Studio 23 Visiting Artist

Rhonda Luckey was selected for her captivating artwork and processes, in which she employs a variety of methods utilizing natural fibers gathered from the immediate environment of her studios in northern Michigan and western Pennsylvania. Her practice is informed by the rich history, mythology, and artistic traditions of Asian and European cultures—cultivated during her childhood in Okinawa, France, and Italy.

Luckey will host a community workshop sharing the process of eco-printing, where participants will experience the process, from the collection of materials through the printing, and will leave with a finished work of art. We look forward to working with her to create an engaging exhibition and workshop experience.

Rhonda Luckey is a fiber artist living in Pennsylvania and Michigan. For over 40 years, she dedicated her career to public health and education, working across K–12 schools and university settings. Since retiring from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the fall of 2018, she has devoted herself fully to her fiber art practice.

Luckey’s work has been featured in juried and curated exhibitions at the Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media; the Phillip Dressler Center for the Arts in Somerset, Pennsylvania; the University Museum of Indiana University of Pennsylvania; and the Artists Hand Gallery and The Fox Clark Gallery in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Her writing and textile work have also been published in “Handwoven” (spring 2024) and “Surface Design Journal” (February 2022). Her pieces can be viewed in person at the Artists Hand Gallery in Indiana, Pennsylvania, or online at www.enfoldmefiberdesign.com.

Artist Statement
Seeing with the Heart
Rhonda Luckey

As a multidisciplinary textile artist, I am inspired by the quiet language of nature and how myths, mystics, and storytellers reinterpret the rustle of leaves—the rush of water, the hush of autumn winds, the mournful crack of ice breaking across a lake—into the language of love. These sacred moments invite me to pause, listen, and simply be.

Working from my studios in northern Michigan and western Pennsylvania, I seek to rediscover and restore the natural landscapes that surround me into visual poetry, yutori. My fiber art practice is informed by the rich history, mythology, and artistic traditions of Asian and European cultures cultivated during my childhood in Okinawa, France, and Italy.

My creative process is rooted in the earth’s abundance. Natural fibers—gathered from flowers, grasses, and forest-floor debris—are brought to life through eco-printing, block printing, painting, sewing, weaving, and nuno felting. I incorporate traditional techniques such as shibori, sashiko, sakiori, and ikat, heartened by the way these historic forms enrich “seeing with the heart” through fiber art.

Pressed plant matter and found objects often leave bas-relief impressions in my work—each one a tactile memory honoring Anima Mundi, the soul of the universe, by remembering fragments of our sacred earth.

Through my art I strive to interweave tradition with innovation, creating textile works that welcome reflection, restoration, and reconnection with the wisdom of our natural world. Each piece symbolizes a new way of thinking, a change of heart—metanoia—becoming a prayer for peace, love, and hope for our planet and for one another.

“May we honor the sacred
kinship that binds us to all
living beings, recognizing
the spirit within each
creature as a reflection of
the divine.” 

Robert Ferrell, “Contemplative Interbeing,” October 9, 2024