Over Under Over: Work from California Fibers

Citrus College Art Gallery in Glendora, CA, presents Over Under Over: Work from California Fibers from November 5, 2024 – March 5, 2025. The opening reception will be Wednesday, November 20, from 11 AM-1 PM.

Brecia Kralovic-Logan, Lunar Lullaby

Lunar Lullaby is a collage of hand dyed silk fabric pieces that evoke the play of sunlight on water. While manipulating the fabrics in the dyeing process, I am creating areas of graduated depth of color to layer onto the canvas in undulating waves. The fabric creates texture on the canvas and a sense of movement that draws the viewer into a memory of moonlit nights at the shore.

Over Under Over features the work of twenty-two members of California Fibers, including Sandy Abrams, Charlotte Bird, Ashley V. Blalock, Carrie Burckle, Marilyn McKenzie Chaffee, Doshi, Polly Jacobs Giacchina, Susan Henry, Lydia Tjioe Hall, Annette Heully, Brittany Kiertzner, Brecia Kralovic-Logan, Kathy Nida, Carol Nilsen, Liz Oliver, Marty Ornish, Michael F. Rohde, Rebecca Smith, Cameron Taylor-Brown, Elise Vazelakis, Debby Weiss and Peggy Wiedemann.

Peggy Wiedemann, Exploring Too

As a contemporary fiber artist, I have a strong preference for natural fibers and materials. Their shapes, designs and colors inspire the artwork. The wonderful thing about using organic materials, such as pine needles, Irish waxed linen thread and cordage is that they have a life and character of their own. I sometimes like to combine these naturally-derived elements with found objects.

I start with pine needles using the basketry technique of coiling. The stitching over and under the pine needles forms the shape of the pieces. The play among mind and materials continually stimulates the creative process and leads my work in new directions. Using traditional materials in sometimes unorthodox ways, I want to create designs, shapes and styles that stretch the imagination and react with the senses.

Over Under Over explores the wide variety of materials that California Fibers’ members use, especially regarding their expert manipulation of mixed media. Juried by the Citrus College Visual Arts faculty and curated by Dyane Duffy, the works on view were selected in relation to their current visual arts curriculum, aiming to inspire students and present diverse methods of creation.

Lydia Tjioe Hall, House With Window

I create meaning and narrative through form using wire. By exploring resonances between a single line and densely packed wire, my pieces become metaphors evoking themes of time, change, balance, tension, and fragility. These sculptural objects are created through repetitive and time intensive processes such as weaving, netting, and looping. In my house series I am currently exploring the theme of ‘liminal space’. I am interested in the ‘space between’- how stacked layers of woven wire are denser, therefore allow less light to passthrough versus a single woven layer. Juxtaposing layers of different densities gives the houses an unexpected ethereal lightness.

“We chose work that we think can connect with some concepts or use of materials in our classes – for example, the use of photography, the use of wire that students manipulate in 3D design, and the use of thread as a line drawn on fabric. By making these connections to some aspect of the students’ current work, we hope this exhibit will take them to a new place, where they can consider pushing their use of media somewhere new!”

Brittany Kiertzner, Eniohrhen:ne/ Tomorrow.

I am a mixed media and textile fine artist from Southern California and a member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe. With a fine art background from California State University Fullerton, I incorporate traditional Mohawk Iroquois techniques and works with repurposed materials, wire, textiles, and paint. My intricate stitching forms tangent lines and wampum circles, exploring themes of regeneration, authenticity, and subversion while reframing my personal history. This exhibition showcases my innovative work alongside other California Fibers members, highlighting diverse approaches to mixed media artistry.

The Citrus College Art Gallery is located in VA120 in the Visual Arts Building at 1000 W Foothill Blvd, Glendora, CA. Gallery hours are usually M-F 9 AM-2 PM, but are subject to change, so please email artgallery@citruscollege.edu to confirm prior to visiting. Admission is free. A paid parking pass is required to park in student lots. Events are being planned that could include an artists’ panel and a mending workshop. Check their website and subscribe to their newsletter for details.

Liz Oliver, Secret Garden

When you break it down, the very act of doing shibori is Over and Under. Wrapping string around a pipe, going over and under, creates these undulations that mimic universal patterns in nature.

Everything I do is based on intuition. There are innumerable opportunities for experimentation, as the results within this medium are quite often unpredictable, or fluid. Much of my sculptural work utilizes the Arashi Shibori technique, otherwise know as “pole wrapping”. Because these pieces are bound on the bias, I am able to create sculpture that is inherently twisting. There is an organic fluidity that is also inherent within me. The resolution of a piece typically requires multiple attempts until the form visually sings. I aim to focus less on creating a recognizable shibori pattern, but to have more intention and abstraction. I do not strive for perfection, I prefer what is authentic.

