Textile

Out of South Africa

In the mid 1980’s I became interested in the use of textile and fiber – a group of media that bring together processes that have great appeal to me: designing, sewing, creating physical objects by hand and working with fabrics and color. This rich tactile world has been an absorbing and ever-changing part of my life ever since.

I live in Durban, a subtropical city of many cultures, on the east coast of South Africa and work in a large, elevated and light-filled studio. The wide view leads the eye over the garden with rolling hills and the Indian Ocean in the distance.

Aspects of both contemporary and traditional techniques that are used in my stitched textiles, convey an eclectic quality to my work. Both hand and machine stitching may be combined in one work, depending on what seems appropriate. I use cotton, silk, organza and other textiles like bark cloth and linen, that may be hand dyed, painted and screened or commercially printed.

The multi-layered spirit of my African environment is an enduring influence in my work. (See Remix Africa, My Heart is Glad, Babanango Meets Grey Street and Raw Wall.) Another inspiration is organza fabric which has different characteristics to other fabrics that I use. I am fascinated with the delicate, translucent qualities of organza fabric which allow light and vision to pass through the layers of fabric. (See Breath no.1, Cross Section, Shadow Traces and Pentimento).

My process of working is direct and improvisational. I may start with a thumbnail sketch or not. Several ideas usually merge together in one work and they could originate from memories combined with observation and thoughts and indeed, the fabric itself. The need to create and to understand or interpret my thoughts, feelings and experiences are what motivate me.

The formal elements of design are always an important ingredient and can feature as a starting point for a work e.g. On The Edge no. 3. I am endlessly fascinated by the relationships and contrasts between shapes, lines, colours and textures. Abstract imagery is typical of my surface design, although it’s not unusual to occasionally see some realism.

Over the past 30 years I have participated in many juried and invited artist group textile exhibitions, both locally and internationally in the U.S.A, Canada, U.K., New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Europe and Taipei. My work has been published internationally and in South Africa (most recently in CraftArt In South Africa: Creative Intersections by Elbe Coetsee) and is included in private and public collections in South Africa, U.S.A, Canada and France.

For more information, visit www.odettetolksdorf.co.za.

Textile

One Stitch at a Time

I’m an addict. Our living room is home to several stacks of them - gorgeous, colourful cotton blankets - Kantha quilts as they are more commonly called. The kids love sitting on the stacks and wrapping themselves into one of the soft blankets. They really are addictive, these quilts, so much that I started making everything out of them. Cushion covers, curtains, planters, bags, placemats, jackets - you name it.

Kantha stitching is a very old tradition of Bengal origin. Until today, women in rural areas of West Bengal, India, and bordering Bangladesh use this technique to recycle saris, dhotis and other fabric remnants into practical blankets that can serve as rugs to work on or covers to keep warm. Discarded fabrics are carefully layered - a Kantha quilt can be made of as many as ten layers - and then painstakingly stitched together by hand with a simple, running “Kantha” stitch, row by row. Depending on stitching size, this can take an eternity, at least in our Western perception of time.

So what really got me hooked on these blankets? The texture - slightly wrinkly or wavy due to the stitching technique, a bit like seersucker. The endless combinations of colors into sometimes veritable pieces of art, here a patch, there a mend. The feel of each Kantha quilt - sometimes soft and worn, like your favourite, washed-out shirt, sometimes stiff and rug-like. The stitching - different on each quilt, at times tiny and refined, or clumsy and irregular, sometimes artfully patterned, like the handwriting of its maker. The admiration for the women who stitch these blankets - their seemingly eternal patience, which I myself lack so much. The respect for their ability to go so creatively about giving their textiles a second life.

Working with Kantha cloth can be a challenge, though: Over time, I discovered that Kantha quilts can be used for many things, but not for everything. They have a life cycle of their own. Upholstering my chairs was perhaps not such a great idea. When Kantha quilts are exposed to a lot of friction, their layers of fabric will start peeling away much like skin after a sunburn. Sometimes, this results in great mosaics of colours and patterns, sometimes it just looks like a desolate rag.

The two-sidedness of Kantha blankets inspired me to design items that are reversible: bags, jackets and plant cozies. After all it is sort of a waste to have two perfectly lovely sides on a quilt and then hide one away on the inside of a cushion cover.

I’d almost say that what I make out of these blankets is secondary - the Kantha quilts themselves are often enough of a statement, and turning them into different home and fashion accessories is pure fun. I consider my work a way of honouring the women who have stitched these blankets and their way of life, from which we, in our Western consumerist bubble, could perhaps learn a lot: frugality, thriftiness, creativity, mindfulness. Taking life one stitch at a time and making the best out of the (sometimes scant) scraps of happiness in life.

Valerie Ley Alter is a confessing Kantha addict and creates recycled accessories out of anything old and used she can get her hands on. See her work at www.fairlyworn.etsy.com and www.fairlyworn.com.

Textile

Ancient Peru inspires dolls and tapestries

A love of vibrant colors and bold designs is a constant throughout my tapestry work. These elements are clearly visible in the two tapestry hangings shown that accompany this article. I use commercially dyed wool on a linen warp set at eight ends per inch. I wove these standing up at my four-harness Cranbrook floor loom. I first learned to weave at Arrowmont School in Tennessee where I studied with Edwina Bringle. As a student, I loved pattern weaving, overshot, and double weave. When introduced to tapestry I felt an intense desire to explore further. From that moment there was a strong connection for me to this way of painting with threads, using color and forming patterns.

Initially my three-dimensional dolls were influenced by investigations of pre-Columbian Peruvian textiles. In ancient times, these doll-like figures represented aspects of daily life and were ceremonially placed in burial sites. While at the University of Georgia, I took a course with Glen Kaufman about the history of textiles in the Andean region. The final project was to incorporate these influences into a weaving. “Luisa” was the result of this assignment and the start of a new body of work.

My dolls have evolved to become self-portraits where I combine ideas and designs of my own with techniques from ancient Peru. I weave the face and hair in one piece and then fold that over to form a pocket. The hair is rya weave where I use a variety of leftover yarns. Not every face becomes a full doll some are just as effective as a head on an armature. I make a dress out of two geometric tapestry rectangles, which are sewn together on the finished armature. My favorite armature is to assemble the woven parts on sticks upon which beavers have chewed. I collect them down at the creek that runs through our property. The head rests on a basketry handle or if needed I create a piece with basketry materials, which I wrap with wool.

