Rayela Art and HeART of Healing Gallery Bring the World of Textiles to Paducah!

Handmade ornaments from Thailand, India and Indonesia

Dr. Christi Bonds and I, Rachel Biel, have a passion in common: textiles!  Both of us are members of Paducah Fiber Artists, a group that meets monthly for show and tell, potluck and support.  Both of us quilt.  And, both of us love textiles from around the world.  Christi, a medical doctor who practices Integrative medicine, has an alternative health clinic in the heart of LowerTown's art neighborhood.  A large gallery room was dedicated to this love of textiles, housing HeART of Healing Gallery.  I had a booth downtown at 212 Broadway and was working two afternoons a week at Christi's gallery.  We decided that it would make sense to move the gallery downtown and free up the space for more health related programs.  We now have both of our booths across from each other, separated by an aisle.  It looks like one big ethnic textile shop! 

HeART of Healing Gallery's new space 

at Antique Galleria, 212 Broadway in Paducah

Rayela Art's booth faces HeART of Healing's

The booths work really well together as we have different specialties.  HeART of Healing Gallery has grown an impressive collection of molas made by the Kuna Indians in Panama.  Most are unfinished panels that can be framed or made into pillows, bags, or incorporated into quilts.  But, there also many mola blouses, an unusual find in most mola circles.  The blouses have panels on front and back and are set into the traditional gauzy floral fabrics so loved by the Kuna women.  These people are tiny, tiny, so most of us will have to enjoy these blouses as textiles, although I suppose they could be altered to fit some of us more Nordic types.

Kuna mola blouses from Panama

Another major focus found at HeART of Healing's booth are scores of vintage Japanese kimono, both long and short.  Christi originally bought these for the fabric as many quilters enjoy working with it, but we have found that our customers also love wearing the kimono.  So, cut it up or put it on, it's up to you!

HeART of Healing's closet of Kuna blouses and kimono.

Kimono + windchimes = good feng shui at HeART of Healing!

Rayela Art's focus moves to Central and South Asia: textile stamps from Afghanistan, ralli quilts from Pakistan, and Suzani embroidery from Uzbekistan. 

Rayela Art's textile stamps are always a big favorite!

Ralli quilts: use them on your bed or hang them on a wall.

Rayela Art also carries tribal and vintage clothing, 

kilim rugs, Indian spreads and other textiles.

 

Uzbeki coat and sarong from Bali, both Rayela Art.

Both of our booths also have plenty of small gift items, jewelry and interesting crafts that are bound to find their way to someone's home.  HeART of Healing also has a nice display case filled with African beads and some nice sculptures, not pictured here. 

HeART of Healing: Chinese cosmetic pouches, 

Oaxacan carvings, and more!

Rayela Art: Chinese statues and Moroccan lamps.

HeART of Healing: bamboo woven porcelain, 

bone carvings, Quan Yin, and jewelry.

Rayela Art: natural seed jewelry, tribal necklaces

Between the two of us, anyone who loves cultural textiles and crafts are bound to find something they like!  Nikki May of IList Paducah was kind enough to mention us in her tour of historic Paducah's hot shopping spots.  We invite you to travel the world with us, sharing in this wonderful gift of creativity and talent that connects all craft and textile people to each other!

Both Rayela Art and HeART of Healing Gallery have shops on Etsy.

Learn more about us on our websites:

Rayela Art

HeART of Healing

New Show! Paducah Fiber Artists Come Together at the Heart of Healing Gallery!

by Rachel Biel Taibi

Lily and Susan with their show-and-tells.
Lily used the baby a couple of times, but he doesn't count anymore...

Paducah is a small city in the Northwestern corner of Kentucky. Known as "Quilt City, USA" it houses the Museum of American Quilter's Society (locally referred to as the Quilt Museum) and The LowerTown Arts District.

Judy Schwender, Curator of the Quilt Museum (She's trying to remember the list of things she has to say!)

I moved here in 2005 after 20 years of living in Chicago. Paducah fulfilled several of the criteria that I wanted in my choice of a new home: an artist community, a mid-size town with good hospitals (you just never know!), plenty of water (the Ohio River), ability to grow things (that comes with a healthy eco-system of the not-so-wanted life like chiggers, ticks, mosquitoes and snakes), affordable real estate (I'm still stuck in a shack!) and access to larger metropolitan areas (less than 3 hours from Memphis, St. Louis and Nashville, 7 hours straight South of Chicago). The best of these has been the artist community here and our very special Paducah Fiber Artists.

Ulla with her Show-and-Tell, a silk/bamboo blend.

Our group meets monthly for a scrumptious pot-luck and show and tell. When you see the photos, you will notice that our group is on the older side. Older, but not dead! Older, in this case, means experienced, talented people who know the ropes, both in technique and in marketing their work. Exactly what I longed for and what I cling to! The Chicago art scene that I often saw only wore black and was pierced and tatooed where the sun never shines... That means nothing, it simply is not our demographic. Our meetings are one of the big highlights of my life in Paducah. I am a homebody, always late, with a self-diagnosis of movement displacement. That means that I am so engaged in what I am doing, that I have a hard time leaving my immediate surroundings to go somewhere new. But, I overcome it for this group. I always learn something and I just enjoy these people tremendously!

Irene Reising talking intensely about something...

Irene Reising's Intense Quilt "Out of the Pit of Hell"

We rotate from house to house and get to ogle each other's art collections and books. This month we met at Caryl Bryer Fallert's Bryerpatch Studio, also in LowerTown.

Caryl Bryer Fallert with Freda Fairchild cropped in the background.

Caryl Bryer Fallert's "Reflection #18"

Last year, one of our meetings was at Margaret Merida's house, way out in the boondox somewhere. Margaret has an extraordinary art collection and her husband is a talented artist who makes wild sculptures out of gourds, larger than life animals, spirits and goddesses.

Paducah Fiber Artists at Margaret Merida's House, 2008

Can you believe this is made out of gourds?

Dr. Christi Bonds Garrett has especially become a focal person in this scenario. Owner of HeART of Healing Gallery, she has employed me to work on the weekends and help her with inventory and such. We are both quilters and we both have a love affair with many of the same cultural textiles. Have we torn a kimono in two yet? Not yet, but only because of the abundance of Dr. Christi's collection....

Freda Fairchild and Dr. Christi Bonds Garrett


A costume designer and print maker (among many other things!), Freda Fairchild has a series of ghostly garments in the group show.

'Turtle" by Dr. Christi Bonds Garrett

Our lives here are still very new. Dr. Christi relocated from Nevada, runs Integrative Medicine of Kentucky on the weekends (along with Heart of Healing Gallery which is annexed to the clinic) while holding a full time job as a Western medical doctor. This year, during the Quilt Show, the gallery will showcase our Paducah Fiber Artists in a group show and we hope that this will become a yearly tradition.

Bob Davis shows his new artistic direction, drawing,
while Helene Davis (yes, they are a couple!) looks on...

Reflections II by Robert Davis

Limbo by Helene Davis

Yes, I miss some of the amenities that Chicago has to offer. I miss the diversity, too. But, this group of people that makes up the Paducah Fiber Artists translates a rich inner life into the fabric that binds us all together! Are you coming to Paducah for the Quilt Show? Be sure to stop in and visit the HeART of Healing Gallery and enjoy what we have to offer!

Charlotte and Ulla, giggling at the camera.

The show is also available online.

Rachel Biel Taibi with my Show-And-Tell,
the beginnings of "Sidney's Ties"