India Tresselt

I have been working in textile and fiber for as long as I can remember. These days, my practice involves primarily needle felting, freeform embroidery, and knitting. The constants are thread or yarn, and a needle of some sort, whether sewing, felting, or knitting. These different but related practices all involve the slow, methodical building of a piece stitch by stitch (or, for needle felting, stab by stab), and so producing work in this way is inherently slow, deliberate, contemplative, meditative, and soothing.

Furthermore, I have long gravitated towards circles, mandalas, and kaleidoscopes in my work–motifs also associated with meditation. The three pieces submitted here are further linked because I made each of them specifically to seek peace and soul-soothing during difficult times.

52 Small Meditations on Peace #IV (2019) was created as part of a yearlong project in which I made one 5” x 5” stitched piece every week for a year, and I set myself the task of exploring some aspect of peace–personal, spiritual, global–in each small work. Each of the 4 small works that make up this panel feature mandalas and/or circles as symbols of inner peace.

I began Stillpoint (2024-2026) as a way to find calm and solace in the days after the 2024 Presidential election. I worked on it off and on for the next year and a half, whenever I needed a major dose of soul soothing. The raveling, unfinished edges reflect my anxious state of mind in contrast to the peaceful flow of the stitched circles.

Finally, Singing in Color (2026) is a brand new piece, just completed. It features a bright kaleidoscopic mandala in happy colors specifically chosen to cast light in a dark time.