Pleats can be seen as a visual representation of fluidity: a ripple, a wave, a fingerprint, woodgrain, windblown sand. Life is fluid, and we all have our ups and downs. A woven beauty of hopes, loves, losses, dreams, realities, visions, past, present and future.

The Citrus College Art Gallery is part of the Visual and Performing Arts program at Citrus College. The gallery’s mission is to engage students and community through diverse exhibitions featuring student, faculty, and visiting art exhibitions.

Michael F. Rohde, re:Lament

Recent works have taken photographs as the primary image sources. The photos are reduced to a set of large pixels that are then woven by hand. This produces an image that can hardly be considered a realistic portrayal of the original, but that hints at shapes and reflects colors of the original image. The piece in this exhibition, “re: Lament”, came out of a collaborative exhibition at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, CA, with ceramic sculptor Cheryl Ann Thomas. This tapestry is a response to her porcelain sculpture “Lament.”

Watch this space for announcements of workshops and/or artist panels coming up in the next few months.

Charlotte Bird, Gyre

The Great Pacific Gyre garbage patch is estimated to cover 620,000 square miles. It consists primarily of thousands of tons of mixed plastic debris ranging from plastic bags and water bottles to fragments of micro plastics.

I constructed this artist book from a quilt about the Pacific gyre. The quilt never resolved and rested in a drawer until this solution emerged. The materials used are melted plastic bags, recycled plastic and fabric bits, fly fishing leader, and commercial cotton.

Repair, reuse, recycle

Influences/Influencers: California Fibers at Craft in America

The Craft in America Center in Los Angeles, CA, presents Influences/Influencers: California Fibers from September 9 - December 2, 2023. Influences/Influencers features the work of twenty-three members of California Fibers: Sandy Abrams, Olivia Batchelder, Charlotte Bird, Ashley V. Blalock, Carrie Burckle, Marilyn McKenzie Chaffee, Ben Cuevas, Doshi, Polly Jacobs Giacchina, Lydia Tjioe Hall, Susan Henry, Annette Heully, Anifaye Korngute, Kathy Nida, Liz Oliver, Marty Ornish, Michael F. Rohde, Rebecca Smith, Cameron Taylor-Brown, Elise Vazelakis, Debra Weiss, Peggy Wiedemann, and Aneesa Shami Zizzo.

This exhibit showcases the breadth of the influential and innovative work created by members of California Fibers.  Emily Zaiden, Director and Curator of the Craft in America Center, states, “The artists in this exhibition are part of an historic organization that has been at the forefront of contemporary fiber art in Southern California, across the state, and far beyond.”  Influences/Influencers represents some of the vast influences that are shaping fiber today,and simultaneously is a celebration of how fiber has become a beam of influence on the broader contemporary art world in recent years. 

Works in the exhibition are accompanied by artist statements expressing the myriad influences on their individual artistic practices and are a window into the many threads that continue to shape the field of contemporary textile art and artists.  Some examples follow.

Susan Henry says of her work Vortex II, “I find great inspiration through art history and most notably the artist Joseph Mallord William Turner… Turner's influence in my work is reflective of a combination of perspective, movement and chaos as I aspire, like Turner, to convey mood rather than information.”

Susan Henry, Vortex II: deconstructed wool trousers, cotton canvas Arashi wrapped and discharged resist, machine stitched.

Annette Heully states that her piece Weight of Change – Red is made with yarns that were gifts from her mentor Frances Bulwa. “By using this material it was my way of honoring her memory. The pieces all have unwoven sections exposing the warp threads expressing the feelings of loss. Over time the weft threads slowly settle, starting to close these gaps referencing grief and the element of time in healing.”

Annette Heully, Weight of Change - Red: handwoven wool and cotton.

Ben Cuevas says that his more recent work is influenced by Agnes Martin. Her white paintings that explore the idea of the grid are referenced in his current series, Non-Binary Code, of which Reveal/Conceal Diptych is a part. “I knit with acrylic fiber on canvas in a stitch pattern derived from the word NON-BINARY, which I translated into binary code, with knits for 1’s and purls for 0’s. The finished work is an abstract minimalist white grid knit-painting, and a coded meditation on gender identity.”

Ben Cuevas, Reveal/Conceal Diptych: acrylic fiber on canvas.

Anifaye Korngute finds inspiration from her study of choreographic artmaking as an experimental and explorative form. “I learned about Black Mountain College from the perspective of Merce Cunningham and John Cage — Chance Dance, which continues to influence my artmaking today.” Her piece They Call Me Mellow Yellow is a current expression of this approach.

