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    Reviving an Ancestral Hawaiian Tradition, Lehuauakea Reimagines Kapa in Bold Textile Works

    “Since the Beginning and End of Time” (2024), hand-embroidery, bells, and shell buttons
    on hand-stitched indigo-dyed kapa (barkcloth) garment, approx. 50 x 44
    inches. All images courtesy of Lehuauakea, shared with permission

    Reviving an Ancestral Hawaiian Tradition, Lehuauakea Reimagines Kapa in Bold Textile Works

    April 22, 2025

    ArtCraftHistory

    Kate Mothes

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    “My favorite thing about kapa is that it is simultaneously ancestral, ancient, and contemporary,” says Lehuauakea (Kanaka Maoli), who recently received the Walker Youngbird Foundation grant for emerging Native American artists. Kapa, the Indigenous Hawaiian practice of clothmaking, uses the inner bark of the wauke, or paper mulberry tree, to create garments and textiles. For Lehuauakea, the technique forms the foundation of a practice rooted in the artist’s Hawaiian lineage and material traditions.

    Softening the fibers enough to create cloth requires a labor-intensive method of soaking pieces of bark. Through an arduous process of beating and stretching with tools like the iʻe kuku, a thin, pliable fabric emerges. “It is a very malleable material that reflects the current state of the natural environment, and the surrounding community and personal hand of the maker,” Lehuauakea tells Colossal. “It requires a level of patience and perseverance while also paying close attention to the nature of the bark and pigments you are working with.”

    “Still Finding My Way Back Home” (2025), kapa (barkcloth), reclaimed Japanese fabrics, indigo and madder root dyes, ceramic beads, bells, earth pigments, hand-embroidery, and metal leaf, approx. 18 x 9 feet

    Kapa is derived from ancient Polynesian practices—it’s called tapa in other parts of the Pacific—and Hawaiians elaborated on the custom by incorporating watermarks, natural pigments, and fermentation.

    Traditionally, kapa possessed both practical and spiritual qualities, as it was used for everyday apparel and bedding but also served as a carrier of mana, or healing life force. When the U.S. controversially annexed the territory and the import of cotton amped up in the late 19th century, the practice all but died out.

    Lehuauakea’s interest in kapa emerged when their family relocated to Oregon when they were young. Over time, the artist felt increasingly disconnected from their home and sought a way to conjure a link to their Hawaiian ancestry.

    “I remembered learning about kapa as a child and how we’d use patterns to tell stories, so in my junior year of college I taught myself how to carve ʻohe kāpala, or traditional carved bamboo printing tools used for decorating finished kapa,” the artist says. Then it was onto learning how to make the barkcloth itself, with the help of artisan and mentor Wesley Sen, spurring Lehuauakea’s passion for the medium.

    “Puka Komo ʻEkahi: Portal to Grant Permission” (2024), earth pigments and metal leaf on kapa (barkcloth), 28 x 28 inches

    Fascinated by the potential to not only continue a time-honored Kanaka Maoli art form but also to experiment and push the boundaries of the material, Lehuauakea makes large-scale installations, hand-stitched garments, mixed-media suspended works, and hand-painted two-dimensional compositions— “in other words, forms that you wouldn’t see in ancestral samples of pre-contact Hawaiian kapa,” they say. The artist continues:

    As an Indigenous cultural practitioner and artist, I believe it is important to have a solid foundation in the traditional knowledge of the practice before attempting to expand on it or experiment with more contemporary expressions of the medium because I am not singular in this work; I am simply building on a tradition that was passed down through many generations before me, and I can only hope that I am able to inspire future generations to continue it.

    Lehuauakea is currently working toward solo exhibitions at the Center for Contemporary Art Santa Fe and Nunu Fine Art in New York City, exploring ideas around Native Hawaiian cosmology, celestial cycles, and the relationship between Native Hawaiian language and pattern. Find more on the artist’s website.

