Martha Fieber, Landscape in Thread – July 2010 – Mary Stoll

Your first gaze at Martha Fieber’s Landscapes in Thread draws you into artistry so intricate and alive you can almost feel the forest surround you. The detail and complexity of her hand embroideries are nothing short of incredible. How is it possible that anyone could have stitched these thousands of leaves, needles and flowers?

Fieber begins with a background of linen that she hand-dyes and paints differently for each individual picture. Then comes her labor of love: Building layer upon layer using hand-painted ribbons and innumerable stitches and knots made of silk, rayon, metallic or hand-dyed cotton threads. Her use of color, composition and the textures of various fibers create a depth that makes her landscapes appear three dimensional.

Inspired by the woods and water at her home along a small lake in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Fieber began fashioning her scenes in 1999, after she and her husband Leonard, also and artist, moved to the country. Having spent the previous two decades as a mechanical designer, Fieber began to combine her ability for precision with her love of nature and peaceful places. The result is exquisite.

An accomplished artist, Fieber has exhibited her works at shows across Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as at the American Craft Exposition in Evanston, Illinois, the Philadelphia Museum of Art craft Show, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Westchester Craft Show in Westchester, New York. In 2005 at the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, D.C., Fieber received the Silver Exhibitor’s Choice Award. Her Landscapes in Thread are available at Fine Line Designs Gallery in Ephriam, Wisconsin.