fiber art

Subterms

    Latest story

    150 Shares117 Views

    Join Us for a Colossal x Joy Machine Workshop with Peter Frederiksen

    by

    “Not Taking Any Chances” (2022), freehand machine embroidery on linen, 8 x 6 inches

    Join Us for a Colossal x Joy Machine Workshop with Peter Frederiksen

    February 11, 2025

    ArtColossalWorkshops

    Grace Ebert

    Share

    Pin

    Email

    Bookmark

    We’re excited to share that we’re hosting an embroidery workshop next month with Chicago-based artist Peter Frederiksen. Join us at Joy Machine on March 2 for Frederiksen’s signature Stitch Circle.

    The three-hour workshop will unpack his unique approach to image-making and teach the basics of embroidery. All skill levels are welcome.

    This workshop coincides with Joy Machine’s inaugural exhibition, Light Preserver, which features Frederiksen’s embroideries alongside works by eight artists who cultivate and ritualize joy.

    There are only a handful of tickets left, so get yours before they sell out. And if you’re a Colossal Member, don’t forget to use the discount code in your account for $5 off.

    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

    Hide advertising

    Save your favorite articles

    Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

    Receive members-only newsletter

    Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

    Join us today!

    $7/month

    $75/year

    Explore membership options

    Previous articleNext article More

    More stories

    • 100 Shares119 Views

      in Art

      Signe Emdal’s Chromatic Weavings Manifest Wonder and Joy

      by

      Detail of “Fantasia” (2023). All artwork photos by Kristine Funch, courtesy of the artist, shared with permission

      Signe Emdal’s Chromatic Weavings Manifest Wonder and Joy

      February 10, 2025

      ArtCraft

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      Twenty years ago, Signe Emdal founded a business that focused on making unique textile objects and garments, drawing on her background in jacquard weaving, fabric printing, and a range of other techniques. By 2021, though, she was feeling hemmed in and longed for a way to express herself through a more intuitive, less functional creative direction.

      “It was time to free myself from a frame I no longer fit and make a new one,” she tells Colossal. “I had no idea what the new frame would look like, but I trusted that life would bring me something better if I said goodbye to a setup that didn’t bring me joy anymore.”

      “Maison” (2023)

      A self-described “textile composer,” Emdal views the loom as a window where warp and weft interact to create storage vessels for memories. She is also deeply influenced by exploring new locations. “Art allows me to travel in a completely new way because I get to be in a creation process while spending time with or (being) in other cultures,” she says. Many works she makes on-site, influenced by her surroundings.

      Process is central to Emdal’s artistic education and continues to be the primary influence in her practice. “Everything is process, and everything is changing all the time,” she says. “Nothing is ever going to be finished!” She shares that through textiles, she learned to hone her concentration on both physical and metaphysical levels, finding that the meditative methodology of weaving echoes how she views art-making and life more broadly.

      Emdal’s related series Touch and Loop comprise sculptural, loom-woven wool in vibrant colors. From radiating puffs of vibrating color to elegant, draping details, her pieces are inspired by science fiction, feminism, art history, and music. “The sculptures are layers of delicate memories,” she says, embodying fragility, resilience, sophistication, and joy.

      Emdal’s work will be included in the Textile Art Biennial Slovenia, which runs from May 31 to August 14 across five cities. Find more on Emdal’s website and Instagram.

      “Dreams of Gaia” (2024)

      Detail of “Dreams of Gaia”

      “Heart of Nebula” (2024)

      “Fantasia” (2023)

      “Acqua 4 ever/Evigheden” (2024)

      “Spirit of Green” (2024)

      Detail of “Spirit of Green”

      “Murex 4ever” (2023)

      “Silky Way” (2023)

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 113 Shares81 Views

      in Art

      Announcing Joy Machine, a New Art Gallery in Chicago

      by

      Abi Castillo, “Blooming” and “Blue Caterpillar” (2025), ceramic

      Announcing Joy Machine, a New Art Gallery in Chicago

      February 10, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert and Christopher Jobson

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      As Colossal prepares to turn 15 this year, we’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be part of a creative community. During the last decade and a half, we’ve spoken with thousands of artists, designers, and makers and cultivated a vast network of friends and colleagues around the globe. Publishing has been one of the greatest joys of our lives and demonstrated again and again how art can connect us all.

      We’re incredibly excited to share that we’re expanding our footprint right here in our home of Chicago. Our new art gallery, Joy Machine, opens on February 21.