    “Kūmauna” (2024), earth pigments hand-painted on kapa (barkcloth), 26 x 48 inches

    Detail of “Still Finding My Way Back Home”

    “I Walk With My Ancestors (1 of 2)” (2024), earth pigment and wildfire charcoal hand-painted on kapa (barkcloth), 29 x 61.5 inches

    “Night Eyes” (2024), earth pigments and wildfire charcoal hand-painted on kapa (barkcloth), 78 x 18.5 inches

    “Mele o Nā Kaukani Wai (Song of a Thousand Waters)” (2018), mixed mulberry papers, handmade plant dyes and mineral pigments, gouache, ceramic beads, and thread, approx. 11 x 8 feet

    Detail of “Mele o Nā Kaukani Wai (Song of a Thousand Waters)”

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    In Elaborate ‘Textile Paintings,’ Anne von Freyburg Reframes Femininity in European Art History

    “Sunny Side Up (After Fragonard, The Lover Crowned)” (2025), textile painting: acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 223 x 280 centimeters. All images courtesy of the artist and Saatchi Gallery, London, shared with permission

    In Elaborate ‘Textile Paintings,’ Anne von Freyburg Reframes Femininity in European Art History

    April 14, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    As if splashed onto the wall with a monumental brush, Anne von Freyburg’s installations visualize fabric and fiber as gestural splotches of paint. Colors bleed into one another and drips extend to the floor in what the London-based Dutch artist describes as “textile paintings.”

    Drawing on 17th and 18th-century European painting traditions like the still lifes of the Dutch Golden Age and the stylized exuberance of Rococo, von Freyburg reframes relationships between craft and fine art.

    “Fantasia (After Boucher, Venus and Cupid)” (2022), textile painting: acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 144 x 195 centimeters

    References to Rococo artists like Jean-Honoré Fragonard and François Boucher play prominently in von Freyburg’s solo exhibition, Filthy Cute, at Saatchi Gallery. Tapping into “the clichés of heterosexual romance and societal expectations of women…she explores the pressures women face, particularly the expectations of being ‘caretakers’ and ‘pleasers,’” says a statement. Von Freyburg turns her attention to themes of compassion, freedom, and women as sovereign individuals.

    Filthy Cute celebrates sensuality and the feminine while highlighting unexpected associations between materials. The artist’s abstract compositions often reference florals that are blurred, dripping, and verging on complete abstraction. Glossy fabrics in a range of colors swirl without fully mixing, resulting in sensual shapes that are beguiling and strange.

    Von Freyburg describes one undergirding theme as “commodity fetishism,” tapping into the 17th-century fashion for Dutch floral still lifes and the infamous economic speculation bubble that characterized Tulip Mania between 1634 and 1637.

    The show continues through May 11 in London, running concurrently Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art and Culture, which also includes work by von Freyburg. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

    “Electric Feel (After Fragonard, The Pursuit)” (2025), textile painting: acrylic ink, synthetic fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 350 x 250 centimeters

    Detail of “Electric Feel (After Fragonard, The Pursuit)”

    Detail of “Electric Feel (After Fragonard, The Pursuit)”

    “Kabloom (After Jan van Huysum, Flower still-life)” (2024), acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 230 x 130 centimeters

    “Tuttifrutti (After Jan van Huysum, Flower still-life)” (2024), acrylic ink, synthetic-fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry-fabric, sequin fabrics, hand-embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand-dyed tassel fringes on canvas, 235 x 135 centimeters

    Detail of “Sunny Side Up (After Fragonard, The Lover Crowned)”

    Installation view of ‘Filthy Cute’ at Saatchi Gallery, London

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    Emily Van Hoff Sculpts Facets of Color in Vibrant, Dimensional Quilts

    All images courtesy of Emily Van Hoff, shared with permission

    Emily Van Hoff Sculpts Facets of Color in Vibrant, Dimensional Quilts

    October 21, 2024

    ArtCraftDesign

    Kate Mothes

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    For Emily Van Hoff (previously), the possibilities of quilts extend far beyond two dimensions. From geometric tapestries to faceted weavings and sculptural constructions, the artist traverses a wide array of textile forms.

