Libby Williamson is a mixed-media fiber artist and teacher.

Transforming fabrics and papers with dye and paint, she creates massive stashes of material to integrate into her artwork. Thread and stitches play predominant roles as Libby scribbles lines and textures with blissful, reckless abandon.  Her sewing machine is used predominantly as a drawing tool and her style is sketchy and imperfect. Current work incorporates abundant hand-stitching as Libby intently layers stitches upon stitches and adds french knots by the gallon.

Libby’s art work is not soft and pliable. Reclaimed and re-purposed odd bits and parts are embedded into her work, either as prominent components or as hidden treasure. She combines metal hardware cloth, zippers, and measuring tapes with fragile, used tea bags and rice paper, highlighting these contrasting materials. Rope replaces batting as the inner layers of her current “quilts”. And thick layers of paint can be torturous to hand-stitch through. It’s all part of the process. 

Always an artist, Libby was raised in a world of fabric scraps and yarn, pins and needles, paint, Elmers Glue, and a whole lot of Scotch Tape. She was taught fine needle crafts and quilting techniques but quickly abandoned traditional piecing, finding her passion and freedom in mixed-media art. She trained in college as a printmaker and this passion with surface design continues to inform her work today. 

And Libby loves to teach. Her classrooms are joyful and relaxed, yet jam-packed with techniques and methods.  She teaches in her studio in Orange, CA and at destination retreats including Craft Napa and Art & Soul and now offers her lectures and workshops online. She has been published in Quilting Arts Magazine and has been featured on Quilting Arts TV and The Quilt Show. Part rebel, mischief maker, and stubborn rule breaker, she gravitates to the quirky, the wonky and the imperfect. She is a proud hoarder of all things “fiber” and thrives in a world of stitch and sew.