In the Loops Between presents a new series of fiber-based works by Troy Dugas, in which animal forms surface from dense, tactile compositions of looping fabric strips. These figures—silent, symbolic, and softly powerful—evoke the visual language of folk art, with its warmth, ritual, and embedded storytelling. They embody a precarious balance between strength and vulnerability, revealing a subtle tension between innocent naïveté and the deeper complexities of our relationship with nature, mortality, and the unseen.
Dugas draws on visual motifs rooted in the history of textiles, indigenous art, and domestic traditions, weaving together cultural memory with personal reflection. His process is labor-intensive and meditative—an evolving dialogue between hand, material, and meaning. Working with hooked and punched textiles, embroidery, found objects, rope, and fringe, Dugas builds richly textured surfaces that feel simultaneously contemporary and ancestral. These pieces act as both image and object: expressive, layered forms that invite touch as much as contemplation.
Through this immersive studio practice, Dugas crafts fiber works that become spaces of self-discovery and reverence. The resulting imagery is not merely decorative but deeply narrative—expressing adoration, longing, and a sense of spiritual connectivity to the visual cultures and techniques he references. Each piece is a gesture of preservation and transformation, paying homage to inherited practices while reimagining them through a personal, poetic lens.
In the Loops Between is a testament to fiber’s unique ability to hold memory, ritual, and story—offering viewers a world where softness and strength, tradition and innovation, converge.
