Fine Art of Fiber. November 4 – 6, 2022

Spring I–IV | Fine Art of Fiber 2022

by Jaclyn Bae · Featured at Fine Art of Fiber, Chicago Botanic Garden

Spring I–IV was created during a period marked by profound global uncertainty and distance. As the world paused during the long winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, many experienced isolation, loss, and emotional heaviness. Yet even in that stillness, the desire for renewal persisted. We continued to wait — quietly, patiently — for spring.

This series reflects that longing and resilience. Using reclaimed denim garments, I hand-dyed, discharged, and rolled each fiber coil into sculptural forms, building textures that echo the process of healing and regrowth. Denim, once worn close to the body, carries traces of everyday life — and through transformation, becomes a metaphor for the inevitability of returning light.

The four works express stages of emotional and seasonal transition: the first signs of thaw, the gentle emergence of color, the gradual lifting of heaviness, and finally, the full arrival of hope. Together, they embody the quiet certainty that even after the harshest winters, spring always finds its way back.

The material choice—**reclaimed denim**—is central to the series' therapeutic and metaphorical power. In art therapy, working with reclaimed or **repurposed materials** is often a powerful act of **symbolic healing**, transforming something worn and discarded into a new form that embodies **renewal and resilience**. The global heaviness and isolation experienced during the pandemic gave rise to a collective need for **meaning-making**; this fiber art practice fulfills that need by giving tangible form to the abstract process of **post-traumatic growth**. The creation of sculptural fiber forms mirrors the psychological effort required for **regrowth**, asserting that resilience is not a sudden return to normal, but a deliberate, slow, and textural process of rebuilding the self after a period of profound uncertainty.

🌿 Spring Series Images

Spring I by Jaclyn Bae — fiber artwork made from hand-dyed, discharged denim rolled into sculptural forms

Spring I · 2022

Spring I: The initial thaw. This piece explores the subtle breaking of emotional stillness, using delicate white and cool gray textures to symbolize the first gentle emergence of hope from a frozen, uncertain landscape.

Spring II by Jaclyn Bae — fiber artwork crafted from discharged denim coils symbolizing renewal

Spring II · 2022

Spring II: Gentle emergence of color. A textural shift begins here, introducing soft, muted hues amidst the denim fibers, representing the gradual lifting of emotional heaviness and the quiet resurgence of inner vitality.

Spring III by Jaclyn Bae — sculptural fiber coils hand-dyed and reconstructed from recycled denim

Spring III · 2022

Spring III: Transition into light. This piece captures the full momentum of spring's arrival, utilizing richer, more dynamic sculptural forms to express the active process of psychological and creative regrowth.


Spring IV by Jaclyn Bae — hand-dyed, discharged denim fiber coils arranged into sculptural form

Spring IV · 2022

Spring IV: Full arrival of hope. The series concludes with an affirmation of resilience. The density and arrangement of the reclaimed materials celebrate the successful transformation of past pain into vibrant, lasting strength.

The ultimate triumph of the "Spring I-IV" series lies in its ability to offer a shared, tangible narrative of pandemic experience. The installation acts as a powerful container for collective grief and subsequent hope, reminding every viewer that the process of recovery—like the arrival of spring—is a guaranteed cycle. To view these works is to participate in a silent, communal ritual of healing, reaffirming the enduring therapeutic power of art in times of global crisis.

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