Like many weavers I use traditional fiber processes in creative ways that move beyond being utilitarian objects. Although my dolls do not yet have a ceremonial purpose, I find inspiration from works that do. My work navigates the space where the influences of traditional textiles from Andean cultures manifest in a new form. On the design/conceptual level, I search for ways to weave the faces so they are visually interesting but also recognizable.

My current approach is to deepen my engagement with my doll-like works to provide an avenue to express my personality and push me to find ways to present them in a larger context, perhaps ceremonial in nature. For someone as concerned about the earth and its inhabitants, the process of weaving is calming, but how to situate a compassionate response is less clear. This is no small challenge though one I take very seriously.

For more information visit www.louisehalsey.com and www.littlemulberrygallery.com

Textile

Boneca de Atauro’s Sewing Community

Boneca de Atauro was founded in 2007 by a group of four sewing women and with the help of Ester Piera Zuercher , a Swiss artist and with the support of Padre Luis Fornasier on Atauro Island, a small island off the coats of Dili in Timor Leste.

In 2008 they made a bid for a UNICEF tender to make 3,200 dolls for pre-school children in Timor Leste and were successful in their bid. Ester's work continued closely for a long period and still continues though she now lives elsewhere. The group has also had to help of David Palazon a Spanish artist who is a lifelong supporter. A year later, the group had an exhibition at the Fondacio Oriente in Dili, leading to greater exposure of the group in Timor Leste. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the group and will be celebrated in their shop which opened last year in Dili . The project has grown beyond the shores of Atauro Island and is now reaching out internationally.

The group has become a cooperative and is a unique organization that sees 60 women ( and some men) work together and grow a very special community that sees not only sewing, embroidery and emerging artwork

being produced, but holds a dream for their own centre.

Education is a strong focus of the cooperative, learning digital and computing skills, social media, English and Portugese and of course increasing their embroidery and sewing skills through an artists' residency program. The range of products made have increased are the skills have become more refined and expanded.

Boneca de Atauro has become a well-known brand on Atauro Island and is a must visit destination in the Lonely Planet travel guide, and has now expanded its reputation into Dili with the opening of their shop

in Dili. However, the group has dreams simply beyond making products and so they have a social mission to empower, educate and provide employment to women and men from Atauro Island so that a strong community sense is maintained.

The women at present work in a government building in Vila Maumeta on Atauro Island . There are many challenges in running a cooperative from such an isolated situation including the fact that electricity is powered by a generator which only runs form 6 pm until 6 am, so no daytime electricity. This means that many of the women work on treadle machines and what they create on those treadle machines is remarkable.

Many of the designs that are stitched have been hand drawn by Head Art Designer Maturina Araujo who never having received formal art education creates beautiful and whimsical designs. Maturina is also the design brain behind their tapestry project, creating individual art works and commissions. The isolation of the island means that many tools of the trade are not available or are difficult to obtain, or the women are simply not aware of the existence of products that would assist in the making of their hand made items.

Not all women have machine skills so hand stitched ornaments and toys are also made which are stuffed with locally grown kapok. other women are involved in the finishing of the bags ensuring handles are

properly attached and zippers are neatly inserted. There are tow cutters employed who cut the fabric and then trim the stitched items. The products have evolved from dolls into individually machine embroidered bags , laptop bags and ipad bags and now tapestries as design skills develop.

Each design is unique and individually executed on a a treadle machine , which makes the workrooms sound like a whirr of activity. Locally made tais are also utilised ,known as hrapanhirik and woven from palm fiber on back looms in the village of Makadade. The tais are strongand the beautiful natural colours of the fibre are enticing. The tais have been used to make bags and pouches and present the group is exploring using it in their tapestry work.

The cooperative of Boneca de Atauro has a dream and that is to have their own building and centre, with working space, education and learning facilities, a performance centre and a library, a centre to maintain the strength of this remarkable working project and offer further opportunities for learning and growth to empower women and children of Atauro Island.

Textile

Artifact

Stitchwork and photography that do all the talking

The core foundation of my artwork is my photography. I began taking photographs while traveling several years ago, to record the various places that I visited and the many patterns that I came across. I have always been fascinated with imagery that contains repetitive patterns. My background in textile design and experience with detailed handwork helped set the stage for my current work.

As I took more photographs, I naturally began framing the angles in my mind’s eye and visualizing the images in repeat pattern. This intimate internal dialogue has proven to be the first step in my creative process. Although I never considered myself a photographer, the camera soon became an important new resource for my imagery. With a continuous drive to create new work, my (iPhone) camera is in near constant use, as the arsenal of digital images on my computer ever expands.

Once I have chosen the patterns to work with, I create composite sheets of reformatted imagery that I print on transparency paper, cut up, sort and then tape together into new compositions. The final part of my process is hand stitching all the pieces together but first, I poke holes in the plastic that will serve as the trail map for my needle and thread to follow. Once the holes are in place, I begin the meditative progression of stitching, tying, and knotting. I always allow the ends of each thread to hang free; I am drawn to the juxtaposition between the smooth plastic surface and the irregular puckering and hanging thread that meander across the pieces.

I take a minimalist approach to hanging the pieces, using only push pins. This allow the pieces to sit away from the wall, inviting light and shadow to create a 3-dimensional dynamic against the wall that breathes new life into the pieces.

Often the motivation behind my work comes from my life. One theme that has recurred for me is the desire to create dresses in various forms. I am intrigued by the way that fashion and textile define the body. Perhaps this emanates from my childhood and the time spent playing “dress up” with my mother. Dresses have become an important symbol in both my life and work. Two years ago, my daughter got married and the experience of helping her find the perfect wedding dress inspired me to create my own take on a life size wedding dress. When my son and daughter-in-law had their first child, I made a series of tutus, reminiscent of ballet class as a child. Sometimes a simple pattern intrigues me; a chain link fence in downtown LA was used to create a dress called “Unchained.” The inspirations for my dresses pop up at various times in my life and seem to be my most popular works and most satisfying to create.

I am always most excited about what I am working on now- But then I never know what’s coming next and how it will be revealed.

Textile

Fashion

Making a fashion statement

If one of your resolutions for 2018 is to make a statement of sorts, please take note of Artistry in Fiber’s third volume. This last book in the series, focusing on wearable art, will make you want to purge much of what you have in your closet.

