Exciting Exhibit

Last week I traveled with my friend, Barbara, to the North Castle Library in Armonk, NY to see the exhibit of a fiber friend, Natalya Aikens.  Natalya's work is very unique in that she uses mostly recycled plastic bags for her works. They are then enhanced by hours of machine and hand stitching and are truly spectacular. She also uses antique linens in some of her pieces, also heavily stitched by hand and machine.

Here is Natalya standing in front of her huge installation, made entirely from recycled plastic. The fire escape to the right is made from plastic drinking straws, so much in the news these days.

These two pieces are quite large, almost floor to ceiling . Detail below.

Many of her works depict city scenes, such as this fire escape.

We asked her about the thread that she used for this hand stitching and she said it was velvet thread, something entirely new to me.

She often draws on her Russian heritage, having been born in St. Petersburg. This one is made of vintage laces and other fabric, then heavily stitched. I purposefully left part of Barbara in the picture so you could see the scale. This was exquisite and I was lusting after it.

Another using antique fabrics and the same size as the one above.

This was much smaller than the previous, only 12" x 24", but equally as stunning.

More plastic bags. Detail below.

She often uses the words on the bags to give visual texture to the piece.

Bridges are another favorite topic.

Detail

This table held many of her smaller framed pieces for sale.

The show is up until August 10, so if you are anywhere in Westchester County in NY State or nearby CT, try to see it. I did not show you everything.

This is one post where you should click for larger views to see the fabulous stitching.