Opening next Thursday, March 7 in The Art League Gallery, mixed media artist Sabyna Sterrett’s “State of Emergency” will exhibit textural installations woven from plastic bags, trash bags, and plastic tape.

In this video, Sabyna tells us about how she started working with plastic, what the pieces mean to her, and how she creates the large rug-hooked pieces:

Sabyna has been an artist since the early 1980s, when she first moved to the DC area. She created woven contemporary forms with a Washington fiber artist, where she says she was drawn to the meditative, repetitive aspects of weaving. She also took classes and substitute taught at The Art League, and was accepted to her first show here 18 years ago.

Starting with the plastic sleeves from the morning newspaper, Sabyna began experimenting with ways to work with plastic — specifically, polyethylene, which is non-biodegradable, is mostly made from petroleum or natural gas, and the vast majority of which goes to landfills instead of being recycled. After a lot of trial-and-error with different slippery, static-y materials, Sabyna found ways to use plastic in knitting, weaving, hooking, and collage. For this exhibit, she scaled up her work for more threatening, oppressive creations in white, black, and red — such as Environmental State of Emergency, above, and Pristine Environment, below.

During the exhibit, representatives from the Alice Ferguson Foundation will discuss their Trash Free Potomac Watershed initiative, a five-pronged approach to solving regional pollution issues. Join us for their presentation on Thursday, March 21 at 6:30 pm.

Come see “State of Emergency,” March 7 through April 1, and join us for an opening reception Thursday, March 14 at 6:30 pm. More photos are below!