The Garden's Loom feat: Christine Guernsey
May 18 - June 26, 2026
Gallery 440 presents an exhibition featuring Christine Guernsey. She prints her original garden images onto large cotton sheets and weaves them using a traditional four-harness floor loom with a warp of various colored sewing threads. This is a term she calls "Fiberography."
About the Exhibition
Nature has always been a maker. In The Garden's Loom, fiber artist Christine Guernsey follows its lead — photographing the intimate details of her own gardens, then weaving those images into large-scale textile works she calls Fiberographies. Thread by thread, petal by petal, each piece traces the journey from living garden to woven form, asking us to slow down, look closely, and find peace in the natural world.
About Christine Guernsey + the Process
Christine Guernsey is a Dallas–Fort Worth based artist working at the intersection of fiber and photography. Her practice, which she describes as “fiberography,” begins in her nine Texas gardens, where she observes the full life cycle of plants—from seed and cutting to bloom and decay. During this process, she captures photographs of fleeting moments, building an image archive that serves as the foundation for her woven work.
Selected images are digitally refined—enlarged, cropped, and abstracted—before being inkjet printed onto cotton fabric. These prints function as both reference and structural guide, informing the translation from photographic image to textile form.
Each weaving begins with the meticulous preparation of the warp on a manual four-harness loom. This labor-intensive process requires the careful measuring, sequencing, and tensioning of a minimum of 800 extremely fine sewing threads. Even the smallest error necessitates restarting, underscoring the precision and discipline inherent in the work. Warp threads are first measured on a warping board, often in color sequences that echo the source imagery, then individually threaded through heddles and drawn through the reed—a process known as dressing the loom, which can take several weeks.
Once the loom is prepared, Guernsey weaves using a traditional inlay technique. The process is slow and deliberate, demanding sustained focus to maintain structural integrity across the delicate threads. Depending on scale, a single piece may take six weeks or more to complete. Through this method, ephemeral moments observed in the garden are transformed into intricate, tactile works in which photographic imagery and handwoven structure converge.
Guernsey began weaving as an undergraduate in Ohio University’s Art Department. After graduating, she co-produced two national fiber art exhibitions, Interweave ’78 and Interweave ’79, experiences that led to long careers in museums and fine art appraising. Since relocating to the Dallas–Fort Worth area, she has been an active member of the Fort Worth Weavers Guild, where she recently served as president.
Her work has been exhibited widely throughout Texas, earning recognition and awards in multiple juried exhibitions.
Exhibitions:
Nature and Fibers
Play Frisco Cultural Affairs
Juried
April 1 – June 27, 2026
Aloe, 2023, Mixed Media, 45 x 35 inches
Thimbles, 2023, Mixed Media, 30 x 20 inches
2025 -Amarillo Biennial 600
Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, TX
Juried
September 19, 2025 – January 1, 2026
Crassula 1, 2024, Mixed Media, 40 x 28 inches
For the Love of Art
ArtCentre of Plano, Plano, TX
Juried
October 25 – November 25, 2025
Spotted Leopard Mangrave, 2023, Mixed Media, 33 x 27.75
Celebrating American Craft 2025
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Juried
September 8, 2025 – January 1, 2026
Persian Shield, 2021, Mixed Media, 44.50 x 34.50 inches
Fresh Ideas 2025
Visual Art League of Lewisville, Lewisville, TX
Juried
August 16 – September 13, 2025
Mexican Plum, 2025, Mixed Media, 41 x 32 inches
125 Show, 2025
Plano Art Association, Plano, TX
Juried
September 3- October 4, 2025
Echeveria, 2023, Mixed Media 45.5 x 35.5 inches
40th Annual Texas International Exhibition
University of Texas at Tyler Department of Art, Tyler, Texas
January 21 – March 7, 2025
Spotted Leopard Mangrave
Echeveria, 2023, Mixed Media 45.5 x 35.5 inches
Artist's Statement
Gardening, photography, and weaving converge in my work to create large-scale textile pieces that translate the intimacy of nature into immersive visual experiences. Rooted in a deep understanding of soil, light, and plant life, I compose my gardens as living studies in color, texture, and form—then reframe them through the lens of abstraction.
My focus centers on the often unseen: the intricate veining of leaves, the architecture of stamens and pistils, and the fleeting complexity of each bloom. These details are photographed, enlarged, and transformed into bold, painterly compositions.
Each image is printed onto cotton fabric, cut into strips, and handwoven on a four-harness floor loom using a warp of more than 800 individual thin sewing threads. This labor-intensive process creates richly textured surfaces where image and structure are inseparable, resulting in work that shifts with light and reveals new depth over time.
The fusion of ancient weaving techniques with contemporary photographic imagery produces pieces that are both tactile and visually dynamic. While grounded in natural forms, the final works function as modern abstractions—designed to anchor a space, invite closer inspection, and create a sense of calm and presence.
My work is particularly suited for interiors that value materiality, craftsmanship, and a connection to the natural world. Each one-of-a- kind piece offers a quiet focal point—one that rewards sustained attention and brings a layered, organic sensibility into architectural spaces.
The Guernsey Gallery
