Woven: Fiber Arts Now

The title says it all: Woven: Fiber Arts Now is a collection of the artistic creations of five local artists “woven” together featuring natural materials such as silk, pine needles, reed and cotton. It is a “celebration of fiber” drawing inspiration from the patterns of nature, the source of inspiration for many artists, architects, poets and everyday people.

Even if you don’t consider yourself an artist, ask yourself – what sparks your sense of wonder? What takes your breath away? Most of the time it will be something from your natural world. A walk on the beach, the patterns on a gumbo limbo trunk, the color shades of a hibiscus blossom or the spirals of a spider web.

Five local artists honor nature through their exhibits showcasing the endless possibilities of our natural world. As you step outside the exhibit hall, the magical world of the garden ties it all together for you –everything is intertwined and interconnected in nature.

About the Artists:

Cheryl Costley is a Marco resident and well known in the Marco Island art scene. She has exhibited her fabric art at the Center for the Arts on numerous occasions. According to Cheryl she has had a love for fabric since her childhood. After focusing on a career and earning her Ph.D., she has found herself once again surrounded by fabric. Her primary mediums are fabric and textiles.

There is a repeated theme in Costley’s work, the Sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera) plant. As her favorite native Florida plant, it is honored in this exhibition because of the work it does to preserve and protect our beaches and ecosystem. According to Cheryl, it is part of the interwoven ecological system that is necessary to our fragile environment.

Mary Day weaves forms from rattan that curve, bend, are open, and seem to be as light as the air itself – a practice she’s been cultivating over the past 15 years. Rooted in drawing, her work is strongly influenced by flora and fauna and she hopes that guests consider how each individual piece plays an important “part” in relating to the “whole.”

According to Mary she is “inspired by the rhythms of curving lines and connecting points found in the natural world. 

Muffy Clark Gill uses Batik is her favorite technique. According to Muffy, she first saw Batik at an exhibition in Kampala, Uganda, and has chased the medium ever since. You’ll see references to the Garden throughout her work in the exhibit, including Gill’s interpretation of the Garden’s beloved Roberto Burle Marx mural found in the Brazilian Garden. 

Dusty Holmes uses pine needles in her baskets. Her woven baskets take you back to an era when our ancestors used natural materials for some of their basic needs. Dusty also incorporated seedpods from the Garden into her works.

Roseline Young has been weaving natural materials like wool, cotton, and linen on looms, often leaving edges and ends spilling out of the tapestry and inviting the viewer back inside. Young has organized several community weaving projects throughout Southwest Florida. At the Garden, she led a weaving demonstration with the giant looms during the opening exhibit.

Woven – Fiber Arts Now Exhibit is on display at the Naples Botanical Garden at Kapnick Hall through June 26, 2022.