Theme of the Month
Ripping Out, Resilience!
"Peace Fibres is a very meaningful work. It ties together all the metaphoric aspects of fibre art, and invites us to think about the meaning woven with fibres through different crafts in order to create a more peaceful world."
Dr. Daina Taimina, Mathematician, Cornell University
There is great yearning for a world community of peace.
There is yearning for personal peace as well.
The stories and activities in Peace Fibres offer an opportunity for deepening awareness of self enfolded in larger context. Easily accessible to fibre artists and to those who have never picked up a needle, the simple fibre projects invite expression of this amazing web of interdependence. Peace Fibres stimulates appreciation and awe for the wisdom and beauty woven through the ages with fibres.
Fibre creations evolve as human needs evolve. Clothing, canvas, nets protect us from the elements and help provide food. Sensory awareness is enhanced through appreciation of the textures, dyes, and fragrances of fibres and their sources. Our sense of competence is enhanced when we create something useful and beautiful. Connection to others takes place as we share fibre creations or our love of a fibre technique or process. Awareness of unique cultural identities and contributions through fibre work instills appreciation for diversity. Awe at the intersection of science and spirit with art demonstrates the interconnectedness of all.
Woven from a belief that we are all our sisters’ keepers, a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of Peace Fibres will be contributed each month to a different organization working through fibre creations to empower marginalized people. If you have an organization you would like considered, visit our resource page.
Cast on one tiny string, twist and loop, connect another…and another…and another. Like this vibrant Paraguayan ñandutí fibre work entwines all in ever-expanding compassionate web of connection to self, others, the larger world, and beyond.
Ñandutí, this Paraguayan lace, illustrates the radiating web of fibre connection. The technique was introduced by the Spaniards, and the women of Paraguay captured the fractal patterns of nature by gracefully stitching layers connected to layers in a durable web of beauty and strength.
Karen Lohn M.A., LP
Licensed Psychologist
Educator/Author
A natural teacher, Karen Lohn is a licensed counseling psychologist who is passionate about the tapestry of life. For more than 20 years, she has taught classes, workshops, and college courses focused on integration of self through metaphor and experiential learning. In Peace Fibres, she threads together her knowledge and understanding of people and cultures with a hands-on approach to creating a soulful world. Karen offers retreats, seminars, short talks, and a call-to-artists as experiential options. See our events schedule, or contact Karen to schedule an event.
Karen teaches and trains individuals and organizations on the enneagram, a fascinating model of human personality and relationship. Her clients include university students, small businesses, and a variety of organizations. She regularly offers retreats at Windcradle Retreat Center overlooking spectacular Lake Superior at Grand Marais, Minnesota. (www.windcradle.org).
She and gallery-owner, Jan Sivertson, collaborate in teaching and training. (www.sivertson.com). Teaming this summer with author and enneagram scholar Michael Goldberg (Nine Ways of Working, and Travels with Odysseus) (www.ninewaysofworking.com), Karen will again offer an experiential canoe/kayak adventure based on Goldberg’s interpretation of the Odyssey.
An enthusiastic lover of nature, Karen teaches about the intersection of psychology with the natural world in Stone Soup Retreats. (www.stonesoupretreat.com) For these, she partners with therapeutic coach, Sonja Karger, and introduces participants to the wondrous wilderness of the Gunflint Trail. Based on the classic tale of Stone Soup emphasizing every person’s contribution to the nourishment of the whole village, this retreat is for those who wish to explore and experience the relationship of human beings to the natural world. It emphasizes the role of individual health and well being in our relationship to self, others, and the environment which supports us.
Karen offers custom-designed brief talks, focused seminars, and luxurious week-long retreats. Incorporating music, movement, color, and creative expression, Karen invites participants to engage in the experience and to enjoy the process of doing so. The retreat setting allows the group to deepen connections with one another, relate intimately to nature, and spend time in solitude and introspection. It is Karen’s preferred format for teaching.
She is available for consulting and training as well.
To contact Karen for presentations, please call or email at 218-349-8072 karenlohn@boreal.org.
Catherine (Katie) Zdechlik
Catherine Zdechlik loves everything in nature, and enjoys people watching. Encouraged by her mother and teachers at the College of St. Benedict, she became a researcher, designer, and lifelong learner.
She enthusiastically embraces artistic expression, and believes that everyone is creative. She's in awe of sensual beauty, from moonlight on water to the draping of linen. She’s slowly learning that perfect isn’t best. Catherine’s collaborative contributions of text, review, revisions, and support are an integral part of Peace Fibres. She is active in many groups and organizations in the Twin Cities area, and she has a soft spot for children, especially her grandchildren.
Karen and Katie have been good friends for four decades.
Maryl Skinner and Denny FitzPatrick M Graphic Design
Book design and additional research, images, and editing by Maryl Skinner and Denny FitzPatrick of M Graphic Design, Grand Marais, Minnesota.
Willingness to wrap herself in a cocoon of blankets, don a flowing fuchsia “Sophia” dress, arriving barefoot with champagne, Maryl’s immersion in the process of this book gave it life. Her creative genius is evident on every page. Denny’s amazing skill with technology and his patient willingness to respond to the whims of two women made manifest the vision.
These returned Peace Corps volunteers are wrapped here in a 20-foot-long Rapunzel scarf, braided and gifted to them by Karen. Denny and Maryl also pursue their own individual creative projects, when they are not joined at the neck.