Fiber and Found Objects

Title: Quick Response/Slow Stitch Woven, hand stitched plastic bags on cotton. 34 1/2" x 35 1/2" December 28, 2024 - January 18, 2025 It took three weeks to hand stitch this quilt from single-use plastic bags, merging materials and ideas to reflect on some of the current challenges we face today. Addressing the dual crisis of plastic pollution and overconsumption of both products and information, I have woven together single-use plastic bags sourced from Home Goods stores and newspaper delivery bags. The image of a QR code and in particular, the direct link to my website, (it's a bit glitchy but it works) serves as commentary on our fixation with technology, our compulsion to consume and create content and our obsession with self promotion. At the same time, the act of hand-stitching, (a meditative, deliberate, and inherently slow process), sharply contrasts the instantaneous nature of digital content creation. It highlights the tension between the rapid pace of technology and the mindful labor of traditional craft. The maze like pattern of the QR code symbolizes the challenges of navigating today's tech-driven landscape. Staying relevant often feels like an endless labyrinth, demanding constant adaptation to new tools, apps, and platforms- or risking obsolescence by abandoning it altogether. It's a battle I have fought through several stages of my 40 + years working as an artist. The first was in the 80's when as an editorial art director, I was faced with the decision to learn how to use a computer or retire from graphic design altogether. I chose to embrace it, albeit reluctantly as I missed the hands on experience of cutting and pasting with a ruler and an x-acto blade. This piece is a reflection of that dichotomy: the friction between speed and slowness, relevance and obsolescence, technology and tradition. By using discarded materials to create a symbol of our current times, it is both a critique and a celebration of the choices we face in a fast-paced, interconnected world and a statement about resilience, adaptation, aging and the enduring power of slow, mindful work amidst a culture of immediacy. On display at the Oak Park Artists League, March 2025.

Title: Resilience Hand stitched raw appliqué November 2024 In the wake of Trump's election, many women are feeling profound sadness and loss, as it signals threats to safety, equality, and hard-won progress. This piece with its bold pink feminist symbol tucked into Maya Angelou's inspirational quote, is a reminder of resilience and the enduring fight for justice. Let us honor survivors, support one another, and continue to demand a future free from violence and oppression.

Title: Artificial Truth Hand applique cotton on layered plastic bags, hand quilted. 39" x 37" In an era where headlines blur and truth feels increasingly elusive, Artificial Truth explores the instability of information in the digital age. The composition layers the words “REAL” and “FAKE” in bold, graphic repetition, echoing the relentless noise of conflicting narratives that we are bombarded with daily. Hidden within each letterform is the subtext “AI”, a nod to the algorithmic forces shaping- and often distorting- what we see, believe, and share. The background is constructed from layered plastic bags, creating a patchwork of consumer waste that underscores the intersection of environmental and informational excess. The text is hand stitched raw-edge applique; an intentional act of resistance to the instantaneous nature of digital production. This slow, deliberate process contrasts sharply with the speed at which misinformation spreads, calling attention to the labor of discernment in a world of automated influence. At once a warning and an invitation to look closer, Artificial Truth asks us to question what we accept as truth, and how easily it can be manipulated.

Title: Over Indulgence Hand stitched single use plastic. Weaving is both my medium and my message, a profound metaphor for life and the dualities that shape it- fragility and resilience, chaos and order, production and waste, warp and weft. For me, weaving is both a process and a metaphor- a way of reflecting on the interplay of opposites that shape our world. Dualities, when intertwined through the process of weaving, create a structure that embodies unity, resilience, strength and balance. I repurpose single-use plastic and other consumer waste, grounding my work in a critical reflection of our modern habits. The transforming of waste becomes both a visual reminder and a call to action, challenging us to consider the impact of our consumption on the environment and on one another. By integrating materials that carry the weight of our collective consumption, my work underscores the potential for renewal, urging a deeper awareness of the connections we weave between ourselves, the planet, and the future. On display at the Pound Ridge Library through March 8, 2025. Visual Storytelling

$Title: Broken; How do we heal this fractured, broken world? 2024 Plastic bags hand stitched to muslin. Broken is a personal reflection on the dark times we are living in; a heartbroken response to the tragedy of the October 7th massacre in Israel a$

Title: Broken; How do we heal this fractured, broken world? 2024 Plastic bags hand stitched to muslin. Broken is a personal reflection on the dark times we are living in; a heartbroken response to the tragedy of the October 7th massacre in Israel and the devastating impact on innocent lives on both sides of the conflict. Through this piece, I strive to convey the pain, complexity, and humanity woven into this moment in time. On display at Arts Westchester in White Plains through mid April 2025.

BROKEN quilt detail. Embroidery on plastic.

Title: A Tapestry of Trash: Sign of the Times Transforming discarded waste into a harmonious composition, inviting reflection on plastic pollution and overconsumption. and encouraging the viewer to contemplate their environmental footprint, the delicate balance between nature and human impact, and an instinct to find beauty in unexpected places. On display at Arts Westchester in White Plains through mid April 2025.