Anifaye Korngute, They Call Me Mellow Yellow: silk noil (raw silk), washi paper, fabric dye, sumie ink, gouache, acrylic, cotton, stitch, charcoal.

Carrie Burckle states that her influence for (en)gendered vessel “comes from my teacher Carol Shaw-Sutton. Carol Shaw-Sutton was my professor at CSULB where I earned my MFA. She was head of the fiber program for 35 years…Carol emphasized deep knowledge of materials and skill building as a foundation for idea-based work that pushed the boundaries of fiber art.”

Carrie Burckle, (en)gendered vessel: kraft paper twine, house paint, twining.

Elise Vazelakis says, “As a weaver, I have long been inspired by the weavings of Deidrick Brackens and his unique process of combining the tactile nature of yarn with the rich tradition of storytelling. His work has influenced my own artwork in countless ways, but perhaps most significantly in my series Exposed. This series is deeply personal to me as it incorporates construction materials salvaged from the rebuilding of my home that perished in the 2018 Woolsey Fire. I have been able to imbue these materials with new meanings and bring my own story to life in a tangible way.”  A piece from this series, Exposed VIII, is included in this exhibition. 

Elise Vazelakis, Exposed VIII; loom-woven cotton, concrete anchors, wood-panel-mounted.

Kathy Nida’s piece, And Then There Was One, exemplifies the ongoing influence of  “…women artists or artists creating about being female; this piece is about being a feminist, which means raising both my kids, one male and one female, to accept a woman’s equity and strength in today’s world, to make no assumptions of what is right for this or that gender, or to even let biological gender limit us.”

Kathy Nida, And Then There Was One: fused applique, machine stitched, machine quilted.

Lydia Tjioe Hall states that her piece Nesting Houses is influenced by Ruth Asawa’s “sculptures within sculptures.”

Lydia Tjioe Hall, Nesting Houses, Steel wire looping technique.

Michael Rohde explains that his work Birnalese Sonnet is one of a series “examining languages, how they are expressed and used. This subset of that effort comes due to influences by Jim Bassler’s own work based on examination of Peruvian textiles. My connection to language and Peruvian textiles comes from speculations by scholars such as Mary Frame. She has explored the idea that repeated patterns in textiles might encode undeciphered verbal ideas…”

Michael F. Rohde, Birnalese Sonnet: handwoven tapestry: silk, natural dyes.

The Craft in America Center is located at 8415 West Third Street in Los Angeles, CA. Hours are Tuesday – Saturday from noon – 6 PM.  Admission is free. The opening reception with participating artists is September 9 from 3-5 PM. Workshops and talks TBA.  Check the Craft in America website for more information about upcoming events.

About Craft in America and the Craft in America Center: Craft in America is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit arts organization founded in 2004 with the mission to promote and advance original handcrafted work through programs in all media. In addition to the acclaimed PBS documentary series, Craft in America promotes and advances original handcrafted work through the Craft in America Center—a small museum, library, and programmatic space where visitors engage directly with art, artists, and ideas. They give voice to traditional and contemporary craft, ranging from functional to purely conceptual, through personal engagement. They organize exhibitions, artist talks, scholarly lectures, a reading group, book signings, hands-on workshops, demonstrations, student field trips, concerts, and publications. The Craft in America Center produces 6-8 exhibitions per year featuring work by local and nationally acclaimed artists. They highlight the work of numerous local craft-based artists while providing a platform in Los Angeles for the nation’s finest artists. For those who are not able to visit in-person, exhibitions are digitized and shared on their website and artist talks are filmed and archived online as resources for all to access. The Center also operates an education outreach program, Craft in Schools, which offers standards-based art education for underrepresented LAUSD and public K-12 schools and local colleges. 

Masked Response

California Fibers last met in person in January, like many art groups, constrained by shelter-in-place and quarantine requirements. We met online in April, our normal meeting day and time, but in little boxes on the screen, some muted, some distracted, some challenged by technology, all glad to see and hear our group. We talked about art and our upcoming exhibits and whether they might even happen, until one member, Lydia Tjioe Hall, suggested we create an online exhibit in our isolation, a response to having to wear a mask, especially as fiber artists. So many other people were unearthing ancient sewing machines and using up all the elastic, or searching through their stash for appropriate materials. It seemed appropriate for each of us to reach deeply into our chosen medium and fashion a response to being masked and in quarantine.

And here they are…

Charlotte Bird, I’d Rather Be Somewhere Calm

Doshi, Ebb and Flow; Silk Organza, Arashi Shibori, Acid Dye

Timeless ebb and flow,

Endless waves of change,

Eternal depth of the sea.

