In When Water Becomes Light, Caryn Friedlander explores the fluid relationship between memory, loss, and transformation through layered textile wall-hangings and expressive drawings that evoke the shifting patterns and quiet beauty of water in motion.
At the center of the exhibition are wall-hung textiles composed of layered silk, hand-dyed with natural indigo using traditional Japanese shibori techniques. Each piece is built from multiple sheer layers, which shift and interact with light and movement, creating the illusion of water’s surface—fluid, reflective, and constantly changing.
Accompanying the textiles are pastel and charcoal drawings on paper that reflect similar themes through a more traditional and direct means. Friedlander’s intuitive, gestural marks evoke ripples, waveforms, and the transitory qualities of light and shadow, offering a parallel meditation to the wall hangings.
This body of work honors the unseen layers of experience we carry – what we hold onto, what we release, and how light – literal and metaphorical – continues to move through what remains.
Caryn Friedlander is a Pacific Northwest artist whose decades-long practice includes painting, drawing, textiles, and printmaking. She holds an MFA in painting and an MA in East Asian art history from the University of Washington and was awarded a Monbusho Fellowship to study art in Japan—an experience that continues to inform her approach to gesture and space.
Friedlander taught studio art at Whatcom Community College for over two decades, and her work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the New York Public Library, Whatcom Museum, Swedish Hospital, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Washington State University. In 2025, she was honored with a prestigious SOLA Award by Artist Trust, recognizing her lifelong commitment to artmaking.
Join us for one of our upcoming events:
ARTIST TALK: Saturday, September 6, 2pm
CLOSING RECEPTION: Sat., Sept. 20, 3-5pm
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