Kayla Powers, Santa Fe, NM (2026)

09/01/2026

Saturday September 5th!
1:00 - 3:00 pm
Santa Fe, NM
Free, outdoor, art show in the garden 🌱
See the last slide for more info!

I’m trying out a different model of ownership/stewardship of this work. I’m hoping the collectors (you!) will collaborate with me and this work by living with it for five years and then burying it / planting it.

There are flowers, seeds, roots, and rocks sewn (sown) into this piece and it’s made with all natural materials. The dyes come from plants (or in this case, cochineal) and the fabrics are all organic. Returning them to the earth feels interesting and right for this body of work. If you’re interested in participating, please be in touch.

A portion of all of the sales will go to Hózhó Center Hózhó Voices of Healing 🐑

More info:

This style of piecing together fabric is similar to Jogakbo, a traditional Korean art form of sewing small pieces of fabric together, sometimes to create Bojagi or wrapping cloth. Please have a look, there are so many incredible artists working this way.

This way of working is also inspired by my family quilting traditions which have similar origins in frugality and necessity, tracing back four generations (that I know of) to the American South. My great-great Grandmother, Jim Bob Robertson, was a blue ribbon quilter in Tennessee and I am honored to have a quilt top she started but never finished which has inspired my exposed seams and delicate fabric.

This work like all of my work is an exploration of place through color. I’m foraging, cultivating, weaving, sewing, and dyeing to express a relationship with and as the living world. This project was funded by The Fulcrum Fund and The Puffin Foundation 516 ARTS

08/21/2026

Saturday September 5th!
1:00 - 3:00 pm
Santa Fe, NM
Free, outdoor, art show in the garden 🌱
See the last slide for more info!

I’m trying out a different model of ownership/stewardship of this work. I’m hoping the collectors (you!) will collaborate with me and this work by living with it for five years and then burying it (or returning it to me to bury).

There are flowers, seeds, roots, and rocks sewn (sown) into this piece and it’s made with all natural materials. The dyes come from plants and the fabrics are all organic. Returning them to the earth feels interesting and right for this body of work. If you’re interested in participating, please be in touch.

A portion of all of the sales will go to an Indigenous-led Navajo Churro Wool Cooperative here in NM 🐑

More info:

This style of piecing together fabric is similar to Jogakbo, a traditional Korean art form of sewing small pieces of fabric together, sometimes to create Bojagi or wrapping cloth. Please have a look, there are so many incredible artists working this way.

This way of working is also inspired by my family quilting traditions which have similar origins in frugality and necessity, tracing back four generations (that I know of) to the American South. My great-great Grandmother, Jim Bob Robertson, was a blue ribbon quilter in Tennessee and I am honored to have a quilt top she started but never finished which has inspired my exposed seams and delicate fabric.

This work like all of my work is an exploration of place through color. I’m foraging, cultivating, weaving, sewing, and dyeing to express a relationship with and as the living world. This project was funded by The Fulcrum Fund and The Puffin Foundation 516 ARTS

07/28/2026

I’m weaving a color chart for my current project Chromatic Ecology ✨ I’ve been foraging and growing dye plants to create a series of textile pieces and this woven color chart to explore place-based color.

On September 5 I’m hosting an outdoor art show in the garden to show off all this work. I hope you can come! This project is funded by The Fulcrum Fund and Puffin Foundation ❤️

The madder root I grew this year (from seed! 🙏🏼 Grand Prismatic Seed) won’t be ready to harvest for at least two years so I bought ground madder root from Maiwa. And the indigo also came from Maiwa because I have one lone surviving plant from this very intense growing season here in Santa Fe.

07/15/2026

I’m so excited to share that I received a Fulcrum Fund Grant for my project Chromatic Ecology! I’ll be dyeing fabric and yarn with plants that I grow and forage here in Santa Fe and making a series of fabric pieces and a weaving. This is the first piece I’ve made which is dyed with Cota, a native wildflower also known as Navajo Tea and green thread. This project will culminate with a free, public Garden Art Show on September 5 here in Santa Fe.