Susan Henry

Polly Jacobs Giacchina, Wire, salvaged metal, and felt

Chari Myers, Covid-19 UV Blaster Periwinkle; wet felted, merino wool, viscose, silk gauze, lights

and Covid-19 UV Blaster Red; wet felted, merino wool, viscose, silk gauze, lights

Kathy Nida, COVID Mask; window screen, wool and cotton embroidery thread

Aneesa Shami, Credit: El Naddaha (deconstructed knit mask) by Aneesa Shami, for Planet City, Director Liam Young, Costume Design Ane Crabtree.

Cameron Taylor-Brown, Unraveled, an antisocial fabric mask; woven, layered and stitched, linen and rayon, 6” h x 7” w

This mask is inspired by a commentator who said that our chaotic national response to Covid is “unraveling our social fabric. “ One could also say that the fault lines of our culture are now unmasked for all to see – even as our citizenry is directed to “mask up.” Unraveled is cobbled together from pieces of handwoven textile, folded and stitched haphazardly, with threads in disarray. And it doesn’t fit well - not much protection would be gained from this mask.

Lydia Tjioe Hall, Face Mask No. 1

and Sneeze

Peggy Wiedemann

Members Present Continued

At our July meeting, we also had presentations from Kathy Nida, Michael F. Rohde, and Brecia Kralovic-Logan about their work.

Kathy Nida is a quilt artist, but she has been doing some embroidery work in the last few months. She recently started a piece for The Tiny Pricks Project, a play on words about what a needle does in fabric, but really a massive protest against the words of Donald Trump. The project started when its founder, Diana Weymar, decided to document a Trump tweet on a piece of her grandmother’s linen. The project grew to over 1000 submissions, with a goal of 2020 pieces by 2020. Nida is involved in a feminist art group who chose to be part of the project.

One of Nida’s friends found a doily of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and Nida proceeded to start stitching a quote from Trump about how we can leave if we don’t like it here.

Nida is freehand stitching the letters, noting that there was no easy way to mark them. Her plan is to fill the piece with his words, taken from a speech on July 17.

She’s using stem stitch and a Perle 8 cotton. She did layer the doily on a solid background both for stability and visibility of the image.

Nida also brought a drawing of one of the embroideries she has designed.

This is Desert Mother. Her patterns are available at Global Artisans.

Michael F. Rohde took members on a tour of his work and ideas as he started weaving until current day.

He spoke of hand-dying his own threads, working with controlled block shapes, and weaving inlays over a block. He has written articles about some of his techniques, collaborated with a quilt artist for alternating squares, and finally transitioned from thinking of his work as rugs to thinking of them as wall hangings. He has woven kimono shapes around the four seasons, house forms, designing in a row, some organic shapes, and even went 3-D into basket shapes at one time. His work references at times Turkish tiles, boro cloth, kente cloth, and tiles from Morocco. He worked on pixelating faces, including this recent piece Reality, which is part of the FiberArts IX exhibit at the Sebastopol Center of the Arts through September 8.

He is currently working on generating squares as language using all hand-dyed threads. He has completed 4 pieces, with 5 more in process. The first 4 were types of speech language; now he is focusing on what we’re seeing on the news. It takes 3-4 months for him to complete one of these large pieces. He chooses the squares in a random way, using cards that document asymmetric arrangements of colors and pixels. Is each square a letter? A word?

Brecia Kralovic-Logan has been managing a large piece called Women’s Woven Voices. Brecia explains the project on her website as a woven tapestry based on the stories of 1,000 women globally, which she hopes to have completed by 2020. The purpose of exhibiting the work will be to shine a light on the creative accomplishments of women while calling attention to the challenges women currently face worldwide. She brought the panels she has completed so far, which consist of 150 woven stories, including a few California Fibers’ members.

Another goal of the project is to foster a culture of self-knowledge and sharing that builds courage and fosters a sense of power in women everywhere to contribute to their communities in positive ways. Also she hopes to allow women to tell the story of their lives, as a catalyst for change, particularly by opening up discussions about issues of domestic violence and sexual abuse in a safe and supportive way. The red fringe is a documentation of the fact that 3 out of every 4 women is subjected to some form of sexual abuse in their lifetime. She also hopes to promote resilience, compassion, open communication, healing and peace in individuals and communities.

If you’re interested in contributing to the project, click on the link above for more information on how to get your weaving kit and start your personal story.

Members traded off holding panels and walking around to look at details of the project.

The finished panels have been displayed in a variety of locations and will continue to be exhibited as the project grows.

As you can see, California Fibers’ members are involved in a wide variety of projects. Stay tuned as we continue to delve into their works in progress.