Artistry in Fiber,Volume 3: Wearable Art explores the intersection between art and fashion. In her introduction Susan Taber Avila writes, “The term wearable art is often used to describe garments that bridge art, design, craft and fashion. This broad category encourages much debate when classifying relevance for stature within the greater arena of fine art. Included in this field or conceptual works that either conform to or allude the body, as well as beautifully crafted unique garments that conveyed personal expression in an aesthetic that fashion is a popular subject for many orders do too it's obvious connection to identity and culture, yet wearable art is often wants length from fashion.”

Divided into “Art to Wear” and “Art to Adorn”, Wearable Art features more than 40 artists who have created pieces that come alive when worn. The dynamics of body and art partner to create a unique and personal style.

California-based Avila is recognized for her wall hangings and sculptures, but her wearable constructions are designed by “imagining the body as an armature rather than as a shape to conform to. My work promotes sustainability through the reclamation pre-consumer and post-consumer waste, and I explore new methods and materials to develop new textile structors to interlock meaning within the structure.” Her piece Falling Leaves is inspired by nature, “especially the organization and perceptionof nature by humans.”

Polish artist Małgosia Kalińska shifts between painting and designing jewelry. She primarily works with foil, silk fabric and cotton, paper, pulp, polymer, and silver. She writes of her art, “When exploring purely aesthetic issues, I deliberately limit the participation of rhthmic structures to black and white. “This allows me to differentiate absorption of light, which as a concentrated or dispersed energy becomes a play on matter and space.”

In Something Borrowed, Tina Lazzarine’s recent work is centered around the collar which represents “the complex identity of women as both oppressed and empowered…by binding soft fabric with wire into either protruding or constricting forms, sometimes both, my work becomes a metaphor for subjugation. Integral to the work or the dichotomies of hard and soft, seduction and repulsion, protection and intimidation. This complexity parallels the multifaceted aspect of the female experience.”

Wearable Art, like its companions—Sculpture and Wall Art—will take your breath away. This three volume set is a necessary addition to anyone who loves working with fiber.

Textile

Artifact

An exploration

The act of making and creating artwork has always been a way for me to understand my experiences, materials and processes. Stitching by hand connects me to the rich history of textiles and understanding of what a simple needle and thread can achieve. These simple materials lead me to find answers, determine new questions and ways of interpreting my life. The single act of threading a needle to stitch helps me develop a personal language as I explore creative possibilities. The understanding and love of cloth is one that continually drives my curiosity and artistic interpretations. These responses intuitively develop concepts, which lead to material and technique investigations. I find value in not always taking the traditional route regarding my artwork as it is important to discover new ways of creating and pushing the traditional boundaries that have been taught regarding textiles.

Over the past few years the points of perspective in which I observe and experience things has become more complex leading me to create different approaches to making and experiencing my work. These experiences are analyzed by closely examining how cloth is made, what function it performs and the actions that are repeated to make, remake and/or undo. While most are not fully aware of their relationship with textiles, I celebrate the deep understanding and love of textiles from a strand of thread, a knitted blanket to the raised seems of shrubbery that outline farmland in the landscape to the built environment. As I have worked to develop and expand my awareness and philosophy of how textiles are a fundamental force in our everyday lives makes me keenly sensitive to seeing an endless amount of surfaces, materials and forms in which they can be created. This system of beliefs allows me the freedom to explore creating work based on textiles in a more abstract manner through time, video, photo documentation, to mending the worn landscape and built environment to the traditional use of materials and processes. I revel in the fact that I intuitively lead my investigations to create work that will clearly convey the concept no matter the process or material as they all derive from a complex understanding of how textiles are embedded in humanity.

Mending Gold is the latest series of works that I have been making since 2014 that explores mending worn textiles, landscape and the built environment. This universal and common act of mending allows me to seek and find areas that outline personal histories of worn away fibers in cloth, to the worn landscape and buildings where the textile industry once served communities. Mending Gold: Jeans shows the act of mending with a single gold thread a worn textile serving as a meditative act leaving a visual reminder of the valued history. Further connecting the act of mending, Mending Gold: Cotton Spinning Mill, Bucharest, Romania, highlights missing parts and imperfections along the brick building of a former cotton spinning mill. This industrial area of Bucharest lost the mill in the early 2000’s to cheaper outsourcing much like the textile industry in my home state of North Carolina. These connections bind together the complexities of loss of skill, knowledge and pride that comes from a community and the emptiness that is left behind. These two different applications of mending are seen as intimate and repetitious acts allowing appreciation and contemplation of material, process and concept.

To see more of Brooks’ artwork visit her website at www.brooksfiberart.com

Textile

Fashion

Recycled

Elevating Artisanry for the modern wayfarer

Flora created the brand Ethnique PH, a brand based in the Philippines, from a love for travel and the accessories that are reminiscent of that affection. Each component is handmade by artisans in India from materials all over the world. The owner hopes each product of the brand appeals to the sensibility and allure of finding just the right item, one that inspires expeditions of both the body and soul.

She further explains this lovely juxtaposition of modern aesthetic with artisanry passed down through generations. “We have a very clear understanding of our brand’s identity— all items are artisanal and handmade, colorful, and quirky. Hence, every time we design a bag, these are the qualities we fulfill to stay true to Ethnique’s DNA. Therefore, our display will showcase this very spirit.

In the past few months, we have been obsessed with recycled fabrics (the Raya collection), and intricate beadwork: How to elevate what could be seen as a shabby rug made of strips of old fabrics, for the product to not only be sustainable but also luxurious? And how to juxtapose traditional, labor-intensive beading with modern and fun designs? So we have been exploring ways of expressing our aesthetic using those; and they would be a big part of our NY NOW selection. “

Each piece involves intricate handiwork- each piece again reflecting the boho chic and luxury attitude of the brand. Some items involve weaving, others, like their celebrated beaded bags, ask the artisan to draw from time-honored skill and practices, incorporating both elegance and quirk of contemporary tastes.

“As for the beaded bags, we are just completely in awe of the process, talent, effort, and time required to make each and every piece. For instance, it takes about 2 days to make one Mati bag. We think of the patterns, designs, colorways; but the artisans deserve all the praise for the work they do to bring to life our ideas. Their skill, and the care and patience they demonstrate in practicing that skill, are truly amazing,” Flora explains.

