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Kiva Motnyk
Onion Dyed Runner and Napkins (set of 2), 2021
Hand dyed patchwork runner with a set of 2 napkins dyed with onion from the Blue Hill at Stone Barns kitchen, 100% linen remnants
Runner: 14 in x 56 in; Napkins: 20 in x 20 in; each piece is hand-dyed and colors may vary
“The trees are coming into leaf,” wrote poet Philip Larkin, “like something almost being said.” It’s a wonderful line, which captures the articulateness of nature — its potential to communicate with us — but also the way that it stands apart from us. Nature nurtures a language that is not quite our own. Art at its best can be a kind of translator, bridging that space of the “almost said.” Case in point: the work of Kiva Motnyk (b. 1977, New York, NY, USA). Since 2014, she has been the head of Thompson Street Studio, drawing on a background in high fashion to create textiles infused with natural dyes derived from foraged plants. The linen designs she shows here at Stone Barns feature the colors of the surrounding countryside. Each is a little metaphorical map, a piece of the landscape made eloquent. To quote Larkin again: “Last year is dead, they seem to say / Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.”
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Onion Dyed Runner and Napkins (set of 2), 2021
Hand dyed patchwork runner with a set of 2 napkins dyed with onion from the Blue Hill at Stone Barns kitchen, 100% linen remnants
Runner: 14 in x 56 in; Napkins: 20 in x 20 in; each piece is hand-dyed and colors may vary
“The trees are coming into leaf,” wrote poet Philip Larkin, “like something almost being said.” It’s a wonderful line, which captures the articulateness of nature — its potential to communicate with us — but also the way that it stands apart from us. Nature nurtures a language that is not quite our own. Art at its best can be a kind of translator, bridging that space of the “almost said.” Case in point: the work of Kiva Motnyk (b. 1977, New York, NY, USA). Since 2014, she has been the head of Thompson Street Studio, drawing on a background in high fashion to create textiles infused with natural dyes derived from foraged plants. The linen designs she shows here at Stone Barns feature the colors of the surrounding countryside. Each is a little metaphorical map, a piece of the landscape made eloquent. To quote Larkin again: “Last year is dead, they seem to say / Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.”
