California Fibers: Texture and Form at the Coastline College Art Gallery

California Fibers has a new exhibit coming, California Fibers: Texture and Form, at the Coastline College Art Gallery in Newport Beach, California, from September 3-October 10, 2025. The opening reception will be Friday, September 12, from 5-7 PM.

Marty Ornish, What the Ocean Once Dreamed

The curator, Guusje Sanders, wrote that “California Fibers: Texture and Form celebrates the innovative spirit and tactile richness of the California Fibers collective. Founded in 1970, this group of artists has continually pushed the boundaries of textile and fiber arts, exploring contemporary ideas through traditional and experimental processes. This exhibition highlights the diverse approaches to texture, form, and material through playful interpretation of a variety of techniques including basketry, quilting, weaving, and crochet. The collective's shared commitment to craft and conceptual exploration is rooted in social and environmental awareness, material exploration, and innovation. Each piece invites viewers to consider fiber not just as medium, but as a messenger of ideas.”

Michael F. Rohde, Dissolution

The exhibit 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, AniFaye Korngute, Brecia Kralovic-Logan, Chari Myers, Kathy Nida, Carol Nilsen, Marty Ornish, Michael F. Rohde, Rebecca Smith, Cameron Taylor-Brown, Elise Vazelakis, Debra Weiss, and Peggy Wiedemann.

Lydia Tjioe Hall, Fluid Dynamics

Guusje Sanders, originally from the Netherlands and residing in the United States since 2006, joined Mingei International Museum's curatorial team as Curator in August 2023. Most recently, she co-curated Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo, presented as part of Getty's PST ART: Art and Science Collide and has two forthcoming shows opening this fall, Boundless: Reflections of Southern California Landscapes in Midcentury Studio Ceramics and Restitched: Feed Sacks in Mid-Twentieth Century Quilts. Prior to this position, she served as the Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego, formerly Lux Art Institute, for 6 years.

Doshi, One with the Shadows

Coastline College Art Gallery is a vital and respected art venue serving Orange County art students, artists, and art enthusiasts. The Art Gallery holds workshops and exhibition programs, as well as receptions, artist lectures, and other art-related events. It has even been recognized as one of the top 15 excellent on-campus art galleries in Southern California. The gallery is located at 1515 Monrovia Ave, Newport Beach, CA. Gallery hours are Wednesday - Friday, 10 am – 4 pm, or by appointment. Admission is free. Questions? Contact David Michael Lee at dmlee@coastline.edu.

Polly Jacobs Giacchina, Kept Secure

California Fibers, founded in 1970, supports artistic growth and professional advancement for contemporary Southern California fiber artists. The imagination and superb craftsmanship of these artists place them in the highest echelons of their fields. The group has an extensive exhibition history in the USA and abroad. Many of its members are well-represented in museums and private collections and are recipients of prestigious awards from around the world. Their creative expression includes weaving, basketry, sculpture, quilting, embroidery, felting, surface design, knitting, crochet, wearables, and mixed media.

Ashley Blalock, Shades of Home

Looking forward to seeing you at the show!

Carol Nilsen, Ricochet Dimensions

Kathy Nida, Lost in the Trees

Artists at Work...

Yes, we just opened a brand new exhibit in November at Citrus College (go see it if you haven’t), but we are also continuing to work on new pieces. Here are some of California Fibers’ artists with what’s currently in progress.

Debby Weiss has started working on small quilts in order to donate to families that lost everything in the Los Angeles fires. She started recently but hopefully can get herself on a roll to be able to at least get a few out there.

Elise Vazelakis is currently working on a series that rethinks what we throw away. She transforms Amazon packaging into plastic yarn and twines it into sculptural baskets, combining traditional techniques with modern materials. These pieces highlight the environmental impact of disposable culture and the possibilities for transformation and sustainability.

Gail Fraser has always loved twining; however, her work was always small. She is now playing with and creating larger works by adding shapes to each other.  It is exciting to see what comes out of larger pieces of works and to play with these ideas.

Cameron Taylor-Brown has two different projects in the works: First the weaving: She is continuing to create pieces for herseries Threads of Time: Lyon Weavers’ Staircase. This series is inspired by a former jacquard weaving live/work space in an old neighborhood of Lyon, France that was a center of silk weaving in times past. Here is a link to pieces completed thus far: https://www.camerontaylor-brown.com/portfolio/new-collection

And more background info here: https://www.camerontaylor-brown.com/journal/weavers-staircase-lyon-france

Taylor-Brown’s second project is a conference: Hosted by UCLA's Department of Design Media Arts, Thinking Through Textiles: Future Pedagogies will explore the intersections of aesthetics, textile technique, cross-disciplinary studies, and new material insights, while introducing opportunities for collaborative engagement. This half day conference will be held at UCLA on Friday, February 21.  Taylor-Brown is one of the conference organizers and will be moderating a panel discussion. Details are available here: https://materialencounters.art/thinking-through-textiles-symposium

Peggy Wiedemann is working on a wall piece called Think Outside the Box. It includes multiple materials like paper rush, rag cordage from India, Irish waxed linen, metals, bamboo, Pakistani grass, and found objects. She is using the basketry techniques of coiling, knotless netting, and weaving.

Carrie Burckle is currently twining a life-size abstract figurative form using a paper cord commonly found in  Danish seating. Here is her work in progress.

Kathy Nida is working on her next big piece…hopefully to be fully ironed together in the next few days.

Stay tuned for more artist updates.

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