What We're Working On...

Every once in a while, we check in with members to see what they’re working on. This is one of those moments…

Elise Marks Vazelakis says, “Lately I’ve been making my own bioplastic yarn and experimenting with twining, crochet, and weaving to see how the material behaves.  Working with a biodegradable material feels very different than the post consumer plastics I usually use, and I’m excited to experiment with materials that could become part of a more sustainable future. Testing it through traditional textile techniques that I work with in my practice has opened up new possibilities and continues my interest in material experimentation.“

Brecia Kralovic-Logan has been working on a series of four large weavings based on the elements: Air, Fire, Earth, and Water. She also relates them to the creative process and has titled them: Imagine, Ignite, Nurture, and Flow.  She completed three of the weavings and is currently working on the weaving Imagine (stay tuned for a future update on Imagine).

For each weaving, she creates sketches or paintings for inspiration and then gathers materials. She uses both commercial yarns and yarn she hand dyes, as well as her own hand-dyed silk fabrics (see to the right). The weaving is all done on handheld looms made from soda straws and string. This is the same weaving method that she used for her international weaving project, Women's Woven Voices. Learn more here: www.womenswovenvoices.com

Above you can see the bottom piece during creation, using the soda straws in the weaving process.

Below you can see the first three pieces completed.

Kathy Nida has been experimenting with dye painting as a different way to create work. Last summer, she made over 10 dye paintings on an artist residency in Temecula.

In the last few months, she started finishing them into quilts, adding hand applique, beading, and embroidery to embellish the pieces.

She appreciates the slower, more contemplative nature of making these quilts, plus the challenge of deciding how to embellish them.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post about a recent meeting where members shared their work in progress.

New Member Mônica Lóss

California Fibers is pleased to present our newest member, Mônica Lóss.

Mônica presenting her work at a recent California Fibers’ meeting.

Mônica writes, “My artistic practice begins with textiles and a sensitive attention to materials that already exist in the world, guided by the poetics of transformation and by traces that carry memory. I believe my practice aligns with the work of California Fibers’ members, whose research reflects depth, experimentation, and an expanded understanding of fiber as a contemporary language.”

Work presented at a recent California Fibers’ meeting.

In her own words: “I spin time, unravel memory, weave fictional territories, embroider organs for imagined bodies, and stitch inner landscapes as practices of reinvention and resilience. I understand art as a way of producing knowledge, a way of observing the world as a vast network of interconnections.”

Expanded Interior II

Lóss’ research begins with the use of textile materials, accessories, packaging, and household objects that are donated, discarded, or found in thrift stores and garage sales. Through weaving, sewing, crochet, and embroidery, she creates sensory and wearable objects that interact with space and unfold into soft sculptures, photographs, performances, videos, and installations. Lóss’ use of rejected materials highlights urgent issues related to consumption, accumulation, luxury, and status, prompting reflection on what society considers valuable and what is relegated to irrelevance. It also questions the responsibility inherent in the act of consuming and in how we deal with what no longer serves us.

Despite the Fragility

Lóss’ work develops through simultaneous projects and series that guide her toward both collective memory as symbolic heritage and individual memory as a place where experiences, dreams, and traumas become spaces for processing and naming loss. She investigates the ritualistic dimension of handcraft practices, understanding them as ancestral forms of knowledge and, at the same time, futuristic practices committed to sustainability and continuity.

Nest

Lóss navigates the genealogy of identities, seeking intersections between past, present, and future. This process begins with a confrontation with her personal history and her place of origin in southern Brazil. Colonization and immigration experiences are marks that accompany her and resonate in her positioning as a Latin Brazilian artist in the North American context.

Glu Glu

Lóss creates fictions about territories, landscapes, bodies, and other natures that emerge from the feeling of non-belonging triggered by migratory processes, imagining other worlds and spaces of resistance. Her practice is nourished by the habit of collecting insignificances, dispossessions, and accumulations, both her own and those of others, driven by an interest in the memory embedded in materials and in the possibilities of altering the fate of things, reflecting on passage, permanence, and the transformative potential of these experiences.

One of Mônica’s pieces found in downtown San Diego’s Hey Books! book store during the recent San Diego Book Crawl.

We look forward to seeing Mônica’s work in future California Fibers’ exhibits!

Mônica at the opening of a 2-person show including her work at the Oceanside Museum of Art.

Homo Faber Showcases California Fibers' Members

Homo Faber, a global cultural movement designed to celebrate and promote international contemporary craftsmanship and its diversity of makers has just launched in the USA. 212 artists from many craft media were invited to participate, and only a fraction of them are textile-based. Four are members of California Fibers!

Kathy Nida makes quilt art; her work is found here on the Homo Faber site.

Cameron Taylor-Brown is a weaver; her work is found here on the Homo Faber site.

Michael F. Rohde is a tapestry maker; his work is found here on the Homo Faber site.

Annette Heully is a weaver; her work is found here on the Homo Faber site.

We’re excited to see what comes out of this international promotion.