Elizabeth Ives
Ground Covers, Buried Self, 2026
silk, wool, linen, cotton, glass beads, gac-400, quilting cotton, thread, silk cord 51" x 30" x 4"
This piece explores my return to a dedicated textile practice after a five-year absence, reflecting on the vital, sustaining role art plays in my life. Using natural fabrics, eco-dyes, and traditional fiber techniques, my work examines the intimate connection between the self and the organic world. Created over an intensive two-month period, this work serves as a personal expression of renewal. Throughout the process, I gave consideration to each individual element—shaping every block to explore its unique texture, color, and form, while allowing its place within the larger composition to remain undetermined until the last moments of composition. As these distinct blocks combined, a rich gardenscape emerged, quietly encroaching upon and transforming the rigid, predictable spaces of my everyday life. The prolonged absence from original creation was a distinct, ache-like misery; returning to the studio, by contrast, feels lush and verdant. By combining machine and hand sewing with surface manipulation, quilting, and natural elements like silk cocoons and glass beads, I aim to create a layered visual dialogue. I invite the viewer to consider what lies dormant within their own lives—the passions, parts of self, or creative impulses that may feel absent, yet remain secretly alive, waiting for the right moment and nourishment to emerge.