    “I love giving my quilts more visual weight,” Van Hoff tells Colossal. “I like when they feel more chunky and object-like… So I’ve been exploring a variety of ways to accomplish that.”

    Van Hoff often revisits original sketches and offcuts of earlier pieces, puzzling together new works with a variety of textures, hues, and configurations. One striking recent experiment takes the shape of three chain links, which can be displayed in various orientations by sliding the components around, revealing unique angles and color combinations.

    “Some of my wall hangings have also used pieces that sort of overlap and weave through each other,” Van Hoff says, “and the chain link is the continuation of that idea as well.”

    The artist recently announced a line of quilting fabric she designed for Moda Fabrics titled Groove, which will be available in stores starting in May next year. The collection expands on her vibrant palette and playful, squiggly motifs.

    “My background is in graphic design,” Van Hoff says. “I’ve always loved textile design, and I worked in a fabric shop in high school, so this is a real dream-come-true moment!”

    Explore more on the artist’s website, where she adds pieces to her shop from time to time, and follow updates on Instagram.

    ‘Groove’ series of designs for Moda Fabrics

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    Loose Threads Dangle from Bizarrely Expressive Portraits Sewn by Yoon Ji Seon

    
    Art
    Photography
    #fiber art
    #humor
    #portraits
    #sewing
    #threadNovember 30, 2021Grace Ebert“Rag face #21004” (2021), sewing on fabric and photography, 112 x 73 centimeters. All images © Yoon Ji Seon, courtesy of CRAIC AM, shared with permissionThe cheeky, uncanny works that comprise Yoon Ji Seon’s ongoing Rag Face series bring the knotted, twisting, and generally convoluted entanglements of a subject’s psyche to the forefront. Her photographic portraits are printed on roughly cut pieces of canvases and then overlaid with rows of tight stitches and loose strings that drip from an eye or loop across a face. Adding color and depth, the threads “can be seen or felt like internal conflicts, external stimuli, umbilical cord, blood vessels, sagging skin, hair, or time as a point of each viewer,” the artist says.Zany and outlandish in expression, the portraits are a playful mix of confusion and jest that Yoon derives from traditional Korean comedies, called madangnori. Those performances consider “the suffering and reality of the people through humor and satire while arousing the excitement of onlookers,” she says, explaining further:I think what I’m doing these days is to make (an) ‘image’ of these comedies. What I want to pursue through my work is ‘humor’ in the end, but this humor does not bloom in happiness. During intense, painful, and chaotic lives, humor can be like a comma, to relax and recharge.Because the sewn works are unique on either side, they produce mirrored images that are a distorted version of their counterpart, bolstering the strange, surreal affect of each piece.The Rag Face series now spans decades of the Daejeon City, South Korea-based artist’s practice, and you can browse dozens of those pieces on her site. (via Lustik)“Rag face #16020” (2016), sewing on fabric and photography, 141 x 97 centimeters“Rag face #21003” (2021), sewing on fabric and photography, 94 x 68 centimeters“Rag face #21004” (2021), sewing on fabric and photography, 112 x 73 centimeters“Rag face #16015” (2016), sewing on fabric and photography, 47 x 26 centimeters“Rag face #17010” (2017), sewing on fabric and photography, 128 x 97 centimeters“Rag face #19003” (2019), sewing on fabric and photography, 146 x 119 centimeters“Rag face #21002” (2021), sewing on fabric and photography, 170 x 118 centimeters“Rag face #17010” (2017), sewing on fabric and photography, 128 x 97 centimeters
    #fiber art
    #humor
    #portraits
    #sewing
    #threadDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now! Share this story  More