Carla J Fisher
10 N Market St. Unit 201
Lancaster, PA. 17603
[email protected]
https://carlajfisher.com/
In A Barkly Manner
31”h x 43”w x 2.75”d
Thread, raincoat Tyvek, jute, wool roving, dryer lint, Keurig coffee filters
$4250
Texture…through Mother Nature’s eyes… This unique, two dimensional artwork of thread and thrown away items casts shadows on the muted linen background, resulting in dimension and intrigue. An early spring walk in the woods was the inspiration for this piece.
31”h x 43”w x 2.75”d
Thread, raincoat Tyvek, jute, wool roving, dryer lint, Keurig coffee filters
$4250
Texture…through Mother Nature’s eyes… This unique, two dimensional artwork of thread and thrown away items casts shadows on the muted linen background, resulting in dimension and intrigue. An early spring walk in the woods was the inspiration for this piece.
|
|
Blue By Me If Blue Bayou
A Tryptic, each measuring 11.5”h x 15”w x 2”d
Rayon embroidery thread, house tyvek, archival watercolor
$2588
This lively triptych starts as a kind of Rorschach test in blue—three sculptural forms stitched from rayon thread onto painted Tyvek envelopes, suspended between museum glass like clouds deciding their shape. From the first moment I show them, people lean in with puzzled delight: “Is it a river delta? A sea creature? A dragon? Storm waves? A map?” No two answers match, and that’s exactly the fun.
A Tryptic, each measuring 11.5”h x 15”w x 2”d
Rayon embroidery thread, house tyvek, archival watercolor
$2588
This lively triptych starts as a kind of Rorschach test in blue—three sculptural forms stitched from rayon thread onto painted Tyvek envelopes, suspended between museum glass like clouds deciding their shape. From the first moment I show them, people lean in with puzzled delight: “Is it a river delta? A sea creature? A dragon? Storm waves? A map?” No two answers match, and that’s exactly the fun.
|
|
Those Pesky ‘Shrooms
An unframed, three dimensional, free standing tryptic, each measuring 2.5”h x 3”w x 3”d
Rayon embroidery thread
$1550
Several years ago, a picture of wild turkey mushrooms took my breath away. The flow of colors across the petals, the delicacy, the magnificent beauty…they ruminated in my head and demanded to be made when I discovered this way of working with thread. Its morphing into a three dimensional object from strokes of thread beneath my fingers were as thrilling as that very first moment. And, as the techniques used here have become such a basal part of the work I do, our relationship has become classically symbiotic.
An unframed, three dimensional, free standing tryptic, each measuring 2.5”h x 3”w x 3”d
Rayon embroidery thread
$1550
Several years ago, a picture of wild turkey mushrooms took my breath away. The flow of colors across the petals, the delicacy, the magnificent beauty…they ruminated in my head and demanded to be made when I discovered this way of working with thread. Its morphing into a three dimensional object from strokes of thread beneath my fingers were as thrilling as that very first moment. And, as the techniques used here have become such a basal part of the work I do, our relationship has become classically symbiotic.
Artist Statement:
I didn’t set out to become an artist.
In fact, it was the one thing I always admired in others but never believed I could do. But life, as it often does, had other plans.
For twenty-five years, I worked in the financial services industry—until my husband convinced me to take early retirement so we could travel the country in a forty-foot motorhome. It was a fabulous life… until it wasn’t. A heart attack, followed by multiple surgeries and ultimately cancer, took his life. Suddenly, I had to figure out how to turn forty years of “we” upside down and begin building a new “me.”
That’s when I made the decision to go back to school to study art. The University of the Arts in Philadelphia offered a Post-Baccalaureate program for people like me—those with degrees in other fields but with a desire to prove their creative capacity. Completing that program allowed one to matriculate into an MFA program. I graduated in May 2016.
Today, I sculpt with thread.
Using water-soluble substrate and multiple shades of thread, I create watercolor-like two-dimensional and three-dimensional artworks. I erode as little as an inch at a time, shaping each curve, bloat, or indentation with the hope of magnetizing the viewer through discovery.
Often, I incorporate recycled materials into my work—though I prefer to say, I work with trash. Trash has become a metaphor for widowhood. Losing a spouse isn’t just losing a loved one—it’s the loss of a shared life, a routine, an identity. You feel lost, discarded, empty... much like how we treat trash. My goal is to give those discarded objects new life, just as art gave new life to me.
