Kayla Powers’ artist residency in Cape Town held us all in the happy in between of childlike wonder and the pleasure of being present in a place and in our senses.
Time felt suspended during her botanical dye workshop. We foraged under the trees and created color on cotton and silk, surrounded by the mountains. Truly a time we didn’t want to end, and the gifts of her practice and art are still finding their way into our days. An acorn tells more than one story, and every color can surprise.
photography by @ayeh.kphotography
I’m very excited to show some new work in Taos next month!
This piece is part of a new body of work using photography printed on fabric alongside naturally dyed fibers and hand embroidery and it will be part of a two person exhibition with @gillianmoore.studio at @taoscenterforthearts Opening June 18th 4-6pm 🪨
𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘙𝘰𝘤𝘬, 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘰, 2026
Cotton, silk, embroidery thread, 35mm film photo printed on cotton, juniper roots, iron, drop cloth
22 x 26 x 2 inches
I’m looking forward to being back in Michigan for the closing of my exhibition 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩 🌼 I’m giving a talk this Friday April 24th at @saugatuck_arts if you’re interested! Making these flowers (each one dyed with plants and hand sewn) kept me busy for most of last year and I learned so much in the process.
AND our collaborative piece 𝘚𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 was such a beautiful reminder of the power of making and collective action and abundance and generosity. I put a call out for sunflower seed shaped fabric seeds and you all responded with more than 1600 seeds from around the world 🥹 everyone who visited the exhibition was invited to take one home. For free! A literal and metaphorical representation of The Gift Economy (described by Robin Wall Kimmerer).
I really think we have more in common than we’re made to believe and we need each other 🫂🌏
It has been an incredible two weeks here in South Africa 🌺 One of the worlds most biologically diverse countries! From the moment I arrived I could feel the abundance and only wish I had more time to explore.
This palette is a reflection of this very moment in time and place. The plants were ethically and sustainably foraged (meaning that no plants were harmed! Meaning I just scrounged around on the ground for fallen flowers and leaves 🐿️ ). I used raw silk from @onequince (sorry I cut up a curtain 🙈) and organic cotton from @green_tailor and I mordanted the fabric with alum (on the left) and iron (on the right).
I’m just using the plants common names here. I’m so curious what their local names are as that often gives us some insight into the ways humans relate to them.
Swipe to the end for the zoomed out balcony photo realness.
This is a photo of lichen growing on a rock, printed on cotton fabric that I have cut up and made into tiny individual “quilts” which I’ll then sew onto drop cloth.
This process has been evolving for a while now and this current iteration feels so exciting to me. Taking pictures of the landscape feels like another form of foraging. And mixing these images with plant dyed fabric is another expression of place-based making.
Prickly pear cactus turns purple/pink in the winter as a stress response to environmental conditions. In this case, the purple pigments (anthocyanins) protect the plant from the cold. At the same time, the tail end of winter, the plums are starting to blossom the same purple/pink flowers. This new body of work is an exploration of these synchronous moments. There are so many other forms of intelligence out there. So much to learn from our environment.
Plum Blossoms and Prickly Pear, 2026
Cotton, linen, silk, cheesecloth, embroidery thread, cochineal, 35mm photos printed on cotton
40 x 47 x 2 inches
I collected cochineal from many many prickly pear cacti to make the color on the fabric and embroidery thread in this piece. And there are some double exposed photos of plum
blossoms printed on fabric 🌸
This body of work will be exhibited in Taos, New Mexico this summer. More to come!
I just submitted this clip as part of a grant application and thought I’d share it here, too. #foraging #botanicaldye Grant filmed this for my current exhibition at Saugatuck Center for the Arts (up until May 8th!)
Ropes, 2025
cotton, linen, silk, wool, natural dyes, maple wood
Hand dyed and painted with natural materials, woven, sewn and stuffed with fabric and yarn scraps and wool roving.
Hi from New York 🙂 What a delight to get to show some work at @onnahouse in SoHo alongside so many incredible artists.
I wove both of these pieces in 2025 with natural and secondhand fibers and plant (and cochineal) dyed yarn, the first one during a residency at @austapestry and the second during a residency at @airgreen3536 with support from the Norwegian Textile Artist Association. The wooden headers were both custom made by my friend @kepplerstudio
Thank you to Lisa, Athena, and Nicole for all the work you do to highlight women artists ❤️
We said goodbye to sweet Maple girl yesterday 💔 She was such a huge part of our lives for the past 11 years. Life won’t be the same without her. Thank you for loving her with us 🫂
I’ve recently started incorporating photos printed on fabric into these hand sewn, plant dyed works. I have been taking film photos for many years and it has always felt adjacent to my textile practice but a recent roll of double exposures got me thinking about merging the two 🤲🏼 can’t wait to show you more #textileart #doubleexposure
I’m very excited to share that I’m teaching this summer at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and registration opens today! Set in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, @andersonranchartscenter is a place where artists gather to create, share ideas, and grow their craft.
Join my workshop,Sustainable Watercolor: Cultivating Pigments from Nature, on June 22-26. Space is limited, so register soon! I can’t wait to share the Ranch experience with you. Visit their website at andersonranch.org/workshops for all the details.
