Capital City Arts Initiative hosting art by Claudia Knous at Carson City Community Center

The Capital City Arts Initiative’s newest exhibit, Botanical Impressions, by artist Claudia Knous, can be seen in the Sierra Room of the Carson City Community Center through March 11. A reception is planned from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday.

The exhibit features Knous’ hand-dyed silk wall-hangings. The artist said she finds inspiration while hiking in the Carson City foothills.

Knous uses varieties of botanical leaves and fibers to “eco print” the silk fabrics. The eco print technique, developed by Australian artist India Flint, transfers the color from leaf pigments onto fabric. To develop the colors and images, she uses a variety of leaves including eucalyptus, oak, plum, maple, poplar, willow, rhubarb, alder and apple. She also uses pine needles, avocado skins/seeds, and onion skins. The fabric is pre-treated to accept the leaf and plant colors. Then she tightly rolls the fabric and plant materials together and steams the bundle in a dye bath for hours.

Knous has developed dyeing processes for wool and silks fibers for nearly twenty years. She has participated in multiple art shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In Reno and Elko, she presented her work with the “Wild Women Artists” and attributes her development and growth in her artistic creativity to this talented group of women artists.

Knous graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from California State University, Fresno. She worked 32 years as a nurse in Intensive Care, Emergency Room, and elementary and high schools. In 1975 she moved to Alaska where she lived and worked until 2002. Following retirement, she and her husband moved to Carson City.

The Sierra Room is open to the public during Carson City official meetings including every other Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and most weeknights, Monday thorugh Thursday, from 5 to 8 p.m. For Sierra Room access, call 775-887-2290, ext. 7421, or go to http://www.carson.org/index.aspx?page=14. The exhibit is free and the public is cordially invited.

The Capital City Arts Initiative is an artist-centered organization committed to the encouragement and support of artists and the arts and culture of Carson City and the surrounding region. The Initiative is committed to community building for the area’s diverse adult and youth populations through art projects and exhibitions, live events, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online projects.

CCAI is funded in part by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Nevada Arts Council, City of Carson City, U.S. Bank Foundation, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the John and Grace Nauman Foundation.

For more information, go to www.arts-initiative.org.