Called “Threads of Resilience,” the Trillium Gallery’s current show displays painstaking craftsmanship combined with heartfelt imagination. While framed as photographs, oils, or watercolors that are typically on display in the gallery, most of LaVel Rude’s handmade forms in the show are close to being three-dimensional, stitching thread and cloth with natural dyes.
The unusual show runs through October. The gallery on Wintergreen Mountain at the Nature Foundation is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 2 pm to 4:30 pm; Thursdays 9 am to noon.
As an artist, I am drawn to the personal stories embedded in cloth and how botanical “Eco” printing connects us to the natural world. Threads of Resilience is inspired by the skill and resourcefulness of women expressed through stitching and cloth across generations. This exhibit celebrates that resilience and enduring spirit and pays tribute to the transformative power of textile art and how it continues to evolve as a storytelling medium.
My backstory is grounded in Northern Minnesota where every day I lived and played outdoors in the woods, and on the family farm. They were a family of “Makers” who created a life, working with their hands. I watched them make, build, hunt, gather, grow and store food. And it seemed to me that my grandmother stitched on cloth all day, every day. When I was 14, I started painting lessons with my uncle, who was a professional oil and pastel painter. While raising my family and moving several times, the arts; through education, photography, interior decorative painting murals, and pastel painting were always part of my life.
The profound loss of my sister in 2021 led me back to childhood memories of vintage fabrics and the closeness I felt to nature. Repurposing leaves and cloth started out as sort of a grief journey; honoring a life worth living. Years later, it is now the most spontaneous, fun, and creative art process I have ever tried. I am now able to combine meaning, memories, and Eco~ printed cloth with so many other art forms I enjoy. - LaVel Rude, September 2025
Photography of the artwork by Mark Eichenberger
Compositions both abstract and traditional offer compelling textures of hand stitching and needle-felted wool, the softness of pastels, and the ability of botanical “Eco” printed art to intertwine our own journey with nature’s personal imprints. Detail and depth of quality framing helps bring the viewer in to appreciate the intricately detailed creations.
“Eco-Printing” or “Botanical Printing” is an environmentally mindful process using vegetation, heat, pressure and water to create patterns and colors on natural fabrics or paper. It uses reactions between metal pots, iron, and tannin to achieve long lasting, washable prints on protein (wool or silk) and cellulose (cotton or linen) fabrics. Synthetic fabrics will not be successful with natural dyes.-LaVel Rude
