The SAQA Education Committee is launching an exploration of sustainability and the role artists can play in reducing the environmental impact of their creative practices.
As ecological concerns intensify, artists are increasingly examining not only what they make, but how and why they make it. Our choices about materials, production methods, transportation, exhibition, and consumption all have an impact.
Through four online sessions, shared resources, artist presentations, and group discussion, we will explore sustainability from multiple perspectives. This program is not about prescribing a single definition of sustainability or expecting perfection. Instead, it invites you to reflect, exchange ideas, question assumptions, and explore meaningful changes—both large and small.
In This Session:
Working within the Slowstitch tradition, Kathryn Chambers creates hand-stitched textile art from reclaimed materials. Her intuitive process lets each piece evolve naturally, reflecting both the fabric’s history and her commitment to sustainability.
Teresita Leal, an Argentinian-born artist now living in Lithuania, transitioned from a scientific career to textile art more than two decades ago. Her abstract textile collages combine hand-dyed and repurposed fabrics, celebrating color, texture, and sustainability.
Kathryn Chambers works within the ethos of Slowstitch, a process-focused, mindful approach to creating textile art pieces that tell a story. Kathryn's process often begins with the cloth itself. Old cloth has a story to tell: how it has worn, how it tears, how it takes dye, how it responds to the needle; is it resistant or receptive? As she stitches, an idea emerges and she allows the piece to evolve.
Slow hand-stitching limits my consumption and allows me to form a relationship with the cloth. Kathryn uses old cloth and thread, sometimes naturally dyed or eco-printed. Her creative practice treads as lightly as possible upon the Earth.
Teresita Leal recently moved to Lithuania to be closer to her daughters in Europe. Originally from Argentina, she trained as a biochemist and earned a doctorate in physiology. However, more than two decades ago, she shifted her focus to textile art and has since become an internationally recognized artist and educator.
Leal primarily works with stitched textile collage, creating abstract and semi-abstract compositions that celebrate color, texture, and intuitive design. She often hand-dyes fabrics, incorporates upcycled materials, and allows the tactile qualities of cloth to guide her creative process. Due to the limited availability of cotton fabric, she adopts an upcycling approach—hand-dyeing fabrics, repurposing old quilts, and using leftover scraps. These constraints have sparked her creativity, adding layers of history and meaning to her pieces.
Her work has been exhibited across Europe and the Americas, and she is an active member of the international fiber art community, including the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA).
