This group show combines the work of five artists: Anna Carpenter, Remelisa Cullitan, May Kytonen, Margaret Mount, and Eva Silverstone as well as the community group Craftivists of the Inland Northwest. Each of the artists are working in their own way to remix fiber traditions in order to explore a variety of concepts including identity, femininity, body, community, and fiber itself in the role of art.

A range of materials and techniques are used in this exploration. Anna Carpenter’s quilt of towels and sheets reminds us of the value of female choice, while Remelisa Cullitan uses pantyhose and hair to normalize everyday parts of women’s lives that are all too often stigmatized. Eva Silverstone and Margaret Mount both use previously worn materials that they have an intimate connection to, as well as embroidery and patchwork techniques to fit the act of creation into their busy and complicated lives. May Kytonen spins and weaves newspaper and creates connection with her Asian-American identity and community. Community is also the central theme of the baby onesies stitched by Craftivists of the Inland Northwest which celebrates the diversity of our community and highlights the increasing need for interconnectedness.

Throughout there is a stretching of the concept of stitching and fiber arts as “women’s work” in order to push that further into the realm of art and communicate that women’s voice in art are strong and important. While this “push” exists and strives to communicate, there is also the presence of honoring the long tradition of fiber as “women’s work” and the history of the stitches that came before. It is the hope of these artists that we can balance between pushing the art of fiber and acknowledging the work that came before.