      Michael McGrath, “Night Ride, Spring Gods” (2025), colored pencil on wood panel, 10 x 8 inches

      A year in the making, Joy Machine is built around the belief that amid deep uncertainty and upheaval, joy becomes an indispensable gateway to hope. As we navigate this incredibly difficult time, we’re interested in coming together to expand our power to feel and process experiences good and bad.

      Our first exhibition, Light Preserver, features nine artists who cultivate and ritualize joy through humor, nostalgia, vibrancy, and excitement for new possibilities. Whether reflecting on childhood fun or invoking art’s ability to rescue us from depression, each artist taps into our shared humanity—not to evade difficult realities but to find meaning and purpose amid chaos. In this way, joy becomes an essential antidote to despair and a fundamental lifeline to keep us all afloat.

      Light Preserver features work by many artists you’re probably familiar with, including Moises Salazar Tlatenchi, David Heo, Liz Flores, Peter Frederiksen, Danym Kwon, Lisa Congdon, Michael McGrath, Jeff Rubio, and Abi Castillo.

      Colossal will continue publishing independently as it always has, and when Joy Machine’s projects fit Colossal’s mission, we’ll be sure to share them with you all here.

      If you’re in Chicago, please join us to celebrate Joy Machine’s opening on February 21. You can follow the gallery on Instagram, and sign up for the newsletter on the website.

      Danym Kwon, “When Small Happiness Found Us” (2025), acrylic and acrylic gouache on canvas, 18 x 18 inches

      David Heo, “Mamihlapinatapai” (2024), mixed media on paper mounted on panel, 11 x 28 inches

      “Red Boots” (2025), acrylic on wood, framed in hemlock, 18 x 24 inches

      Peter Frederiksen, “Sharing Secrets” (2022), freehand machine embroidery on linen, 6 x 8 inches

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 125 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      Order and Chaos Entwine in Abstract Embroideries by Kristine Stattin

      by

      All images courtesy of Kristine Stattin, shared with permission

      Order and Chaos Entwine in Abstract Embroideries by Kristine Stattin

      February 5, 2025

      ArtCraft

      Grace Ebert

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      Where someone might see opposition, Kristine Stattin finds fitting companions. Working in her studio in the Occitanie region of southern France, the artist alternates between hand and machine embroidery as she layers long, sweeping lines and tiny, tufted French knots. The contrasts create tension and intrigue and ensure that Stattin doesn’t get too comfortable with any one mode.

      “My work is all about the process, being in and surrendering to the moment, embracing the unknown, not being attached to outcomes and expectations, and bringing the threads to life,” she says.

      Bursting with color and texture, Stattin’s abstract embroideries evoke movement and energy through several layers of thin, sewing thread stitched atop one another. There’s tension between orderly rows and chaotic smatterings. “Each new piece is an internal journey, a sort of enigma that asks to be solved, and I use the needle and threads to capture a feeling, movement, and life itself,” she shares.

      Occasionally, appliqué, screen-printing, and acrylic-painted details appear in her pieces, and decisions to incorporate new materials are part of an instinctive process guided by the work itself. Color is similar, with combinations of pastel hues and bold, saturated palettes derived from nature, the artist’s surroundings, or even the way sewing thread falls on her table.

      “I am interested in an intuitive, yet mindful process, to see where the threads will take me, to see and respond to what happens, and to work with eventual mistakes,” she says. “I embrace those mistakes as they often lead to new ideas that I bring into future work.”

      Follow Stattin on Instagram for updates and glimpses into her process.

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Next article More

    • 150 Shares110 Views

      in Art

      Ernesto Neto Crochets an Enormous Snake to Slither Inside Le Bon Marché

      by

      All images © Stephane Aboudaram | we are content(s), shared with permission

      Ernesto Neto Crochets an Enormous Snake to Slither Inside Le Bon Marché

      January 31, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      “If Adam and Eve had not eaten the Divine Apple, they would still be in paradise, wouldn’t they? And us? Where would we be?” asks Ernesto Neto in relation to his latest project.

      At Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche in Paris, the Brazilian artist (previously) presents his signature crocheted installations. A 28-foot snake coils up through the atrium for “Le La Serpent,” a monumental project evoking the creation myth of Adam, Eve, and the snake.

      Rather than view the story from the perspective of sin, Neto chooses to see the animal as a life-giving force that transcends the Abrahamic story. Utilizing both male and female articles, the title positions the serpent as exceeding gender and instead as a joyful, spiritual force that can connect mind and body. The artist notes that many cultures, from Mesoamerica to Cambodian mythology to ancient Greek, viewed the serpent as god. Given that the Lunar New Year recently ushered in the Year of the Snake, the project also has a timely tie to Eastern traditions.