Hand stitched plastic bags.

Collaged single use plastic from bags and food packaging.

Collaged single-use plastic from bags and food packaging.

Title: Amongst the Wasteflowers 2024 16" x 16" Hand stitched beach trash and plastic bags on vintage repurposed fabric from a discarded pillowcase.

Hand stitched bojagi embellished with found objects picked up on the beach.

Title: Save Our Seas features a crushed plastic water bottle I found on the beach, hand stitched onto fabric layered with plastic bags and vintage lace to evoke the movement of water. The bottle looks cramped intentionally to create the sensation that the plastic is overtaking the water, just as it is in. reality. In 2016, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation through its environmental research estimated that given current trends by 2050, there would be more plastic than fish in the ocean by weight. That staggering prediction inspired this piece. The hanging device at the top is the handle of a sand toy also found on the beach. I find lots of them detached from their pails in all different length and colors. The small openings at the ends make them perfect for hanging small textile works and I just love finding innovative ways to repurpose all sorts of objects. On display at MAPSpace Gallery in Port Chester through March 2025.

Title: Plalk 10.03.23 is part of an on going series in which I title my assemblages by the date the materials were collected. It has become a personal challenge for me to limit the materials I use in these almost daily assemblages to only what I have found on that day's plalk. I hand stitched the found objects onto an old rag that had outlived its original use, the wrapped it around a stretched canvas to elevate it; giving the discarded and essentially useless odds and ends a sense of importance. There's a fine line between a pile of trash and a thought provoking work of art. By bringing these fragments of our consumption together in a pleasing composition and showing them in a gallery setting, I aim to challenge the way we see waste and invite reflection on the environmental impact of our everyday habits. On display at MAPSpace Gallery through March 2025.

Title: The Plasticene Era utilizes the process of weaving to raise awareness about the ubiquitous nature of plastic in every aspect of our lives. Several years ago when I learned that the plastic bags I had been conscientiously throwing into the recycle bin were not recyclable, I committed to finding a way to repurpose them to avoid just throwing them in the trash. I have since found a variety of ways to use them. For my weaves, I cut the bags into strips, tie the ends together and wrap them around large wooden vintage spools that I had collected many years earlier for I don't know what. They just appealed to me and now years later, they serve a great purpose; the holders of my plarn. At the time, I didn't know that these skeins of plastic I was making had a name! Plarn is plastic yarn! For each weave I create a simple loom from cardboard, cut slits in the top and bottom and wrap a natural hemp around it vertically to create the warp. The skeins of plastic are woven through the hemp to create the weft. The dense layering reminds me of sedimentary rock formations and the buildup of human activity over time. Somewhat like the layering of packed materials you might find in a landfill. I began thinking of these pieces as a reflection of our era; the plasticine age, where plastic is embedded in every aspect of our existence and thought, if these works were unearthed generations from now, they might be perceived as artifacts of a time when plastic became part of the geological record. One other note, if you take a look at the hemp top and bottom you can see the couching stitches preserving the beauty of the organic curves of the material and emphasizing the contrast between what is natural and what is artificial, between what is valued and what is discarded, what is precious and what is easily replaced. This concept of dichotomy is a constant in my work.

Hemp and plastic weave on bent wire.

Hemp and plastic weave; a long journey of over and under.

Hemp and plastic tightly woven in the round on found object.

Hemp and plastic weaves; my first attempts were tiny.

Hand woven pine needle basket embellished with plastic debris salvaged from the beach.

Woven hemp and plastic on found metal with drift wood and plastic beach pail handle.

Hand stitched plastic bags on muslin.

Hand stitched single use plastic and beach trash.

Hand stitched plastic from single use plastic consumer waste.

Woven and hand stitched plastic bags embellished with embroidery.

Collaged single use plastic bags and mylar balloons; an atypical tapestry of sorts.

Machine stitched plastic waste. My contemporary take on a crazy quilt.

Title: FLAG OF REMEMBRANCE Digitally printed cotton. Machine pieced. 22' x 26' The Flag of Remembrance is a tribute to the victims of 9/11/01. It is part of the permanent collection of large works at the World Trade Center Memorial Museum in NYC.

Custom quilt designed for the Crystal World Cruise in 2001. It was pieced by hand and assembled by machine. The centerpiece of each hexagon was embellished with embroidery and paint, capturing memories of the passengers on board. Completed while traveling up the west coast of Africa from Cape Town to South Hampton, England. The finished quilt hangs in the Crystal corporate offices in CA.

Machine pieced fabric scraps. Embellished with beach trash, hand stitched. 2023. My Earth Day quilt project was made entirely of fabric remnants from prior projects, thread scraps from months of stitching face masks during Co-vid and beach trash picked up along the shore or in the sand. Plastic bottle caps and rings, plastic straws, sand toys, dental pics, bandaids, food packaging, masks, construction debris, fishing line, fishing nets, hair ties, bubble wands, balloons, bubble wrap, styrofoam, bits of fiber, and shards of plastic that have broken down into microplastics and microfibers. Private Collection.