Beadwork is the heritage of generations, requiring an artful eye and delicate skill. Fabric is first stretched, then attached to a bed or table. The ascribed pattern is first drawn out in white ink before a long needle is used to thread seven or eight beads at a time. The needles are utilized to attach the beads on top of the fabric. Each thread is then knotted by hand and the process is repeated until the design is completed. This repetitive act is done on a flat surface to ascertain a measure of slack needed to fold or shape the bag once the beading is completed. Such complexity requires patience, but the ultimate results deliver bold and joyful fruitions from a design perspective.

Flora further qualifies, “It is for this reason that when we get high volume orders, we do ask for an extension for delivery since: One, we cannot just hire new people to hasten the work. As of now, we only work with a small group with a high level of artistry; two, we cannot compromise the quality of our beaded pieces by rushing our artisans. Again, it is an art, and the process for such things must be respected.”

These extraordinary, and funky, statement pieces will be exhibited for potential buyers at NY NOW’s Artisan Resource February 4-7 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/ethniqueph

Textile

Bold Vision Meets Stylish Sustainability

There is magic happening in and around Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. It’s a brand of magic handed down through generations of artisans, harnessed and empowered by Sammy Ethiopia. Managing Director and Designer Sammy Abdella tells us, “The Sammy line was launched in the Ethiopian capital in 2006. Founders were astonished to discover a wealth of craft skills, all but lost to the West, which could be applied to a style-forward range of fashion and home accessories.”

The Sammy brand links the artisan skills of one of Africa’s most ancient civilizations with American and European fashion know-how. The result; unique contemporary treasures, made in and out of Addis Ababa, that have already gathered fans from New York to Tokyo.

What sets the Sammy line apart is sophisticated style. Featherweight scarves are hand-woven using skills known in Ethiopia for thousands of years. Ethiopia is one of the world’s largest leather producers; know particularly for supple lamb nappa and for hand-dyeing. Sammy bags and small leather goods are made by local craftsman and incorporate such artisanal skills as hand-printed cotton linings, traditional bead embellishments and embroidery yet are designed to suit current global clienteles. In addition, the company has extensive home decor line of basketry and pottery that are made by women craft masters.”

When the company launched, it employed 50 artisans. This number has grown to approximately 400. It’s a grassroots movement that involves not only sourcing most of its materials regionally, but equips its artisans with the impetus to honor their ancestors and support their families. “Sammy is self-sufficient, ethical business employing both leading local artisans and those with entry-level skills. All those working for Sammy receive a fair wage, are ensured safe working conditions. Collaborating with community organizations and cooperatives creating employment to some of the world’s most marginalized people,” Abdella says.

These principles play an integral part in bringing a line of apparel and home décor that is both sumptuous and earthy to the international marketplace. Such precision, and yes, love, showcases itself in cloudlike scarves begging to be worn and touched, wonderfully patterned clutches, and decadent, casually elegant apparel. Beyond the sensory experience the line offers clients, Sammy Ethiopia remains true to its vision of sustainability and improving the quality of life of a remarkable people.

This combination of traditional technique and skill passed down through generations combined with sophisticated artistry will be exhibited for potential buyers at NY NOW’s Artisan Resource February 4-7 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

For more information and to buy products, please visit:www.sammyethiopia.com.

Textile

Acube Worldwide Elevates One-Stop-Shopping

There is a movement that challenges the modern professional to put aside a lifestyle of consumption and hectic order, and instead invest in an adventure that promises community and creativity. One such group of Silicone Valley professionals heeded this call and returned to their native India. What they actualized was Acube World, a project that establishes the cottage industry of their homeland as a viable contender in the global marketplace. Because of this, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and other pioneers in the artisanal revolution can provide the astute client with handmade Indian products.

The partners behind Acube World sought to do more than provide one-stop-shopping. They give soul to their enterprise, empowering indigenous female artisans through work with several non-for-profits, and ingenious upcycling of scrap fabric.

When Hand/Eye Online asked about the process behind the product line Acube Worldwide has to offer, Nidhi B. Mehta, a partner, responded via email. “Our production process starts out with receiving a design from our buyers - in just a sketch form or an image or even a concept that they are describing – we then finalize the design and get blocks carved for the design. Once that is done, the blocks are passed on to the block-printing artisanal units where they conduct the printing process by hand. This is a lengthy process and requires patience, practice, and precision. Some of the block- printing artisans have been doing this for up to 50 years and are experts who then pass on their valuable skills to apprentices. As a matter of fact, it’s a family tradition that’s taught and passed on through generations.

For each of our product we have different artisan groups who specialize and work on that product only. So, what we provide our customers are specialized unique high-quality products. We have gone a step further to provide end-to-end solution to our buyers. So, we also offer complete packaging solutions - fabric, jute, juco, handmade-paper, recycled-paper and other such packaging solutions along with branding hang-tags for their products. We also get photoshoots done for our buyers, so they can immediately start selling their products online or start preparing their look-book(s)/catalogue(s) while the goods are being shipped to them. Besides, it also proves to be more cost effective!”

Mehta shares her excitement about what they’re bringing to NY NOW’s Artisan Resource at the Jacob Javit’s Center in New York City from February 4-7. “This is our First International Show and at NY NOW, whereby, we will be displaying our hand-block premium cotton range of baby and kids’ product range (nursery, bedding, diapering, clothing & beachwear) along with matching resort-wear (kaftan, tunics, t-shirt, robes, men’s shirt, scarves, stoles and slings) for mums and dads.

Again, our specialty is working in hand-block and hand-screen printed cotton fabrics, azo-free printing and practicing zero-wastage in production; our production wastage fabric is upcycled to create beautiful artisan jewelry, key chains, bag charms, hair accessories and plush toys. We have got special Upcycled Fabric Keychains made from our production wastage fabric as giveaways at our stall to visitors. We hope to be enablers to every dreamer, artist and entrepreneur!”

For more information and to buy products, please visit: www.acubeworld.com.

Textile

Fashion

El Dorado Arts Unites Ingenuity and Enterprise

Colombian artisans find an online home in El Dorado Arts. This brand vests them with the opportunity to bring ancestral skill and creativity to the conscientious consumers of today’s international market. The extrinsic style of their handmade products has caught the attention of designers around the world, and the platform is one that weds love of tradition and smart business.

We at Hand/Eye had the luxury of speaking via email with Project Director Juan Rivera Bustos. He told us more about the grit and vision behind the El Dorado Arts brand. “Way before we launch our brand we were so inspired by our culture, So rich yet so unexplored. We embarked on an exciting journey to find and promote one of a kind pieces, creations with unique designs and we discovered unexplored and forgotten ancestral and artisanal techniques that drove us to our goals and inspiration.