The reward comes when a viewer’s eyes widen with surprise upon learning what the work is made from—Tyvek envelopes, Keurig coffee filters, Shout color catchers, dryer lint, plastic produce bags, packing foam. These are just a few of the materials that morph into art in my studio.
Nature is my muse.
I’m constantly inspired by its colors, textures, and the quiet patina painted across the landscape. Moss, lichen, and fungi appear often in my work—they’re some of the most breathtaking surprises I’ve found on a simple walk. In my abstract pieces, I aim to stir emotion; in the representational ones, I try to help others see what I see—the smallest details that pull you in before you even realize it.
Now, I know the artist was always within me.
It just took a life-altering event to bring her forward—and to learn how to share her with the world.
I didn’t set out to become an artist.
In fact, it was the one thing I always admired in others but never believed I could do. But life, as it often does, had other plans.
For twenty-five years, I worked in the financial services industry—until my husband convinced me to take early retirement so we could travel the country in a forty-foot motorhome. It was a fabulous life… until it wasn’t. A heart attack, followed by multiple surgeries and ultimately cancer, took his life. Suddenly, I had to figure out how to turn forty years of “we” upside down and begin building a new “me.”
That’s when I made the decision to go back to school to study art. The University of the Arts in Philadelphia offered a Post-Baccalaureate program for people like me—those with degrees in other fields but with a desire to prove their creative capacity. Completing that program allowed one to matriculate into an MFA program. I graduated in May 2016.
Today, I sculpt with thread.
Using water-soluble substrate and multiple shades of thread, I create watercolor-like two-dimensional and three-dimensional artworks. I erode as little as an inch at a time, shaping each curve, bloat, or indentation with the hope of magnetizing the viewer through discovery.
Often, I incorporate recycled materials into my work—though I prefer to say, I work with trash. Trash has become a metaphor for widowhood. Losing a spouse isn’t just losing a loved one—it’s the loss of a shared life, a routine, an identity. You feel lost, discarded, empty... much like how we treat trash. My goal is to give those discarded objects new life, just as art gave new life to me.
The reward comes when a viewer’s eyes widen with surprise upon learning what the work is made from—Tyvek envelopes, Keurig coffee filters, Shout color catchers, dryer lint, plastic produce bags, packing foam. These are just a few of the materials that morph into art in my studio.
Nature is my muse.
I’m constantly inspired by its colors, textures, and the quiet patina painted across the landscape. Moss, lichen, and fungi appear often in my work—they’re some of the most breathtaking surprises I’ve found on a simple walk. In my abstract pieces, I aim to stir emotion; in the representational ones, I try to help others see what I see—the smallest details that pull you in before you even realize it.
Now, I know the artist was always within me.
It just took a life-altering event to bring her forward—and to learn how to share her with the world.
Blood Moon thru Trees
52” square
Rayon embroidery thread, bondaweb, pearlEx pigments, felt, dupioni silk
$9,950
In January of 2019, the night sky offered a spectacle — a towering blood moon so commanding that photographers across the world rushed outside, hoping to pin its brilliance in pixels. I stood there too, staring upward, knowing that if I wanted to truly honor it, I’d need to translate its presence into thread, light, and shadow instead of glass and lenses.
The moon here is built with textured threadwork and translucent layers, glowing as if still lit from behind. Slender willow branches stretch upward, suspended between museum glass so they cast shifting shadows across the lunar surface — just as the trees did that night when the world stood still to watch the sky turn red.
This piece is less a picture of the moon and more a memory of its power — a reminder that sometimes the sky is so enormous it makes us small, and sometimes art must stretch just as far to meet it.
52” square
Rayon embroidery thread, bondaweb, pearlEx pigments, felt, dupioni silk
$9,950
In January of 2019, the night sky offered a spectacle — a towering blood moon so commanding that photographers across the world rushed outside, hoping to pin its brilliance in pixels. I stood there too, staring upward, knowing that if I wanted to truly honor it, I’d need to translate its presence into thread, light, and shadow instead of glass and lenses.
The moon here is built with textured threadwork and translucent layers, glowing as if still lit from behind. Slender willow branches stretch upward, suspended between museum glass so they cast shifting shadows across the lunar surface — just as the trees did that night when the world stood still to watch the sky turn red.