      Although Neto frequently incorporates bold colors into his installations, the yarn in this project uses white to celebrate Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut, the founders of Le Bon Marché who encouraged artists to use the color in their works in the 19th century.

      A collaborative, meditative space awaits visitors on the second floor. Neto composed a song that plays throughout the room, while a large tee stands at the center. Dried leaves, turmeric, and cumin fill the trunk, adding an earthy, spiced scent to the air. The chalkboard-style walls are designed for visitors to draw and leave notes for future viewers.

      “I want to remind people that they have a body—that they can feel it,” the artist said. “Scents activate memory and help us reconnect with our own essence.”

      If you’re in Paris, see “Le La Serpent” through February 22.

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Next article More

    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in Art

      Lifelike Canines Lounge in Emily O’Leary Uncanny Hooked Rugs

      by

      “Fluffy-Tailed Ticked Dog” (2022), hand-hooked mostly-wool yarn on linen. All images courtesy of Emily O’Leary, shared with permission

      Lifelike Canines Lounge in Emily O’Leary Uncanny Hooked Rugs

      January 13, 2025

      ArtCraft

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      Most dogs spend at least half of their day asleep—some getting z’s for upwards of 18 hours. Whether curled up on the floor or enjoying a long-legged stretch, the subjects of Emily O’Leary’s rugs evoke our beloved pets.

      Based on photographs of actual dogs, she focuses mostly on animals the artist doesn’t know. “I like to hook dogs that are pretty ‘mutty’ looking, that don’t look like yard-bound Golden Retrievers or Doodles,” she tells Colossal. “I’m attracted to the shared history of humans and dogs—how the bulk of their domestication may have happened somewhat inadvertently.”

      “Injured Elbow Dog” (2020), hand-hooked wool yarn on linen

      Employing a carpet-making technique called rug hooking, the earliest form of which can be traced to Northern England in the early 19th century, O’Leary spends several months on a single piece. Compared to tufting, “It’s a slower, more traditional process,” she says, but the process allows each individual loop to be applied at a different height, giving her the ability to create three-dimensional reliefs.

      O’Leary learned to make rugs after predominantly focusing on embroidery. When some friends organized an exhibition themed around dogs, she had the idea to make a work in the shape of a life-size canine. “I’m lucky that the rugs sort of do inspire tender feelings in the people who see them, but that they’re also a bit uncanny,” she says.

      The pieces’ weight and realistic details engender an intimate connection as they come to life, so to speak. “I really feel like I’ve built a relationship with the object,” she says, adding: “Sometimes the dogs I hook have wounds or scars. The dog rug I’m working on right now is missing a little chunk of her ear.  I want to depict them as they are, not stuffed animal versions.”

      Find more on O’Leary’s website and Instagram.

      “Brown and Black Dog” (2021), hand-hooked wool yarn on linen

      Detail of “Mottled-leg Dog” (2024), hand-hooked wool yarn on linen

      “Sandy Reddish Dog” (2023), hand-hooked mostly-wool yarn on linen

      Photo by Bucky Miller

      Photo by Bucky Miller

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 125 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Nicole McLaughlin’s Mixed-Media Sculptures Celebrate Craft, Heritage, and New Life

      by

      “Fuentes de Vida; Gemela” (2023)

      Nicole McLaughlin’s Mixed-Media Sculptures Celebrate Craft, Heritage, and New Life

      January 8, 2025

      ArtCraft

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      From ceramics and wool fiber, Nicole McLaughlin (previously) summons striking connections between materials, heritage, and personal experiences. She draws upon the rich traditions of historically domestic crafts to reconsider their roles today, merging ceramics and textiles into elegant, cascading wall sculptures.

      Drawing on artisanal trades like pottery and weaving, McLaughlin deconstructs preconceptions about form and function, emphasizing mediums, techniques, and themes through the unexpected pairing of stoneware and fiber. Her works encourage us to think critically about relationships between tenderness and strength or past and present.

      “Cordón de Vida” (2024), ceramic, tencel, indigo, wool, and cochineal, 27 x 60 x 4 inches. Courtesy of Anderson Yezerski Gallery

      Many of the pieces shown here are from McLaughlin’s ongoing Indigo Series, which explores the history of the Mayan pigment and its taps into the continuity of life cycles, history, and culture. Streams of wool fiber flow from central openings in glazed ceramic spheres, referencing the life-giving flow of water as a parallel to fertility and maternal care.