We work directly with artisans from indigenous communities and represent and promote artist that work with different communities empowering artisans to become entrepreneurs by helping they’re capacity to build local business and promote ethical fair-trade, seeking greater socioeconomic wellbeing in their communities, especially indigenous ones.

After a fifty plus year war that kept communities apart across the country, now it’s possible for them to speak and reconnect with the world allowing us to make this “utopia” a real project.”

Of their successes and struggles, Bustos shared, “Running a handcraft business is surely not an easy thing but totally worth it. Artisans work on a very different/slow rhythm and there is something really special about it. Our product selection represents a variety of techniques passed on by generations that have evolved by the cultural and fashion standards.

And many times, it’s like you’re in a time machine, one day you are in the middle of the jungle with an indigenous community that lives like its 200 years ago and the next day you are setting up a booth to show they’re work on one of the biggest cities in the world, making NYNOW one of our biggest success.

This is our first time at Artisan Resource and we are very excited to show our wide variety of artisan work!”

We can expect to experience sumptuous leather hammocks, extraordinary raw emeralds, and embroidered pieces. All of them handcrafted by indigenous talent, each design evoking rich landscapes and tradition that begs respect and prevalence in today’s design narrative.

“We represent varied brands, designers, artist and artisans so to talk about one collection wouldn’t be possible. What we do have in common while making our curated selection is to look for designs that are really close to earth but at the time vibrant, striking and with a conscious message.

It is very important for us to help our artist understand how the international market works and how to meet their standards. and standards. We support, sell, promote their work and in some cases, we feature mini collections,” the project director qualifies.

“We are an online store and we do small venues and trunk shows. Our brand also collaborates with artist and connects them to other artist and encourage them to collaborate creating a local network of artist, designers and artisans.

For example, we are working on a collection with one of our allied brands incorporating another indigenous artisan we represent. This way we help their community by providing jobs.

The founders of this company are myself and my partner Juan Pablo Gomez. Together we have worked on creating this collective or artist, designers and artisans in hopes of showing their talent to a global market. "Think global, act local".”

Buyers can experience El Dorado Arts at NY NOW’s Artisan Resource February 4-7 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

For more information and to buy products, please visit: www.eldoradoart.com or check them out on Instagram @el.dorado.art for information on their pop-up shops

Textile

Fashion

Making Art for the Bees

It’s almost too easy to joke that Seattle artist Cheri Ellis has a bee in her bonnet. Formerly a bespoke milliner known for fanciful hats that won her many fashionable clients, Cheri evolved over the years into the multifaceted, multi-dimensional artist she is today. Along the way she added couture designer to her resume, creating embellished, handsewn dresses that appealed to women who loved her quirky style. When she started reading about the environmental crisis posed by the loss of honeybee habitat, Cheri then merged her creative life with a defining mission: to raise awareness about bees and their significance around the world. With that commitment a new all-encompassing art project has given rise to this prolific artist’s latest creative renewal. Cheri has devoted the last four years of her career to studying bees and drawing lessons for how people can follow the bees’ example to work better cooperatively and creatively.

The Bee Story, as she calls it, includes Cheri’s original bee-themed artwork, couture fashion made from her custom fabric, a popular line of paper goods and, most recently, unique cloth dolls that embody the artist’s signature sense of style wed to a higher purpose. Absolutely everything she’s created for The Bee Story originates with imagery taken from her paintings and drawings, which are themselves a frolicking dreamscape of interwoven patterns and colors. Within her high-impact visual fields lie delicate bee silhouettes, sacred symbols, and scrolling organic webs reminiscent of Moorish geometry or the knotted bands of Celtic borders.

At the heart of every Cheri Ellis design there are bees at work. When asked if this is an obsession of hers, she is quick to laugh but freely admits to being “bee-dazzled” by the life of bees, from their community dynamics to the vital role they play in sustaining life and food production on the planet. “Bees work for the good of the whole,” Cheri says. They are matriarchal, essential, and powerful. “We can’t imagine life without bees, so why are we not protecting their habitats? Why are we crippling them with toxic chemicals and eliminating their ability to do their important work?” After researching colony collapse disorder and its devastating impact, Cheri began creating new paintings with bees as the central theme. From there, an entirely new creative world opened and continues to flourish. She read about bees in mythology, literature and in nature. She drew conclusions about how artists, in particular, could emulate bees in their own communities. Cheri envisions a growing network of collaborators, from artists to musicians and the models who wear her designs, all bringing their strengths and talents to advance the message that bees matter to us all.

Calling on her decades of experience as a milliner and clothing designer, Cheri began creating custom dresses made from her own bee-printed fabrics. She has revealed her Bee Story couture collection cautiously in Seattle over the past three years in small venue shows but would love to create a large-scale exhibition and performance for a major art venue like the Seattle Art Museum. Cheri’s polymath approach to exhibiting encompasses strong environmental messaging, sustainably produced clothing, live performance and multimedia installations to astounding effect. It’s for the bees, she says, to grab people’s attention and get them to realize what’s lost if we lose any more of them.

Cheri’s most recent reinvention of a familiar everyday object, the cloth doll, is a natural evolution from earlier dolls she made nearly twenty years ago when her own daughter was a little girl. “I had remnanat fabric from my custom dresses, bags and other projects around the studio and started looking at the dolls I used to make by hand,” Cheri recalls. “I never thought I’d come back to the dolls, but when I started it brought back so many memories, and showed me a new way to tell the Bee Story.” The original dolls were entirely handpainted, and the new generation feature printed fabric taken from original Bee Story artwork. Cher still paints the faces by hand, taking her time to bring out each doll’s identity and personality. They are at once sculptural, figurative and imbued with distinctive human traits.

So much more than a toy, Cheri’s Bee Story dolls become alter-egos, wise women spirit guides with colorful braids and beautifully hand painted expressions. They seem knowing, worldly and completely beguiling. You can imagine whispering secrets to them, tucking a lucky talisman into their pocket or giving them an inventive backstory. She takes her time with each new doll, giving each her own unique identity, clothing and custom made accessories. When Cheri displays the dolls at Seattle’s famed Ballard Sunday farmer’s market people stop in their tracks, immediately taken by their otherworldly charm.