This piece is less a picture of the moon and more a memory of its power — a reminder that sometimes the sky is so enormous it makes us small, and sometimes art must stretch just as far to meet it.
Atchafalaya’s Prize
33”h x 11”w x 2”d
Rayon embroidery thread, Trivet, Angora,Keurig coffee filters, watercolor
$1635
There’s a stretch of I-10 where the highway rises high above the Louisiana wetlands, and if you pass at the perfect moment, the world below suspends itself between myth and morning light. Steam lifts off the bayou. Cypress knees pierce the surface like ancient sculptures. Occasionally, something moves through the mist with such impossible grace that it imprints itself on memory long before you can name it.
I created Atchafalaya’s Prize from that moment. I formed elongated shapes from rayon thread and painted Tyvek, softened them with wisps of angora yarn, and grounded them with repurposed coffee filters—a marriage of elegance and the everyday, much like the bayou itself. The work drapes and flows as though caught mid-motion, leaving just enough mystery for viewers to imagine what it once was… or still might be.
This piece offers a quiet ode to the region, and all that moves through it:
• Sunsets that turn the water into molten color
• Cypress roots rising like storybook sentinels
• Life that glides and whispers more than it roars
• A culture where beauty hides in unexpected placesA prize, indeed—not because it reveals itself, but because it invites viewers to come closer, look longer, and discover their own story within its shifting form.
33”h x 11”w x 2”d
Rayon embroidery thread, Trivet, Angora,Keurig coffee filters, watercolor
$1635
There’s a stretch of I-10 where the highway rises high above the Louisiana wetlands, and if you pass at the perfect moment, the world below suspends itself between myth and morning light. Steam lifts off the bayou. Cypress knees pierce the surface like ancient sculptures. Occasionally, something moves through the mist with such impossible grace that it imprints itself on memory long before you can name it.
I created Atchafalaya’s Prize from that moment. I formed elongated shapes from rayon thread and painted Tyvek, softened them with wisps of angora yarn, and grounded them with repurposed coffee filters—a marriage of elegance and the everyday, much like the bayou itself. The work drapes and flows as though caught mid-motion, leaving just enough mystery for viewers to imagine what it once was… or still might be.
This piece offers a quiet ode to the region, and all that moves through it:
• Sunsets that turn the water into molten color
• Cypress roots rising like storybook sentinels
• Life that glides and whispers more than it roars
• A culture where beauty hides in unexpected placesA prize, indeed—not because it reveals itself, but because it invites viewers to come closer, look longer, and discover their own story within its shifting form.
Rocks In My Head
Five individual panels collectively measuring 3’h x 10’w x7”d
Beeswax iced with damar resin and pigment, various packing materials including forms, fibers, and rank paper, avocado shells, lychee nut shells, Keurig coffee filters, rayon embroidery thread
$75,000
Stretching ten feet wide and alive with motion, Rocks In My Head captures the moment winter exhales and spring rushes in. Snowmelt races over stone, moss wakes in fresh green whispers, and the land performs its annual cleansing—washing away whatever boulders we’ve been carrying between our ears.
And yet, not a single rock is real.
I built every stone from beautifully disguised imposters: packing materials, avocado shells, lychee husks, and fragments of everyday life reborn as a riverbed. I sculpted the water and moss entirely from thread and Ranpak, pulling the foam into beeswax and damar resin as if nature itself insisted on staying part of the work.
The piece unfolds across five panels. Each panel stands on its own, and any two can live together as a shifting puzzle of water and land. With a mischievous twist, the first two panels can migrate to the far right, creating a new river and a second way to read the landscape.
The work took 8.5 months to complete. It still feels like the water is moving. And if you stand quietly,
you may feel the rocks roll right out of your head.
Five individual panels collectively measuring 3’h x 10’w x7”d
Beeswax iced with damar resin and pigment, various packing materials including forms, fibers, and rank paper, avocado shells, lychee nut shells, Keurig coffee filters, rayon embroidery thread
$75,000
Stretching ten feet wide and alive with motion, Rocks In My Head captures the moment winter exhales and spring rushes in. Snowmelt races over stone, moss wakes in fresh green whispers, and the land performs its annual cleansing—washing away whatever boulders we’ve been carrying between our ears.
And yet, not a single rock is real.
