Despite the abundant chaos in the universe, humans love order. We find comfort in organization and we tend towards categorization, even when better suited frameworks exist. This love of order is among the reasons I am called to fiber arts. Fiber is chaos: an unorganized tangle of filaments that grow organically on a sheep’s back or around the boll of a cotton plant. As an artist, it’s my job to place those fibers into order, slowly making form and function out of these chaotic materials. I feel a lot of joy in this labor.

several skeins of indigo-dyed cotton yarns rest on a surface with various natural dye tools — indigo-dyed yarns oxidizing in my studio

To consider the relationship between humans and art, the oft-asked never-settled question is: does life imitate art or art imitate life? Two things can be true at the same time; the answer is there is a relationship between art and life. Neither take the lead and neither follow. Art can be a response to life. Art can be a hope for life.

I hope (I pray) that life can imitate art. For this reason, I embarked on a rep weave series. There is so much ugliness and chaos in the world right now. As power is consolidated and exerted rather than shared and managed, one wonders if the horrors are extra upsetting in the contemporary era.

I am feeling helpless right now. I know that I cannot take direct action to help people who live half a continent away or half a world away. I know that I can reassure the people in my life that this all feels deeply upsetting right now and expressing this bewilderment together is reassuring that a better world is possible. I can also slow down and make something beautiful and orderly as a response to the ugly and chaotic scenes from the news and social media.

a detailed image of an indigo-dyed rep piece with various shade of indigo dyed yarns creating boxes and stripes in the woven pattern and cotton clothesline weft creating semicircles on the edge of the piece — *Clear Blue Morning* (detail)

My indigo rep weave piece is called Clear Blue Morning. The process of making this piece, which started as white cotton yarn on a cone and a jar of indigo powder, was slow. The dyeing process involved winding skeins, scouring yarn, building the indigo vat, and dipping the yarns from one to eight times in the vat to yield different shades. After which, I dried the yarns and stored them in a dark closet to cure.

While the dyed yarn spent two weeks in a dark closet curing, I spent time planning my project. I worked out the math in my sketchbook and used a computer spreadsheet to try different combinations of rep warp. I printed several versions and taped them to my wall to consider for several days each. I found the design that felt the most orderly when I looked at it. Two weeks after I put the yarns away, they were ready for a final wash and dry and then I prepared the loom for weaving.

Rep weave is a highly-designed warp-faced project. It allows for experimentation and play with the weft to create different effects. It took a few smaller samples for me to land on this design that I consider the zenith of the series.

handwoven rep wall hanging, indigo dyed cotton yarns in create a series of stripes and rectangles on the surface of the piece, white cotton clothesline as the weft creates half circles in the style of passementerie, the piece is hung on wooden dowels — *Clear Blue Morning*, cotton and indigo, 13”x30”, 2026

I created this piece because I believe we deserve a better present. This piece is a defiance of ugliness and chaos. This piece is my prayer for beauty and order. I hope that life can imitate art. We are all deserving of order, of beauty, of slowing down and making something with our hands.

beauty, order

time, creativity, passion