Each doll is its own complete creation and no two will ever be alike. Cheri loves the idea of making these dolls in honor of a special event, to commemorate an important milestone in someone’s life, or to offer a source of comfort and solace to someone going through a major life transition. “They are there for healing,” Cheri says. We can heal ourselves and heal the planet by changing our point of view. “I add the adornments from different countries and cultures because I’ve always been drawn to how certain places, like in India, China or Mexico, embrace pattern and color. There are also tribal motifs that appear often in my work. I also want to honor the sacred, mystical elements at work in the universe.”

Cheri’s Bee Story has many chapters and her dolls will remain a part of that ongoing narrative in her work. She forging connections between so many diverse communities, from Seattle’s fine arts world to the farmers and urban honey producers selling alongside her each Sunday. Judging by the response she gets at her farmer’s market booth when people realize what she’s created and why, this is a story that is certain to have a very happy ending.

Textile

Overcoming adversities with tapestry crochet

HAND/EYE Contributor Carol Ventura first discovered tapestry crochet in 1976 when she was a Peace Corps volunteer in the village of Jacaltenango in Huehuetenango in the highlands of Guatemala.

After her stint in the Peace Corps, Carol returned to the United States with several colorful bags that most people thought were woven. Curious of the technique used, Carol unraveled the bag to discover that it was made from single crochet but with the twist—two or more yarns are were used at the same time.

On her blog, Tapestry Crochet, she wrote of the technique: “One or more yarns are usually carried while another yarn is crocheted. This technique is also known as hard crochet and used to be called mosaic crochet, jacquard crochet, intarsia, colorwork, and fair isle, but these terms now usually describe different techniques. The finished pieces look woven instead of crocheted.”

Using tapestry crochet, Carol has made colorful baskets and tote bags with repeat geometric patterns, but this form of crochet has another function for Carol: getting though an emotional crisis.

During times of upheaval, Carol’s form of therapy is to make large flat pieces that require counting and concentration. In the video “Pieces of Carol”, she explains how creating art using tapestry crochet helped her deal with her painful divorce and the accompanying stages of denial, depression, anger, and acceptance. At each phase, she crocheted a series of self-portraits with quotes of what she had been feeling.

To view Carol discuss tapestry crochet and its therapeutic benefits, see Pieces of Carol, produced by Megan Grisolano.

Credits: Pieces of Carol, produced by Megan Grisolano

Post Sound Mixing: Dane Dickmann

Music: Brent Johnson

For more information visit www.carolventura.com.

Textile

A collaboration between artists and microbiologist

I have been creating textile-based artwork for over 25 years, exploring a variety of art forms. My current work, art quilts, focuses on shapes and patterns in the natural world. I hand dye most of my cotton fabrics in my studio using a variety of mark making techniques. My work is primarily hand drawn and cut, fuse appliquéd, machine stitched, machine quilted and often hand embroidered.

Over the last three years, I have been part of a scientist/artist project focused on the microbial world, specifically in the Arctic region of Alaska. In a Time of Change: Microbial Worlds (ITOC) is a collaboration among artists and scientists spearheaded by Mary Beth Leigh, Professor of Microbiology at University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

As a result of several interactions with scientists studying the landscape of the high Arctic tundra, the ITOC artists produced a wonderfully eclectic exhibition focusing on the microbes that are the building blocks of that landscape. The Microbes Series is in that collection.

A highlight of the ITOC project, and perhaps a refocusing event, was a short residency at the Toolik Lake Research Station, 120 miles south of Prudhoe Bay on the Dalton Highway. The research station hosts scientists from around the world who are studying the tundra ecosystems. One of the activities was helping collect water samples from Toolik Lake, a small kettle lake fed by two pearl lake-stream systems. The group spent several hours studying and drawing the microscopic creatures found in the water column, most of which have never been studied or named.

My Microbes Series is the result of the Toolik Lake experience. I have always been fascinated by the microscopic, as much for the shapes and forms of the creatures and plants as for the science. The creatures floating in the water come in myriad shapes and forms. Big and small, they survive the harsh cold environment forming the foundations of the ecosystems.

Because microscopic images are often black and white, I chose a gray, black and white palette with bits of color for emphasis. The Microbes Series pieces are all small, 14” x 14”, with a circular center motif, as if looking through the eye piece of a microscope. Many of the creatures are from the water column studies but others are imaginary, sometimes based on Ernst Haeckel’s drawings.

Each piece begins with a gray background and the central circle. From there the microbes are cut out, positioned and fused in whatever organization is pleasing to me. The pieces are machine stitched, machine quilted and bound. The last step is the decision to add hand embroidery for emphasis – French knots and/or seed stitches - using hand dyed #8 pearl cotton thread. I make the embroidery decision after the piece has had time to rest…what else does it need to be really resolved?

For more information about Charlotte’s work, visit www.birdworks-fiberarts.com

Textile

A stage for fiber art

After two decades of working in professional theatre, I found my true calling. Over the next twenty years, my studio has become the stage for my dye-stained hands to choreograph art quilt design through a playful yet dedicated practice. It’s at the cutting table, where the love/hate relationship with creative process begins. Emotions and frustrations arise during the journey of each piece, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s a glorious struggle. When things are flowing, I actually enjoy throwing in a wrench to raise the bar and further push my creative muscles.

I joke that I “live to dye”, but it is true. Throughout my life, I have had an insane love affair with color. It touches my soul more deeply than any music or poetry. When asked in kindergarten, I reported that I had two favourite colors - olive green and “Kodak” yellow. Coming from photographer parents working out of their home studio, the signature cadmium yellow on each box of paper or film was part of my surroundings.

For me, when designing a quilt, improvisation is the quickest route to a successful piece. Each quilt is first inspired by a fabric palette. On a day when I don’t feel particularly creative, I find myself pulling fabrics from my stash and piling them together in interesting combinations for the joy of seeing various hues next to each other. I have numerous “palette piles” which often sit on shelves waiting for me to pull them down and begin the drama.

My favorite technique is reverse appliqué. I use my hand-dyed fabrics in combination with commercially printed cottons. I enjoy the visual tension that appears as they dance together in a composition. Organic shapes are sewn on top of two layers of fabric. A negative shape (i.e. the hole in a doughnut) is cut away to reveal the fabric underneath. I continue to layer, sew, cut and compose - repeat as necessary. There is always a spark of magic when throwaway scraps become integral motifs within the design, or serve as inspiration for a future piece. My favorite game is to make a quilt only from the leftover scraps from the last. These are often my most successful as they are embedded with practice, process, and discovery with abandonment of expectation.