      McLaughlin gave birth to a daughter in early 2024, which dramatically shifted how she viewed her studio practice. The work in her most recent exhibition, String of Life at Anderson Yezerski Gallery, merges personal experiences and her Mexican cultural heritage, delving into themes of life and the transformative journey of motherhood.

      “The transformation of organic material echoes the transformative nature of motherhood,” McLaughlin said in a statement for the show. “The range of colors captures an intense emotional spectrum—from the vitality of birth to the softer, more intimate moments.”

      For McLaughlin, cochineal carries an equivalent significance. The brilliant magenta hue emerges from carmine dye, also known as cochineal, which comes from crushing an insect of the same name. The color plays a vital role in Indigenous material culture and heritage of the Americas.

      Detail of “Cordón de Vida”

      For the Aztecs and Mayans, red was symbolic of the gods, the sun, and blood, and the dye was traded throughout Central and South America for use in rituals, producing pigments for manuscripts and murals, and for dyeing cloth and feathers.

      “During the Mayan empire, indigo was combined with clay and incense to create a pigment known as Maya blue,” she says. “The pigment was said to hold the healing power of water in the agricultural community.”

      McLaughlin’s work is in the group exhibition OBJECTS: USA 2024 at R & Company in New York, which continues through tomorrow. The artist is currently taking a short break from the studio in anticipation of working toward a solo exhibition at Adamah Ceramics in Columbus, Ohio, which will open this fall. See more on her website, and follow updates on Instagram.

      “Agua; Sangre de Vida.” Photo by Logan Jackson, courtesy of R & Company

      “La Pequeña” (2024), ceramic, wool, and cochineal, 10.5 x 21 x 1.5 inches. Courtesy of Anderson Yezerski Gallery

      “La Marea que me Envuelve II” (2023). All images courtesy of Nicole McLaughlin, shared with permission

      Detail of “Fuentes de Vida; Gemela”

      Detail of “De Mi Vientre” (2024), ceramic, tencel, wool, and cochineal, 17.5 x 73 x 5.5 inches. Courtesy of Anderson Yezerski Gallery

      Untitled (2024), 10 x 10 feet

      Detail of “La Pequeña”

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Next article More

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      in Art

      Embroidered Ceramic Vessels by Caroline Harrius Merge Disparate Crafts

      by

      All images courtesy of Caroline Harrius, shared with permission

      Embroidered Ceramic Vessels by Caroline Harrius Merge Disparate Crafts

      January 7, 2025

      ArtCraft

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      Through tiny holes puncturing hand-shaped vessels, Stockholm-based artist Caroline Harrius (previously) embroiders delicate designs. She merges two distinct crafts—ceramics and fiber art—that don’t typically share much in common, exploring relationships between form and function, decoration and utility, and historically gendered artisanal practices.

      Harrius opens a solo show this month titled Blue Memories at Kaolin in Stockholm, the culmination of a three-month residency she undertook in Porsgrunn, Norway, after being awarded the municipality’s porcelain grant. The program comprises a collaborative effort between the local porcelain factory and Kunsthall Grenland to support contemporary artistry in the material.

      “The meeting between textile and ceramics is irrational and full of resistance,” Harrius says in a statement for the exhibition. She spent time at the Porsgruns Porcelain Factory with free reign to expand on existing ideas and apply new inspiration.

      “Next to the workshop was an antique dealer with rows of boxes marked ’10 SEK for everything!,’ filled with objects,” she says. From these trinkets, which the dealer had deemed practically worthless, Harrius imagined new floral designs.

      “I embroider in porcelain with cotton thread in an attempt to recontextualize the crafts,” she says. “I want to make an attempt to highlight all the precious and impressive craft objects that are often left behind within the walls of the home, continue to challenge hierarchies in the field, and make visible traditional female craftsmanship.”

      Blue Memories runs from January 11 to 26. See more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      Photo by Alexander Beveridge

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 113 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Yumi Okita’s Butterflies and Botanicals Metamorphose from Colorful Thread

      by

      Yumi Okita’s Butterflies and Botanicals Metamorphose from Colorful Thread

      December 2, 2024

      ArtCraftNature

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      From vibrant thread and wire, Yumi Okita conjures thrillingly lifelike moths, butterflies, and flowers. The Raleigh-based artist (previously) meticulously embroiders insects’ colorful wings with an eye for realism, so until you’re up close, they appear as though they could flutter away at any moment. And in her more recent series of otherworldly botanicals, petals, leaves, and roots curl to look as though they were just plucked from their habitats.

      Okita often adds original sculptures to her Etsy shop, and you can also follow updates on Instagram.

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Next article More