into gratitude for whatever this life is. Amongst a lingering feeling of heavy dread, choosing to still find windows of magic has felt like a tangible form of therapy. Plus therapy helps too ✌🏼

As most of my family, friends, and basically anyone I talk to, knows Beth and I have been working hard to build a family for over 2 years now ~ and through the losses and the little wins, sharing openly with our loved ones has lightened our load.

It’s sometimes hard for my own brain to wrap around the ethics of wanting to bring a human into a world that is set to flame (again, insert therapy), but making sure to count the goodness, notice the sunshine, and pay attention to all the rad things folks do has been medicine to make it feel worth it.

I might be tender with M(other)’s day just around the corner, but thought I’d share what has helped me get through the uncertainty of it all: there is goodness all around us, there is a better world ahead we just have to build it, and believing in humanity has always been and always will be worthwhile 🌸

Plus ice cream is literally magic!

Address

Kingston, ON

Website

http://poorthingdesigns.com/

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