This season, Sou’wester Arts welcomes Weaving Water, an immersive fiber installation by artist Iris Sullivan Daire, on view in the Art Trailer Gallery at The Sou’wester Lodge in Seaview, Washington. Through handwoven textiles, natural dyes, and participatory elements, the exhibition invites visitors into a contemplative space centered on our relationship with water, exploring water as both a life-sustaining force and a sacred presence worthy of protection and care.
Opening Reception
Thursday, August 27 | 5pm–7pm
Art Trailer Gallery at The Sou’wester Lodge
3728 J Place, Seaview, WA
At the heart of Weaving Water is a simple yet powerful question:
What water do you belong to?
Inspired by traditions around the world that recognize rivers and waterways as living beings, this installation encourages visitors to reflect on the waters that shape their lives, whether they are familiar local streams, ancestral waterways, or distant ecosystems that quietly sustain us.
The gallery space is transformed through intricately handwoven works dyed with natural indigo, including rugs, table runners, and sculptural pieces created from repurposed materials. Each element reflects the movement, memory, and cycles of water while celebrating sustainable making practices and a deep connection to materials.
Throughout the installation, symbolic details invite closer observation. Red thread lines woven throughout the work represent life, connection, and boundaries, serving as a reminder of the fragile systems we depend on and the importance of protecting the waters that sustain us.
Visitors are invited to become part of the artwork through two interactive components:
The Tributary Book offers a place to honor personal and ancestral waterways through writing, drawing, and reflection. Guests are encouraged to share the names and stories of the waters that have shaped their lives.
The Community Water Talisman Tapestry invites visitors to weave a ribbon into a growing collective textile. Each contribution becomes part of a shared expression of care, remembrance, and intention, transforming individual gestures into a community act of stewardship.
Weaving Water also follows the artist’s own journey across watersheds, tracing connections from Michigan to Oregon and the Columbia River Estuary. Through this personal lens, the installation highlights the interconnected nature of global water systems and the invisible relationships we hold with rivers, landscapes, and ecosystems far beyond our immediate surroundings.
This exhibition is part of the Sou’wester Arts Installation Fellowship, a seasonal program supporting immersive, site-responsive artwork that engages with both place and community.
By bringing together tactile experience, ecological awareness, and collective participation, Weaving Water offers a place to pause, reflect, and reconnect. Visitors are invited to consider the waters they belong to and how they might participate in honoring and protecting this essential element of life.
Come experience Weaving Water at the Art Trailer Gallery at The Sou’wester Lodge this season.
Exhibition Details
Weaving Water
An interactive installation by Iris Sullivan Daire
Art Trailer Gallery at The Sou’wester Lodge
3728 J Place
Seaview, WA