For the past ten years, Four Chapter Gallery has enjoyed partnering with the Kansas City Art Institute Fiber Department to spotlight the work of just one of their exceptionally talented graduating senior class. This year, they will celebrate artist Erica Alexander.

In Prepare a Table, Alexander focuses on slow, repetitive processes including hand stitching and natural dyes that invite both the artist and viewer to pay attention and draw near. Her intricate fiber works and sculptures deal with themes of community, reciprocity with nature, and traditional craft passed down from mother to daughter through generations.

Alexander dyes her fiber with organic materials she has either found or grown during the summer months. Each items finds meaning as she recognizes the places she found each item as well as the history behind each piece of material. She notes there is a beauty in seeing the hand of an artist in textiles — tangible evidence of the people who made those items which, in her case, revolve around deliberate process, planting patience and love into the objects. Important to think about — she notes — in a world of fast fashion.

There will be an artist talk on Friday, May 2 at 6:30pm.