As Women’s History Month continues, we’re honoring the female voices and talents at ReCreative Denver. Each woman brings something unique and special to our building, and we couldn’t be more proud of this community we build together.
Holly Harrison (she/her) is a fiber artist and collector of vintage and cast-off textiles — and the stories that accompany them. She constructs and deconstructs the colors, textures, and imperfections that were once part of someone else’s beloved stash.
“As I wander estate sales, gathering treasures ranging from the vintage silk kimonos of a Japanese war bride, to exquisitely hand embroidered linen dinner napkins, to piles of fabric carefully pressed or haphazardly jumbled, I muse upon the life and dreams of the person who sewed and crafted and created in a home now open to the perusal of strangers.”
Holly has been a resident artist at ReCreative since its early days. Like many folks who first discovered the shop, she was there to donate art supplies but found herself shopping for previously loved treasures. It was only a couple months before she had her own studio to create within the RCD family.
Working with a variety of fiber — primarily wool yarn upcycled from estate sales and thrift stores — Holly hand tuft rugs using a tufting gun. She likes to think of it as painting with yarn to create art for your floor! In addition to being beautiful, the wool is thick, warm, and durable. But it's also meant to be used and enjoyed.
Still, as a serial creative dabbler, she is a maker who uses different mediums and processes. One moment she’ll be re-piecing vintage and other non-traditional material into quilts, pillows and clothing and the next she’ll be working on her weaving, felting, tufting, and rug making.
“The common thread is useful art. I love making things that add beauty and artistry to people’s lives but that are also well used within their homes. The quilt will get threadbare, the rug may get stained, but the beauty will add joy that will permeate each day.”
Mostly self-taught, Holly has taken a number of workshops, watched a good deal of YouTube videos, and engaged in endless trial and error. She gets excited about mixing techniques and playing with scale.
Holly’s designs are often inspired by nature. She also admires abstract and impressionist painters and their use of color, shape, and texture and how those all can translate into fiber art.
But at the core of her work Holly aims to create “Functional art… with a past.” She’s creating a new purpose and injecting refreshed beauty into once forgotten pieces.
Check out more of Holly’s fiber works, textiles, and other projects >