Weaving as a Community Experience
This 38 inch nuno-felted and sculpted butterfly is the weft for the Mariposa Community Weaving Project.
In Fall 2026, the Mariposa Community Weaving Project at Studio 23 in Bay City, Michigan, became a collaborative fiber arts experience, inviting individuals to contribute threads, colors, memories, and creative thoughts to a shared textile celebrating connection, transformation, and community.
Inspired by the butterfly’s metamorphosis, the project honors the ways we, as individuals and communities, evolve through shared experience. Each woven contribution became a voice—a memory, a gesture, a moment, a quiet expression of belonging. Together, these many voices formed a textile revealing the beauty that emerges when individual threads become part of a greater whole.
Mariposa, the Spanish word for butterfly, evokes transformation, movement, resilience, and renewal. Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, the community weaving embodied a slow, intentional becoming.
Visitors gathered at the loom, slowing down to weave, exchange stories, and make connections. The loom became a place of encounter, where creativity bridged generations and cultures, and the simple act of weaving opened space for conversation and discovery.
The finished textile is more than a work of art. It is a record of many hands, many moments, and many voices—woven into a shared expression of beauty, belonging, and hope.
The Clymene Moth Blessing
When I began designing the Mariposa Community Weaving Project, a Clymene moth landed on my desk. Its cross-shaped marking felt like a quiet blessing, an affirmation of the path unfolding before me. The encounter reminded me of nature’s gentle invitations to pause, to observe, and to remain open to what might otherwise go unnoticed.
The kinship between moth and butterfly became part of Mariposa’s story. The moth’s arrival seemed to echo the spirit of the project itself: a slow, patient transformation, shaped by attention, trust, and the coming together of many small things.
At the loom, that blessing continued. Each weaver brought a thread of intention and connection. Every visitor who participated—even by weaving a single painted strip or passing the shuttle a few times—became part of the whole. As the cloth grew, the painted strips gradually came together to reveal Mariposa, the butterfly, emerging through the collective work of many hands.
The Rhythm of Many Hands
Visitors to Studio 23 quickly discovered that the Weaver’s Perfect Memory kept track of the weaving sequence. With the pointer indicating which combination of shafts to raise next, each weaver could approach the loom with confidence. Once a sequence was complete, the cylinder was advanced by hand, allowing the next visitor to begin where the previous weaver had left off.
This simple, tactile tool helped many different hands find their place within a single pattern. Each person contributed something of their own while preserving the rhythm and continuity of the cloth. One weaver followed another, thread by thread, the pattern holding them together.
Seeing with the Heart
Throughout my Studio 23 Visiting Artist experience, I felt a sacred kinship with all living beings. I found myself recognizing a divine spark within each creature and each person encountered along the way.
Within the exhibition space, I watched curiosity awaken, conversations unfold, and visitors step into the creative process. Making became a shared experience—an invitation to discover, connect, and renew. The loom offered a place to pause, to be present, and to experience how something meaningful can emerge when we create together.
Mariposa measures 22”x55”.
Within the exhibition space, I saw each visitor be curious, welcome conversation, and join in the creative process.
Making became a shared experience—an act of discovery, connection, and renewal.
“My hope is that each visitor left having woven one thread into the fabric that binds us to one another, to the living earth, and to the quiet mystery that calls us home.”
