22 to 27 January 2026
I know, it’s been half a year since I posted a blog. It was a busy winter and spring. Sometimes living and doing are more important
than documenting what and where we’re travelling. But I usually catch up. So here it is, my short trip to Seattle in
mid-winter.
One of my college roomies from over half a century ago had a solo
art exhibit at the Pacific NW Quilt and Textile Museum. She had been a marine biologist with the
Northwest Fisheries at NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
Administration in Seattle). Her specific
job included prepping slides and taking photographs of specimens 
using the SEM, the scanning electron microscope.
Okay, for people like me who aren’t science people, here’s a quick
explanation of the SEM. It’s a giant
microscope that shoots electrons onto a prepared sample on a glass slide, and
the electrons bounce 
off so it creates an image of the surface, which is then
photographed. Because it’s using
electrons, the images can be up to one million times the size they are in
reality. So if a scientist wants to see
the effect of a pollutant on a fish embryo, for example, they might want to use
the SEM and produce an image that is 2000 times the size of the actual fish
egg. That’s the very short description,
but 
you get the idea.
Because the photographs are created by electrons bouncing off the slide,
there’s no color included. It’s not a
visual image, not the way we humans see.
It’s more of an echo created by those electrons, or maybe a vibration. The photos are all in black and white and 
grey.
So, my friend Carla retired from NOAA, and started creating art
quilts portraying many of the images she saw using the SEM for research. Things like shark skin, which is way more
texture-y than normal fish skin. Or
various microbes in ocean water, such as diatoms. 
(Another aside – diatoms are sort of like
algae, in that they’re more in the plant family than they are animal. They’re single-celled tiny microscopic things
that live in water, and produce oxygen – something like 20 to 50% of the oxygen
we breathe! Essential little guys!)
All of that science stuff aside, Carla had this solo art
show. How could I, supportive friend and
art person, NOT go to the exhibit? Of
course I flew up and spent a five day weekend with my old college roomies, and
had a great time.
Friday I spent the day with R, and we visited the Burke Museum at
the University of Washington campus.
They had a fabulous exhibit about weaving techniques and natural dyes
used by the Coastal Salish peoples, the Native Americans 
ranging from Oregon
through the west coast of Canada all the way up to the Alaskan Panhandle. Fascinating, and we had a great time. (R is my weaving friend, who went to the tapestry
class in Italy with me in October 2024.)
On Saturday, I caught a 
ride with R to town of LaConner, Washington. Carla was already there ensuring everything
was ready for her talk, where she described her journey from playing on beaches
to becoming a marine biologist to creating quilts about microscopic sea
creatures.
You know how you know someone, and after fifty years you learn all
sorts of new things about them? It was
that kind of experience.
And because many of Carla’s quilts are based on those SEM images,
she plays with color. Diatoms are
fascinating little things, with layer upon layer of structure, all contained
within one single cell. Because they’re
more like algae, they’re probably in the earthy greenish range of colors. But when seen at 2000 times normal size, 
well, magentas or turquoises make perfect sense!
She also has created waterscapes, such as kelp forests, or
nudibranchs (fancy sea slugs) in their environment. She even made a gorgeous sea turtle swimming over
a Caribbean coral reef for 
Richard and my wedding present – just incredible
detail!!!
Plus fabric sculpture of oysters, held in a little wire barbecue basket – and I know she’s currently working on a series of barnacles. Really! Imagine oysters and barnacles created in fabric and mixed fibers like felt, yarn, and who knows what else! Or a close up of fish skin, or even a fish scale blown up 1000 times!
I should add that Carla doesn't just sew the quilts. She also dyes much of the fabric she uses, as well as paints or sews details to add texture. I'm saving the nudibranch quilts for the end so I can really enlarge the photos so you can see the exquisite details of her work.
It was a wonderful exhibit and talk, and showcased something like 20 years of Carla’s work. (I should add that Carla has had smaller exhibits at various aquariums and science centers around the Pacific Northwest, but that this was sort of a culmination of all those smaller shows.)
We spent Sunday and part of Monday together, had a bunch of dinners together, and did the normal close-friends-catching-up kind of talking. Often accompanied by prosecco and/or chocolate.
Here’s an interview with the artist, and I’ll follow with a link to her website:
https://createwhimsy.com/projects/spotlight-carla-stehr-fiber-artist/
To see Carla’s quilts next to the SEM image that inspired her: https://carlastehr.com/series
And then I flew out on Tuesday, leaving a chilly 30º but sunny Seattle, and returned to our Tucson desert warmth. (The mountain photos are views of Mount Rainier, from my hotel balcony.)
Okay - fairy nudibranks with tiny sea anemones and sea snails. No SEM, just seen in a tide pool.
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