I built every stone from beautifully disguised imposters: packing materials, avocado shells, lychee husks, and fragments of everyday life reborn as a riverbed. I sculpted the water and moss entirely from thread and Ranpak, pulling the foam into beeswax and damar resin as if nature itself insisted on staying part of the work.
The piece unfolds across five panels. Each panel stands on its own, and any two can live together as a shifting puzzle of water and land. With a mischievous twist, the first two panels can migrate to the far right, creating a new river and a second way to read the landscape.
The work took 8.5 months to complete. It still feels like the water is moving. And if you stand quietly,
you may feel the rocks roll right out of your head.
Education:
Southwest Baptist University, Bolivar, MO 1972; University of Missouri-Columbia 1973-74, Journalism; Columbia College University, Columbia, MO 1983-5, Business Finance; University of the Arts, Philadephia, PA 2015-16, Craft and Material Studies, Fiber Arts
Awards:
MUSA International Women’s Essence
May 8-10, 2025 London England
Golden Duck Gallery Exhibition, Winner
March 21- May 5, 2025 Budapest, Hungary
Leonardo DaVinci International Prize for Contemporary Art
January 26, 2020 Florence, Italy
MUSA International UNESCO/United Nations
Sept 2020 Rome, Italy
Solo Exhibitions:
In Collaboration with Nature Nov 1-26, 2025 Lancaster Art Vault, Lancaster, PA
Discarded Feb - Mar 2017 Lieberman Gallery Philadelphia, PA
Juried Group Exhibitions of note
Terrain and Towers Feb 1-28, 2026 Golden Duck Gallery, Budapest
identity Sept 3-8, 2025 Insa ArtCenter, Seoul, S Korea
Natura Wien July 13-26, 2026 City Gallery, Vienna, Austria
Tranquility May 25-July 28, 2025 Gallerium Art; Artsy
The Woman of Contemporary Art May 8-10, 2025 St. Art Gallery, London, England
Interior Art Open Call – winner March 21- May 3, 2025 GoldenDuckGallery, Budapest, Hungary
Clio Art Fair May 1-4, 2025 New York, New York
Grimaldi Art Gallery Nov 2023 - Mar 2024 New York, New York
DAESAN Museum of Art May – Nov 2019 Daesan, South Korea (touring)
Earth Jan 15 -Feb 26, 2018 Center of the Arts, Tubac, AZ
PAM Jan 8 - Feb 20, 2018 Main Line Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
Orange is the New Black Oct 21 - Nov 18, 2017 Ashton Gallery; San Diego, CA
Wax Poetic Oct 1 - Nov 19, 2017 Fabulon Gallery; Charleston, SC
On the Verge Aug 20-Oct 22, 2017 Alice C. Sabatini Gallery; Topeka, KS
Scythia Mini Textile Art,
8th International Exhibit July 2017 Ivano-Frankivs’k, Ukraine
Scythia Textile Mini Textile Art,
8th International Exhibit June 2017 Kherson, Ukraine
International Fiber Art Fair; solo
exhibit within juried art fair June 2017 Seoul, South Korea
Making Marks Dec 2016-Jan 2017 Wayne Art Center; Wayne, PA
World of Threads International Exhibit October 2016 Oakville (Toronto), Canada
Invitational Group Exhibitions:
International Embroidery Museum November 2016 Chung Young Yang, Korea
PMA Craft Show November 2016 Philadelphia, PA
Residencies:
Artist in Residence, Lancaster Art Vault, Lancaster, PA May 2024 – Present
Owner and Gallerist, ArtWorks Oriental; Oriental, NC Jan 2021 – Dec 2023
Artist in Residence, Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA Oct 2018 – Feb 2019
Artist in Residence, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA Sept 2016 – May 2017
Southwest Baptist University, Bolivar, MO 1972; University of Missouri-Columbia 1973-74, Journalism; Columbia College University, Columbia, MO 1983-5, Business Finance; University of the Arts, Philadephia, PA 2015-16, Craft and Material Studies, Fiber Arts
Awards:
MUSA International Women’s Essence
May 8-10, 2025 London England
Golden Duck Gallery Exhibition, Winner
March 21- May 5, 2025 Budapest, Hungary
Leonardo DaVinci International Prize for Contemporary Art
January 26, 2020 Florence, Italy
MUSA International UNESCO/United Nations
Sept 2020 Rome, Italy
Solo Exhibitions:
In Collaboration with Nature Nov 1-26, 2025 Lancaster Art Vault, Lancaster, PA
