INNISFAIL – As the first month of 2025 was ending, Innisfail artist Karen Scarlett was hurriedly packing a crate with her unique fibre art piece that was destined for New York City.
“I was trying to rush really quickly to get it down there before tariffs happened,” said Scarlett with a chuckle last week of the well-publicized threat from south of the Canadian border.
She was sending one of her two new commissioned fibre art installations called The Seasons for display at The Draper New York, a hotel in Manhattan’s garment district now rebranded as part of the Hilton Tapestry Collection.
A second installation, The Portals, was completed in late 2023 and installed at the hotel in early 2024.
Scarlett is pleased her work will get plenty of attention in one of the world’s most celebrated cities.
“New York is the pinnacle of fashion and arts and commerce. It's an international city. It's great to have two art pieces there,” she said.
The Portals installation was created from about 3,000 spools of thread, while The Seasons includes four three-foot wide fibre art hoops with each representing the four seasons of the year.
And creating both took many weeks to complete.
Scarlett had to constantly order more and more spools of thread. She had to figure out the layout and then glue them in place and varnished.
“Both of these installations are going into the lounge and bar that is on the main floor,” said Scarlett. “There are two doorways that go into the lounge from the reception area. The spools are high up in the doorway portals in a ‘L’ shape and they are lit.
“The hoops are going into shelving that is against a glass wall. You'll be able to see the hoops from both the outside garden and inside lounge.
“The reason these pieces are done is to tie into the theme of the hotel, which is called The Draper, and the lounge is called The Pleat Bar. The hotel itself is located in the garment district where all the high end clothing was produced in New York.”
Scarlett’s fibre installations were arranged by VLDG Inc., a design studio in New York and New Jersey for several hotel brands: Hyatt Hotels, Marriott International, Starwood Hotels and Hilton Hotels & Resorts.
Vennie Lau, a partner and co-founder with VLDG, has known Scarlett since the late 1990s when they attended interior design school at Calgary’s Mount Royal University.
While there, Lau had a front seat at witnessing Scarlett’s love of fibre and skill in manipulating material.
In 2017 VLDG commissioned the Central Alberta artist to create more than 155 original pieces of art for the Royal Palm Hotel and Resort in Miami’s South Beach neighbourhood.
“Karen is very industrious and creative and really good at envisioning what the design is, and her knowledge of fibre art and building and constructing elements and details is phenomenal,” Lau told the Albertan, noting her prior association with Scarlett was a bonus.
“I knew her work ethic, and I knew her creativity and her philosophy in terms of how she works and what she can do,” she said. “But the biggest thing is being open minded to a challenge, right? And trying to figure out the challenge.
“That’s why we love working with her.”
In the meantime, the second of Scarlett's two installations will soon arrive in New York City.
Lau said she’s assuming the hotel ownership will want The Seasons displayed as soon as possible.
Scarlett, who considers New York City her second home, said she does not know when she will go to the Big Apple to see both creations displayed.
“It's one of those places I like to go back to regularly,” said Scarlett. “There's always something new and interesting to tweak the brain and make you think about things differently.”
