Kristine A. Luber

It is a rare day when Kristine A. Luber doesn’t have a needle in hand to sew “something.” Luber creates textile landscapes incorporating photographs printed on fabric, thread painting, and bead work. She sews fabric bowls and fashions flowers and other women’s wearables from men’s neckties and scraps left over from home sewing projects. Her artwork has been displayed at shows and in galleries in Northeast Kansas and beyond, winning awards in Lawrence, Topeka, DeSoto, Kansas City and St. Louis. She makes textile collage landscapes by stitching cloth scraps together. Sometimes she prints her own photos on fabric which allows her to sew them right into the patchwork. she also sews whimsical semi-realistic flowers and leaves that have wire hidden inside to allow for shaping. And she makes wearable pieces from men’s neckties, and embellishes thrift store finds, turning them into totally new garments.
While the art she exhibits in galleries and gift shops is limited to textiles, she has been teaching adults, teens, and children how to make mosaics from broken tile and dishes for decades. Making beautiful things from castoffs — thereby saving them from the landfill — is always on her mind.

Luber will provide a trunk show of her art which includes fabric landscapes from greeting card size to four feet long and fabric sculptures of a variety of flowers and leaves. Her accompanying slide show includes many additional pieces. She can also do a “show and tell” of her women’s wearables sewn from old men’s neckties, castoff fabrics, sewing notions, and electrical wire. She will model pieces of clothing made from rescued family heirlooms and re-designed or embellished thrift store finds. In her program she includes what inspires her and interesting details about the sources for many of her unique materials. She often says, “If I can get a needle through it, I can use it in my art.” Luber’s work is also available for solo and group gallery shows. In conjunction with those shows, she would be available for artist talks and small workshops.
In her many years as a youth minister and later as a teacher at the North Topeka Community Art Center, she led youth and adults in making individual and group mosaics. So, in a completely separate program, she can show how family castoffs, thrift store finds, and other non-porous materials – specifically broken tiles, dishes, and additional found objects — can be made into mosaic art thereby saving it from the landfill.

$125 la hora hasta $500 al día para talleres, más gastos de viaje y alojamiento si es necesario.
Program participants will either be required to furnish the materials locally (this is preferred, and a materials list will be provided) or pay net cost of materials used. Additional cost will be incurred if Luber puts finishing touches on the project in her Topeka studio.

Luber dirigirá un taller básico de costura diseñado para mostrar cómo el trabajo con aguja e hilo puede ayudar a recargar un guardarropa con adornos y restaurar textiles muy queridos para convertirlos en algo hermoso, ya sea ponible o como arte. Luber puede enseñar a jóvenes y/o adultos los fundamentos de la construcción de mosaicos, desde la planificación del diseño hasta la selección y el corte de los materiales, pasando por el rejuntado y el acabado.

Los participantes en el programa deberán proporcionar el material localmente (preferiblemente) o pagar el coste neto de los artículos proporcionados por el presentador. Se facilitará una lista de materiales.

A community textile project would be to make an indoor or outdoor banner or flag composed of pieces made by members of the group and then connected into a single whole. Because of drying times for glues and grout, a community mosaic would require a one- or two-day group workshop setting.