Discarded Feb - Mar 2017 Lieberman Gallery Philadelphia, PA
Juried Group Exhibitions of note
Terrain and Towers Feb 1-28, 2026 Golden Duck Gallery, Budapest
identity Sept 3-8, 2025 Insa ArtCenter, Seoul, S Korea
Natura Wien July 13-26, 2026 City Gallery, Vienna, Austria
Tranquility May 25-July 28, 2025 Gallerium Art; Artsy
The Woman of Contemporary Art May 8-10, 2025 St. Art Gallery, London, England
Interior Art Open Call – winner March 21- May 3, 2025 GoldenDuckGallery, Budapest, Hungary
Clio Art Fair May 1-4, 2025 New York, New York
Grimaldi Art Gallery Nov 2023 - Mar 2024 New York, New York
DAESAN Museum of Art May – Nov 2019 Daesan, South Korea (touring)
Earth Jan 15 -Feb 26, 2018 Center of the Arts, Tubac, AZ
PAM Jan 8 - Feb 20, 2018 Main Line Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
Orange is the New Black Oct 21 - Nov 18, 2017 Ashton Gallery; San Diego, CA
Wax Poetic Oct 1 - Nov 19, 2017 Fabulon Gallery; Charleston, SC
On the Verge Aug 20-Oct 22, 2017 Alice C. Sabatini Gallery; Topeka, KS
Scythia Mini Textile Art,
8th International Exhibit July 2017 Ivano-Frankivs’k, Ukraine
Scythia Textile Mini Textile Art,
8th International Exhibit June 2017 Kherson, Ukraine
International Fiber Art Fair; solo
exhibit within juried art fair June 2017 Seoul, South Korea
Making Marks Dec 2016-Jan 2017 Wayne Art Center; Wayne, PA
World of Threads International Exhibit October 2016 Oakville (Toronto), Canada
Invitational Group Exhibitions:
International Embroidery Museum November 2016 Chung Young Yang, Korea
PMA Craft Show November 2016 Philadelphia, PA
Residencies:
Artist in Residence, Lancaster Art Vault, Lancaster, PA May 2024 – Present
Owner and Gallerist, ArtWorks Oriental; Oriental, NC Jan 2021 – Dec 2023
Artist in Residence, Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA Oct 2018 – Feb 2019
Artist in Residence, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA Sept 2016 – May 2017
A Prickly Matter, Indeed!
38”h x 58”w x 3”d
Rayon embroidery thread, palm bark, dryer lint
$11,725
A Prickly Matter Indeed has become the studio’s endearing mischief-maker, though it carries itself with an unexpected quiet grace. Its swirling whites and soft earthen browns bloom from an unlikely mix of rayon and silk embroidery thread, palm bark with plenty of opinions, and dryer lint that wandered in modestly and somehow became essential.
Across the surface, wispy marks flit like shy little creatures testing their courage, while sculpted layers of thread rise and settle as if the piece is exhaling—steady, gentle, alive. There’s a softness here, a hush of texture and tone that invites a slower, more attentive gaze.
And then come the tines. Those frizzy, feisty, wonderfully stubborn fringes around the edges look ready to bristle at the slightest disturbance. Each was individually twisted and coaxed into shape without a single wire for support—small miracles of tension and patience. They bring a touch of wildness, a prickly energy that stands in deliberate opposition to the calm at the center.
Together, this quiet core and its lively, unruly border create a kind of visual conversation—softness meeting sharpness, serenity holding its own beside spirited defiance. The result is a piece that doesn’t merely sit on the wall. It rests there with poise, humor, and just enough attitude to keep things interesting.
38”h x 58”w x 3”d
Rayon embroidery thread, palm bark, dryer lint
$11,725
A Prickly Matter Indeed has become the studio’s endearing mischief-maker, though it carries itself with an unexpected quiet grace. Its swirling whites and soft earthen browns bloom from an unlikely mix of rayon and silk embroidery thread, palm bark with plenty of opinions, and dryer lint that wandered in modestly and somehow became essential.
Across the surface, wispy marks flit like shy little creatures testing their courage, while sculpted layers of thread rise and settle as if the piece is exhaling—steady, gentle, alive. There’s a softness here, a hush of texture and tone that invites a slower, more attentive gaze.