For better or worse, I’m partnered with process for the long haul. I’ve learned to be disciplined enough to build a foundation from a seed of inspiration but open enough to deviate from the script. More than anything, I’ve learned that the deeper the focus on process, the greater the reward. I’m a serious artist, but what I am most serious about is play.

Heidi Hunter is a Canadian artist living in an old school house in Manitoba’s Interlake. She works and teaches out of her Runs with Scissors Studio. You can see more of her work on www.runswithscissors.ca or follow her on social media.

Textile

Love for ethnic fibers inspires new businesses

Susan E. Cheever and I are weavers who have travelled to the Highlands of Guatemala together many times, admiring the exquisite handmade textiles of Maya weavers. We understand the time-honored complexity of indigenous weaving and Meso-American jaspe dye processes, and greatly respect the achievement of local artisans who continue to uphold their historic traditions. Both Susan and I have shown our new indigenous-inspired garments, scarves and pillows at New England’s Cultural Survival Bazaars as well as galleries and shops.

Because we share a love for ethnic fabrics, and admire the gentle spirit and

moral strength of Guatemalan Maya women, we decided to blend our textile expertise with new businesses that support the traditions of Guatemalan cloth. We offer fair-wage work to many Highlands Mayas who appreciate our honest support.

The two businesses, Fusion De Maya and Tinamit Textiles provide short-term fair-wage work for indigenous weavers, three expert tailors and two seamstresses. We also help support the following organizations: Creando Mi Futuro, a Saturday art school and nutritional resource for underprivileged indigenous children of San Pedro la Laguna; Mayan Families in Panajachel, supporting Maya children with tuition, school supplies and health care; and Manos de Cruceñas, who provide artisan skills training for village youth, pre-school and economic empowerment for Santa Cruz la Laguna families.

Six years ago I retired from teaching at the University of Massachusetts and put my fiberart career on hold to start my small business concentrating on indigenous Guatemalan scarf production. Fusion De Maya merges my strong color sense with bamboo fibers and historic backstrap (stick-loom) weaving. The scarves and shawls are one-of-a-kind products, hand-dyed and woven at the Asociación Maya de Desarrollo, a textile cooperative in Sololá, Guatemala. The cooperative is directed by a core group of elected Maya artisans. They are dyers, warpers, weavers, a bookkeeper, and as many as 180 part-time backstrap loom weavers who live and work in rural Highland villages. This cooperative is governed by the Maya women, no longer requiring guidance by an out-of-country NGO. They set their prices and fee structure based on area textile standards. Tourism and foreign customers help keep the production quality high, while retaining the integrity of traditional weaving.

Susan E. Cheever studied complex Swedish weaving in Maine and Massachusetts. She now focuses on Tinamit Textiles, concentrating on repurposing used handwoven Maya corte (skirt) fabrics. Susan purchases the yardages directly from vendors in regional Highlands markets and works with indigenous tailors and seamstresses in Atitlán villages who expertly style simple tunics, men’s and women’s classic shirts, unique blouses and kimonos. Susan’s work gives a new purpose to the recycled materials.

As it has been throughout history, ethnic identity in cloth continues to be important especially to Maya women. Each striped corte fabric, often updated with new colors and jaspe patterns by the local dyers and weavers, specifically identifies the wearer’s regional community. Fusion De Maya and Tinamit Textiles partners honor these exceptional traditions.

BIBLIO

Identity in Cloth: Continuity and Survival in Guatemalan Textiles. Beverly Gordon, University of Wisconsin Press, 1993.

Magic and Mystery of Jaspe (Magia y Misterio del Jaspe). Rosario Miralbes de Polanco, El Museo Ixchel, Guatemala City, 2003

Textile

Paint

Pat Pauly’s transition to textile art

“So, why aren’t you a painter?” I’m often asked. Well, true, I do paint on fabric with dye, and present it two dimensionally, as if it were a painting on a wall. Yes, my background is in fine arts, but my career in textile arts started in 1981. I discovered that working with textiles, to construct, deconstruct, rearrange – essentially shift the material in a fluid way – is nothing I could do with a painting. I’ve no predetermined, stretched-canvas size, and no width-of-the-loom restriction for my work, which is how I like it.

Using thickened dye, directly or printed, gives me the texture, color, and pattern that I crave. Starting with white fabric, I may monoprint or paint with a scraper for the effect I need. When I have a group of fabrics, I select my pallet and start to join and separate apart. At times, I want a specific image, like leaves. For other works, I will use themes, like the time of day – coffee break, happy hour, nine to five – to illustrate through textiles. Often, one fabric joins another to reveal a shape that I want to highlight or repeat. So, the driver for the work is the fabric itself.

Having no family history of quilting put me at an advantage when I started working in fiber. I had no preconceived ideas for spacing through blocks, patterning, or fabric choice. My approach was to paint, only with permission I gave myself for placement and composition. These works are quilted, held in three layers with stitch. I’ve paid attention to the history of handwork and craft, and am drawn to the fiber world. Plus, my work references traditional quilts in that way; pieced, quilted. I often lecture on the influence of traditional textile arts to contemporary art quilts. But for me, these works are solely my expression of the world.

To learn more about Pat, visit piecesandresistance.blogspot.com, where she posts daily, where you will find her influences, work, and ramblings. Her web site is patpauly.com

Textile

The inner force of fiber

My life as an artist changed when I saw a simple work of cloth.

The cloth is mizugoromo, an overgarment made for Japanese Noh Theater. Literally meaning “water cloth”, mizugoromo is with woven in a style using a very open weave with intentionally displaced weft threads. This displacement creates undulations and curves in the overall design. The delicate simplicity of the line and the curve makes me swoon.

We all have those moments. Whether enveloped in nature, surrounded by art in a museum, or lost in a book, we suddenly stop and wonder, think, or dream, and catch our breath. The challenge becomes how to continue the inspiration and have it lead our research and artistic path.

Kandinsky wrote, “If I make frequent use of the circle it is not for the geometric form or properties, but for my strong feeling for the inner force of the circle and its countless variations”. That quote describes my feeling toward the curved line and grid in my work with fiber. Lines expose surface, pattern, communicate freedom, and move organize away from the constraints of repetitive grid. The boundness of the threads communicates a freedom when I move them, to leap from the literal path into a phenomenal one because they don’t follow the traditional woven grid or pull away from the constraint of the deckled edge of the paper.

