Stories Fibers Tell
Part of Fiber Fest 2026
January 10 – February 28, 2026
Runyan Gallery
Featuring the work of Shirley Cunningham, Kathe Todd-Hooker, and Irina Belova. These artists employ fiber to create visual narratives. Each are well-versed in using unique approaches to share their stories and to amplify the stories of individuals as well as cultures and those who have come before.
An opening reception will be held on Friday, January 16, from 3-6pm, featuring light refreshments and music.
To help ensure an enjoyable experience for all, we kindly encourage guests to consider attending fragrance-free in support of those with allergies and sensitivities.
FIBER FEST, running January 10 to February 28, 2026 – celebrates fiber arts and artists with exhibits, demonstrations, and classes.
Kathe Todd-Hooker is an award-winning narrative tapestry weaver, dinosaur, instructor of tapestry and related arts since 1981, writer, author, NW native, an ardent student of myth and symbolism that seeps into her imagery and narratives. She has studied Gobelin, Swedish, British, Coptic, Navajo, Middle Eastern and kesa, a tech nerd who synthesizes the techniques to solve technical and design problems in tapestry. Her work consists of mostly small format work (less than 15 inches square inches at 20-22 epi) and large scale formats at 10 epi. With several exceptions for work that is often used in online classes to be better seen. Kathe is an award-winning tapestry weaver and instructor, dreamer, writer, tapestry list mistress, a sometimes historian, journaler, who writes about tapestry, design, colour, journaling, Substack blogger, symbolism, Russian Old Believers, and tapestry technique. She has degrees in Craft Design from OSAC (BA) and OSU (MAIS) in craft design and other minors – history, economics and CTRA She has been teaching tapestry and other things since 1981. She is a native of the NW and an ardent student of myth and symbolism that often seeps into her tapestry imagery. She has studied Gobelin, Swedish, Navajo, British, Coptic, Middle Eastern and kesa techniques from which she synthesizes the techniques that solve technical and design problems in tapestry.
Born near the Black Sea in Crimea, Ukraine, Irina Belova now proudly calls Portland, Oregon, home. Her felted wool creations are inspired by nature, memory, and movement—rooted in the places she has loved, from her childhood shores to the wild beauty of the Pacific Northwest. She works with sheep and alpaca wool using both wet-felting and needle-felting techniques, often blending in natural fibers such as silk, hemp, flax, and bamboo. These materials allow her to create soft, tactile forms that invite exploration and spark curiosity. Much of her inspiration comes from the natural world, especially the textures, colors, and rhythms of the Pacific Coast where she likes to spend a lot of her time. The forms she creates—pods, orbs, barnacles, ridges, and abstract shapes—emerge from close observation of nature’s patterns. At the same time, they often become metaphors for human experience: vessels of protection, echoes of memory, or fragments of stories carried in fiber. Her practice is both material and conceptual. Many of her pieces are made in series or as installations, encouraging viewers to come closer, linger, and find meaning in small shifts of texture and light. At the heart of her work is a search for balance: between strength and fragility, silence and voice, permanence and impermanence. Felt, with its ability to both bind and fray, becomes the perfect medium through which she explores these tensions and invites connection.
Shirley Cunningham is an artist who spent 30 years in the world of fashion and who for the last 15 years has been pursuing art in a more traditional format. She has used fabric as her paint and the female body as her canvas since she began sewing at age 12. In pursuit of pieces for her art, she combs vintage clothing stores all over the country. To maintain the integrity of each piece, Shirley personally performs each step of the creation process from the hand- cleaning to the sewing on of each button. The unique character of each painting expresses her desire to create for the sophisticated preferences of the wearable art connoisseur.