And then come the tines. Those frizzy, feisty, wonderfully stubborn fringes around the edges look ready to bristle at the slightest disturbance. Each was individually twisted and coaxed into shape without a single wire for support—small miracles of tension and patience. They bring a touch of wildness, a prickly energy that stands in deliberate opposition to the calm at the center.
Together, this quiet core and its lively, unruly border create a kind of visual conversation—softness meeting sharpness, serenity holding its own beside spirited defiance. The result is a piece that doesn’t merely sit on the wall. It rests there with poise, humor, and just enough attitude to keep things interesting.
Branch Management
24” square
Rayon and silk embroidery threads
*sold*
At first glance, Branch Management feels like a study in stillness—a winter tree, bare and exposed, standing its ground against an open sky. But spend a moment with it, and the illusion of quiet starts to unravel.
The tree doesn’t just sit in the landscape—it commands it.
Stitched and suspended above the surface, its branches push forward into space, casting bold, unapologetic shadows that become part of the composition itself. What you see is no longer just the tree, but its presence—expanded, amplified, impossible to ignore. It’s structure with attitude.
Behind it, the sky softens into hand-sewn clouds embedded in suede, grounding the piece while allowing the foreground to assert itself. There’s a tension here—between what is fixed and what reaches outward, between control and the natural instinct to grow in every direction at once.
And yes… the title behaves exactly as intended.
Branch Management nods to systems, hierarchies, and the tidy idea that things can be organized, directed, and kept in line. But nature, as always, has other plans. Each branch moves on its own terms—crooked, searching, unapologetically individual—yet together forming something resilient and whole.
Winter doesn’t diminish the tree. It reveals it.
No leaves. No distractions. No place to hide.
Just structure, strength… and a little bit of defiance.
24” square
Rayon and silk embroidery threads
*sold*
At first glance, Branch Management feels like a study in stillness—a winter tree, bare and exposed, standing its ground against an open sky. But spend a moment with it, and the illusion of quiet starts to unravel.
The tree doesn’t just sit in the landscape—it commands it.
Stitched and suspended above the surface, its branches push forward into space, casting bold, unapologetic shadows that become part of the composition itself. What you see is no longer just the tree, but its presence—expanded, amplified, impossible to ignore. It’s structure with attitude.
Behind it, the sky softens into hand-sewn clouds embedded in suede, grounding the piece while allowing the foreground to assert itself. There’s a tension here—between what is fixed and what reaches outward, between control and the natural instinct to grow in every direction at once.
And yes… the title behaves exactly as intended.
Branch Management nods to systems, hierarchies, and the tidy idea that things can be organized, directed, and kept in line. But nature, as always, has other plans. Each branch moves on its own terms—crooked, searching, unapologetically individual—yet together forming something resilient and whole.
Winter doesn’t diminish the tree. It reveals it.
No leaves. No distractions. No place to hide.
Just structure, strength… and a little bit of defiance.
Cosmic Lint
36”h x 12”w x 2”d
Encaustic wax, pigment, dryer lint , rayon embroidery thread
$875
Inspiration sometimes arrives in the most unexpected places. A friend's photograph of pasta water spilling across a black stovetop became the spark for this imagined celestial landscape.
Marbled layers of black encaustic wax, thread foundations, hidden wood shavings, and the surprising beauty of ordinary dryer lint come together to suggest distant galaxies suspended in space. The materials may be humble, but together they invite us to pause, look closer, and discover wonder in the unexpected.
Perhaps that's what art is meant to do—to reveal the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary, and remind us that transformation often begins with what others overlook.
36”h x 12”w x 2”d
Encaustic wax, pigment, dryer lint , rayon embroidery thread
$875
Inspiration sometimes arrives in the most unexpected places. A friend's photograph of pasta water spilling across a black stovetop became the spark for this imagined celestial landscape.
Marbled layers of black encaustic wax, thread foundations, hidden wood shavings, and the surprising beauty of ordinary dryer lint come together to suggest distant galaxies suspended in space. The materials may be humble, but together they invite us to pause, look closer, and discover wonder in the unexpected.
Perhaps that's what art is meant to do—to reveal the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary, and remind us that transformation often begins with what others overlook.
Can’t See the Forest For the Trees
39”h x 27”w x 3.5”d
Rayon and silk embroidery threads, sycamore bark, dryer lint
$3275
Sometimes the smallest details hold the greatest wonder.