The simple beauty in a curved line amongst a bed of perpendicular intersections is breathtaking because it breaks the boundaries of the traditional and expected grid. It is unpredictable and inviting. It holds my interest, pulls me in, and makes me want to see more as it converges within a boundary and then diverges. I see freedom in those lines of undulation. They have a starting point and then they take off to the destination of another point turning away from one boundary and heading toward another. Curved lines within a woven grid become thoughtful and gestural.

My hands always begin a thought process. I like to see and feel what materials are immediately available to me. What texture am I seeking? Is there color influence? How does this form want to be seen – smooth and tight? Open and wild? Controlled and shaped? These questions help answer what materials will best express the ideas. Sometimes the answers are based on a passionate response between materials and concept.

This conversation, this type of exchange, is crucial to the organic and fluid movement of threads and fibers. It is a delicate give and take. And this dialogue is central to the outcome of the work. Fibers have memory. The tentative and ephemeral qualities of fiber are enhanced when coaxed to their limit given opportunity to fully express their nature, converging and diverging like a topographical landscape. That is the honesty I like to see revealed. Not just in my work but in the work of others.

Textile

Interiors

Artifact

The new spirit of Mexico

Mexico is emerging as an exciting place for home-grown design. Mexico City was declared World Design Capital in 2018 and events are planned throughout the year to highlight the country’s design sector. As consumers globally become more interested in handcrafted products, a new generation of Mexican designers is looking to the country’s indigenous and mestizo cultural traditions and craft-based skills for inspiration. In collaboration with artisans from throughout the country they are reinvigorating old traditions to create products with a contemporary, modern aesthetic that are also distinctly Mexican.

I recently visited Caravana Americana, a twice-yearly event showcasing design from Latin America, with a focus on Mexico, which took place in Mexico City in March. It presented an exciting line-up of designers, nearly all of whom are committed to supporting artisans in their home countries. There were some well-established brands such as Onora, which produces a luxurious range of textiles, homewares and accessories in collaboration with craftspeople from across Mexico, and El Camino de los Altos, a Chiapas-based organization comprised of 130 weavers from 10 indigenous communities, which makes a sophisticated range of home textiles. Both Onora and El Camino de los Altos create distinctive designs that are thoroughly rooted in traditional practices and motifs. Also featured at Caravana Americana were younger, emerging designers such as Amor & Rosas, which produces a line of clothing with hand-embroidered embellishments and M.A., which makes tapestries and ceramics in Oaxaca with playful designs and colors, among many others.

I stayed at a hotel in Mexico City that reflects this new spirit of modern Mexican design. Hotel Nuevo Leon is fitted out by Lagos del Mundo, with handmade rugs, baskets, prints and pottery. I spent a few extra days exploring Mexico City and meeting other designers, including Phigmento and BiYuu, both of whom work with weavers in Teotitlán del Valle in Oaxaca to make rugs with modern, geometric designs that still retain a Mexican design sensibility. I also met a brand called Anudando, which works with recycled plastic bags to create a range of hand-woven and crocheted baskets and textiles, and Fabrica Social, which updates the traditional Mexican huipile to suit contemporary tastes.

This fall, my company, Twofold Travel, is leading a tour to Mexico City and Oaxaca to explore traditional and present-day textiles and design. Our guide, Ana Paula Fuentes, was the founding director of the Textile Museum in Oaxaca and she is deeply immersed in the design/artisan sector in Mexico. Twofold is pleased to offer a $150 discount to Hand/Eye readers. Contact Jessica Warner for more details or visit http://twofoldtravel.com/mexico-2018/

Textile

Fashion

Using natural dyes to reduce carbon footprint

I am a felter, natural dyer, printer and garment maker. My introduction to fiber came at age 10 when my mother and grandmother taught me to knit. My passage into the family knitting circle began with a trip to the yarn shop and turned into a lifelong passion for fiber.

Growing up in the late 1960’s, My work was influenced by the diverse fashion trends of the time. This influence can be seen today in the manner I combine wool, silk and other fibers to create fabric for my garments. My awareness of environmental practices came in the 1970’s when I became involved in the recycling movement. Since then I have been mindful of using what my immediate environment has to offer and avoiding wasteful practices in both my home and art.

My interest in natural dyeing piqued in 2013 after attending a workshop with felt maker and natural dyer, Polly Stirling. Polly opened my eyes to an array of plants that offer a range of colors and shades for dyeing. A renewable resource, natural dyes derived from plant material can help reduce our carbon footprint and provide us with a way to reduce the toxins we put near our bodies. Through experimentation, I learned many variables of the natural dyeing process including the time of season, location of plants, type of mordants used to fix or change the color and the type of cloth being dyed and printed. I work with cotton, wool and silk. To receive color each type of fabric requires a slightly different mordanting process. “Exacting vibrant and varied colors along with some unexpected results adds to the excitement and mystery of natural dying without the harmful effects of synthetic dyes.”

Surrounded by the Cascade and Siskiyou mountains and lots of forest in Ashland, Oregon, JI finds inspiration everywhere I look. My favorite local leaves to print are the tannin rich maple, oak, black walnut, sumac and eucalyptus. On my ritual morning walks, I can be seen gathering madrone bark, fallen lichen and lots of leaves.

My most recent exploration has been the use of natural dye paste to create additional surface design on my fabrics with stencils, found objects, stamps and silk screens. Using what nature has to offer to create art is the foundation of her work. Ever aware of my environment and preserving our natural resources, I also repurpose old garments and cloth to create new designs.

I teache a variety of textiles techniques including felting, natural dyeing and printing at Ashland Art Center. My creative focus is on combining natural elements with my fabric to create unique textiles with minimal waste.

For more information, Jo Ann can be reached at www.dreamweavingdesigns.com or dreamweavingdesigns@hotmail.com.

Environmental Inspiration

Addictive Kantha

Beyond Utilitarian

The Doll Makers

Internal Dialogue

Wearable Art

Mending Gold

Elements of Joy

Indomitable Enterprise

Passion Project

Advocates of Ingenuity

Bee-Dazzled

Pieces of Carol

Time for Change

For Better or Worse

Travels In Guatemala

Painting on Fabric

Suggestive Freedoms

Reinvigorating Traditions

Mindful Fabric