There are flowers and seeds sewn (sown) into this piece and it’s made with all natural materials. I’m going to try out a different model of ownership/stewardship of this work when they’re complete. Thanks to some wonderful conversations at Anderson Ranch especially with Kelly Booth about the work of Tilke Elkins, I’m going to sell these works with the agreement that the piece be buried in 5 years. Returning the materials, dyes, and seeds to the earth. More on this to come 🌀

This style of piecing together fabric is similar to Jogakbo, a traditional Korean art form of sewing small pieces of fabric together, sometimes to create Bojagi or wrapping cloth. Please have a look, there are so many incredible artists working this way.

This way of working is also inspired by my family quilting traditions which have similar origins in frugality and necessity, tracing back four generations (that I know of) to the American South. My great-great Grandmother, Jim Bob Robertson, was a blue ribbon quilter in Tennessee and I am honored to have a quilt top she started but never finished which has inspired my exposed seams and delicate fabric.

This work like all of my work is an exploration of place through color. I’m foraging, cultivating, weaving, sewing, and dyeing to express a relationship with and as the living world. 516 ARTS

07/02/2026

I’ll be giving an artist talk at Taos Center for the Arts Thursday July 9 at 5:30pm! It’s free and open to all. I’d love to see you there.

I made this body of work about the land and the different relationships I was observing here in the high desert. Juniper and piñon act as a nurse species for each other, the mature trees provide shade from the sun and shelter from the wind, essentially creating a microclimate for the seedlings to become established. They both develop a web of lateral roots in addition to one super deep taproot about 20 feet deep. I’m using the fabric and thread scraps to speak to the cycle (Iike compost) the ongoingness. And I dyed the natural and second hand fabrics with juniper roots and piñon cones.

Juniper and Piñon, 2026
Cotton, linen, silk, fabric scraps, embroidery thread, juniper roots, piñon cones, 35mm photos printed on cotton, drop cloth
40 x 47 x 2 inches

Cloud Rocks, 2026
Cotton, silk, wool, natural dyes

06/26/2026

This has been the most incredible week at Anderson Ranch Arts Center 🌼 I’m so grateful to share this practice and connect with so many talented, generous, and curious people. We made watercolor paints (and ink, pastels, and milk paint, from natural materials) plus we foraged for plants, made color charts, and had countless great conversations. 🌸

06/19/2026

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to the opening of Elemental Ephemera 🌸🪨 After months of creating this new body of work it felt so good to get to share. I’ll be giving an artist talk on July 9th and the show is up until August 2nd Taos Center for the Arts

06/12/2026

Elemental Ephemera opens June 18th at Taos Center for the Arts from 4-6pm! I’m so excited to share this new body of work alongside Gillian Moore

Inflorescence, 2026
Cotton, h**p, silk, embroidery thread, 35mm film photos, cochineal, juniper, dried flowers, drop cloth
74 x 44 x 2 in

05/06/2026

I’m very excited to show some new work in Taos next month!

This piece is part of a new body of work using photography printed on fabric alongside naturally dyed fibers and hand embroidery and it will be part of a two person exhibition with .studio at Opening June 18th 4-6pm 🪨

𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘙𝘰𝘤𝘬, 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘰, 2026
Cotton, silk, embroidery thread, 35mm film photo printed on cotton, juniper roots, iron, drop cloth
22 x 26 x 2 inches

04/20/2026

I’m looking forward to being back in Michigan for the closing of my exhibition 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩 🌼 I’m giving a talk this Friday April 24th at if you’re interested! Making these flowers (each one dyed with plants and hand sewn) kept me busy for most of last year and I learned so much in the process.

AND our collaborative piece 𝘚𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 was such a beautiful reminder of the power of making and collective action and abundance and generosity. I put a call out for sunflower seed shaped fabric seeds and you all responded with more than 1600 seeds from around the world 🥹 everyone who visited the exhibition was invited to take one home. For free! A literal and metaphorical representation of The Gift Economy (described by Robin Wall Kimmerer).

I really think we have more in common than we’re made to believe and we need each other 🫂🌏

Kayla Powers

09/01/2026

08/21/2026

07/28/2026

07/15/2026

07/02/2026

06/26/2026

06/19/2026

06/12/2026

05/06/2026

04/20/2026

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