This piece began with an unexpected gift—a large bag of sycamore bark from the father of a fellow artist who thought I might discover something beautiful within it. For nearly a month, each piece of bark was carefully softened, shaped, and coaxed into a new form before becoming part of the composition. Inspired by the intricate black, white, and golden patterns of lichen I'd admired for years on Pacific Northwest trees, I found the perfect opportunity to weave that fascination into the work.
The title offers a gentle twist on a familiar phrase. Rather than missing the larger picture because we're distracted by the details, my hope is just the opposite—that viewers become so captivated by the quiet beauty of a single tree that, for a moment, they forget there is an entire forest waiting just beyond the frame.
39”h x 27”w x 3.5”d
Rayon and silk embroidery threads, sycamore bark, dryer lint
$3275
Sometimes the smallest details hold the greatest wonder.
This piece began with an unexpected gift—a large bag of sycamore bark from the father of a fellow artist who thought I might discover something beautiful within it. For nearly a month, each piece of bark was carefully softened, shaped, and coaxed into a new form before becoming part of the composition. Inspired by the intricate black, white, and golden patterns of lichen I'd admired for years on Pacific Northwest trees, I found the perfect opportunity to weave that fascination into the work.
The title offers a gentle twist on a familiar phrase. Rather than missing the larger picture because we're distracted by the details, my hope is just the opposite—that viewers become so captivated by the quiet beauty of a single tree that, for a moment, they forget there is an entire forest waiting just beyond the frame.
FunGi That You Are
16”h x 18”w x 2”d
Rayon and silk embroidery threads, house Tyvek, envelope Tyvek, fabric Tyvek, archival watercolor.
$1440
Some of the greatest discoveries in the studio begin with play.
While exploring the remarkable versatility of Tyvek, I found myself experimenting with every variety I could find—from house wrap to mailing envelopes to fabric Tyvek. Armed with heat, watercolor, and a sewing machine, I simply began asking, "What happens if...?"
As the material curled, shrank, puckered, and transformed, organic forms began to emerge. I can still remember giggling like a schoolgirl as each new application of heat or stitch revealed another unexpected possibility. Archival watercolor and thread completed the transformation, turning an industrial material into something that felt surprisingly alive.
Some experiments become techniques. Others become old friends. The title, of course, is a playful nod to fungi. While these forms aren't technically mushrooms, they celebrate the same sense of curiosity and wonder that has always drawn me to the natural world—and remind us that experimentation is often where creativity takes root.
16”h x 18”w x 2”d
Rayon and silk embroidery threads, house Tyvek, envelope Tyvek, fabric Tyvek, archival watercolor.
$1440
Some of the greatest discoveries in the studio begin with play.
While exploring the remarkable versatility of Tyvek, I found myself experimenting with every variety I could find—from house wrap to mailing envelopes to fabric Tyvek. Armed with heat, watercolor, and a sewing machine, I simply began asking, "What happens if...?"
As the material curled, shrank, puckered, and transformed, organic forms began to emerge. I can still remember giggling like a schoolgirl as each new application of heat or stitch revealed another unexpected possibility. Archival watercolor and thread completed the transformation, turning an industrial material into something that felt surprisingly alive.
Some experiments become techniques. Others become old friends. The title, of course, is a playful nod to fungi. While these forms aren't technically mushrooms, they celebrate the same sense of curiosity and wonder that has always drawn me to the natural world—and remind us that experimentation is often where creativity takes root.
For Sydney — The Sunshine Amidst the Darkness
9”h x 16”w x 2.5”d
Rayon embroidery thread, envelope Tyvek
Commissioned Piece — sold
For Sydney — Sunshine Amidst the Darkness is a suspended mixed-media artwork made from a painted Tyvek envelope, mounted between two panes of museum glass over a suede background. The piece glows with warm golden tones against a dark field, symbolizing light, resilience, and optimism, Sydney’s most powerful traits.
9”h x 16”w x 2.5”d
Rayon embroidery thread, envelope Tyvek
Commissioned Piece — sold
For Sydney — Sunshine Amidst the Darkness is a suspended mixed-media artwork made from a painted Tyvek envelope, mounted between two panes of museum glass over a suede background. The piece glows with warm golden tones against a dark field, symbolizing light, resilience, and optimism, Sydney’s most powerful traits.