In Stitches

Carla Pyle, Livingston fiber artist, creates custom textiles for interior design. She will give a presentation about organic upholstery Thursday, November 5 at 6:30 pm at the Livingston Center for Art and Culture (119 South Main St.) During the free presentation, Pyle will literally peel back the layers to show the differences between organic and conventional upholstery. Pyle will show her wool pot holders and pillows in the textile exhibit, “In Stitches,” November 3 - 28. Joining Pyle will be seven other fiber artists from around the state. The show will featurerugs, clothing, collages, and figures. A reception will be held Friday, November 13 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the Center.

Livingston assemblage artist Patricia Buckley enjoys creating painted collages. Often building on a photograph or other image, Buckley develops a work by painting with acrylics and inks, and incorporating papers made of exotic fibers.

Paradise Valley’s Jane Burch Cochran was chosen as one of 40 artists from around the world to be featured in Masters: Art Quilts by Martha Sielman. Says Cochran, “My quilts are highly embellished with beads, buttons, and paint to enhance the narrative with a unique and personal texture. Cochran enjoys creating works that are thought-provoking, such as her piece “Last Suppers.” The quilt depicts twelve meals that were requested by prisoners as their final dinner before execution.

Each of Livingston artist Traci Isaly’s figures begins with a bundle of grass, representing an organic foundation. “I believe the parts that cannot be seen are as important as those that are visible to the eye.” From this common beginning, the figures diverge, each taking on a complex and unique personality. Isaly’s expertise in seamwork, her astonishing attention to detail, her inclusion of natural found objects, and the individual aura she imparts to each figure, are what make viewing the works so enjoyable.

Hand weaving connects Susan Lohmuller of Lewistown to an old art born of self-sufficiency, tradition, and a desire to adorn one’s surroundings. Lohmuller hand-dyes recycled cotton and uses a Swedish-style loom to weave her richly-colored rugs and hangings.

Katy Nygard, from Gallatin Gateway, hand-stitches quilts from her own printed fabrics. “My relationship with textiles began at age five when I fashioned a needle and thread from a bobby pin and a piece of string in order to repair the tattered edges of a favorite childhood blanket.” Nygard has since moved on to more sophisticated endeavors, and her award-winning work has been featured in Quilting Arts magazine and Surface Design Newsletter.

For Billings artist Cynthia St. Charles, creating art quilts utilizing her own hand dyed, discharged, and hand painted fabrics is the ultimate self expression. St. Charles’s work was recently featured on the cover of Quilting Arts magazine. A prominent name in surface design, St. Charles shows her work extensively and teaches workshops.

Tracy St. John is an internationally published crochet designer. She lives and works in Bozeman, where she teaches knit and crochet to students of all ages at Stix. Tracy is currently working on a webzine devoted to knit and crochet, which will launch in autumn 2010.

Also on display during the month of November will be a collection of work by Nate Anderson, whose recent work explores the human figure in two different avenues. One group of paintings is a series of studies intended to capture a man in his working environment. The second set is a group of images seen through a fogged mirror. The fogged mirror creates a source for distortion of form and color yet retains a grounding to realism. “I am trying to use different processes and varying techniques that will maintain the figure yet create a more abstracted and dynamic surface,” describes Anderson. Questions about the exhibit and reception can be directed to 222-5222 or www.livingstoncenter.org.