Lucia LaVilla-Havelin

Lucia LaVilla-Havelin has been working with textiles for over 50 years, using what’s often called “women’s work” to explore contemporary themes, women’s issues, and current events.

Lately, her focus is on hand-stitched embroidery — each piece designed and stitched by me using simple satin stitches and bright colors to help tell the story. Lucia’s work often centers on the future of our planet — climate change, extinction, and how human activity affects everything around us.

In my Disappearances series, I highlight islands like Tuvalu, Kiribati, and the Maldives, all at risk of disappearing due to rising seas.

More recently, my Roadside Geology series lets me play with abstraction and layering, inspired by trips to Big Bend and the book Roadside Geology of Texas.