Exhibit of sustainable fiber art comes to North Long Beach

The fiber arts show “Harmonious Threads: Creating Sustainable Art for an Endangered Planet” will open to the public on Saturday, July 30 at the Firehouse Community Farm in North Long Beach.

“I’m awed by the skill. This stuff is so different,” said Jeff Rowe, president of the Nehyam Neighborhood Association. “And the fiber art—when this came along I said, ‘Okay, maybe they’re going to paint something on a bed sheet.’ But it is incredibly intricate what they can do.”

The idea for a fiber arts show came from participants of the monthly “crop swap” held at the Firehouse Community Farm after Ryan Smolar, co-director of food access nonprofit Long Beach Fresh, told them he received a micro-grant by the Arts Council of Long Beach for an art show.

“I brought this to the attention of the crop swappers and immediately they’re like ‘fiber arts, fiber arts” and we were like, ‘What’s that?’” Smolar said.

In fiber art, natural or synthetic fibers, such as fabric, yarn and more, are used to create pieces.

Fiber artists were asked to submit works that utilize recycled or sustainable materials.

At least 20 artists created around 45 pieces of fiber art work for the exhibit. Mediums will include quilting, embroidery, weaving, basketry, rugs, clothing design and more. Smolar said at least three artists included in the show regularly participate in the crop swap.

Smolar also reached out to community members who had a connection to the Firehouse Community Farm to help put the show together. Four artists signed up to help organize the show: rope braider Laura Ennis, quilter Shelly Thompson, textile designer Zaret Proa and muralist Amy Tanaka. The four artists were pivotal in making this show possible, Rowe said.

“This is entirely Amy, Shelly, Zaret and Laura, they had the vision for it. They knew how to put it together. They knew what they needed,” Rowe said.

The volunteers have been working on organizing the show since March, and put out a call on social media in June for fiber artists to submit their work for the show.

“It was a community effort that we all decided, ‘Hey, we all have these things in common. It would be great,’” Tanaka said.

“Harmonious Threads: Creating Sustainable Art for an Endangered Planet” will be on display at the Firehouse Community Farm, located at the intersection of Gundry and 65th Street, until Aug. 27. The Firehouse Community Farm is open to the public every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Attendees are asked to park free of charge in the parking lot of the New Philadelphia African Methodist Episcopal Church, located at 6380 Orange Ave, rather than in the residential neighborhood.