Skip to content

Textile Artist Victoria van der Laan Follows Threads to Zero-Waste Art

The Albany-based artist uses exclusively vintage, secondhand, and repurposed cloth in her resolutely feminist work.

by Mazuba Kapambwe
Share:

In the world of visual arts, painting, sculpture, video, and photography often dominate the narrative. Yet there are other forms of art that are getting increased recognition, such as quilting.

Cairn 4, 2022. The work evokes a rock cairn found in nature. (Photo: Courtesy Victoria van der Laan)

Albany-based Victoria van der Laan began working with fiber and fabric when she was a child, taught by the women in her life. In 2017, she became a full-time textile artist, with her first exhibition taking place at the Roxbury Arts Group.

Residencies followed in 2018, 2019, and 2020, at the Catskill Center Platte Clove and the Elizabeth Murray residency. Her work has also been exhibited at the Albany Institute of History & Art and the Hyde Collection, among other institutions.

Historically, quiltmaking tended to be thought of as “women’s work,” based on the history of the practice being a pastime for homemakers. “The work of women’s hands, hearts, and minds is unseen, overlooked, invisible,” van der Laan says. “This work is often the foundation of men’s accomplishments, yet women doing the same or better work remain unrecognized.”

Stone Wall, 2019, pieced and quilted cotton fabric, 28 x 22 inches. (Photo: Courtesy Victoria van der Laan)

Through her work, she hopes to honor and elevate these women. She calls quilts “dually powerful,” since they are both art and functional items.

“I deliberately maintain the quilt form in my work: three layers connected by running stitches, bound, and finished with hand stitching,” she says. “Simply making work in the quilt form using traditional techniques learned from my grandmothers and hanging it on the wall of a gallery can feel like a radical act in itself.”

At the beginning of 2022, van der Laan began using social media, in particular Instagram to offer people interested in art the chance to purchase her work using a pay-what-you-wish model.

Offcut Study, 2020. (Photo: Courtesy Victoria van der Laan)

She offers a weekly offering of 8” x 8” textile sketches with no floor or ceiling, disrupting the traditional gallery-sets-the-price model. This practice is inspired by her belief that art should be accessible to all.

She says that her greatest reward has been hearing from people who have been able to buy their first piece of art. “I also use the project as a kind of sketching practice, a place to experiment with colors, designs, and techniques that I might want to incorporate into my main body of work,” van der Laan says.   

In 2021, van der Laan collaborated with First American Style by Annie Selkie to create Art For Everyday: The Binderie Collection, which featured quilted indoor and outdoor pillows. Van der Laan looked to the Hudson Valley for inspiration, from rocks to nature that she encountered during a residency outside of Woodstock.

Like Water, 2022. (Photo: Courtesy Victoria van der Laan)

For instance, the pebbles pillow was inspired by pebbles she saw in the dirt while on a hike in the Catskills, while the boulders pillow was designed to resemble a pile of rocks in a river. “The landscape is ingrained in me, so it is only natural for it to make its way into my work,” she says. “This body of work is the clearest example of how my environment affects my work but there are other, deeper, less definable ways as well.”

Van der Laan is also concerned about waste generated by textiles, which she rectifies by using secondhand, repurposed, or vintage textiles exclusively. “Even the tiniest clipping of fabric and thread is kept for use in future work as I strive for a zero-waste practice,” she says.

This fall, van der Laan will have her first solo show at the Spring Street Gallery in Saratoga Springs from Sept. 17- Nov. 2 and a group show at the Community Arts Network of Oneonta from Nov. 5-9.  

The artist at home among textiles. (Photo: Courtesy Victoria van der Laan)
Writer Mazuba Kapambwe holds a master’s degree in Africana Studies from SUNY-Albany. She fell in love with the Hudson Valley on countless bus rides between the Capital District and her family’s home in Scarsdale, N.Y. Her work has appeared in Conde Nast Traveler, Culture Trip, CNN Travel, and more.

More in this Series

In 1825, artist Thomas Cole journeyed up the Hudson to capture the magnificence of the Catskills en plein air. This...
Artist and scientist Hara Woltz believes that art is key to bearing witness to climate change in the Hudson Valley...
Megan Offner was surrounded by forests in her early life in Montana — yet the forests of the Hudson Valley...
Storm King Mountain was a popular subject for Thomas Cole and other artists associated with the 19th-century Hudson River School of painting....
Not many artists think deeply about ecology and water, but artist-writer-educator Matthew Friday has done exactly that in multidisciplinary works...
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Hudson Valley was the largest brickmaking district on the planet. Its metrics were...
Frederic Church and his fellow painters of the Hudson River School saw nature in a beautiful, romantic light. Contemporary artists...
Jean-Marc Superville Sovak was born in Montreal, the child of one parent from Trinidad and another from the Czech Republic....
The work of Newburgh-based artist Alison McNulty has taken a dizzying number of forms: sculpture, photography, drawing, video, site-responsive outdoor...
Lydia Rubio is part of a fresh wave of visual artists taking inspiration from the Hudson River — and contending...

Related Content

Editors' Picks

Climate Solutions
In the Climate Fight, “Blue Carbon” Soaks Up Fresh Attention (and Emissions)
Outdoors
Quiz: Can You Recognize These Parks Pre-Makeover?
Land + Air + Water
Forest Farming Takes Root in Valley Woodlands
History + Culture
Sloops: the Special Boats That Transformed the Hudson
Climate Solutions
Going Green at Home by 2030
A single-story ranch-style home with white siding and a dark gray roof. On the roof, solar panels have been installed. The sky behind the home is bright blue.

Search Viewfinder:

Hudson Valley Viewfinder is a collaborative, community digital magazine sharing what inspires us about the beautiful Hudson Valley. We publish original stories and multimedia content about all things sustainable in the region along the Hudson River — including agriculture, science, wildlife, outdoor recreation, green transportation, environmental justice, and more.

Our mission is to immerse you in the storied history, fresh happenings, and coming solutions for making the Hudson Valley greener and more livable long-term.

Viewfinder is published by Scenic Hudson, the celebrated nonprofit credited with launching the modern grassroots environmental movement in 1963. With over 25,000 passionate supporters, Scenic Hudson’s mission is to sustain and enhance the Hudson Valley’s inspirational beauty and health for generations to come. Viewfinder supports that mission, because the better people understand what makes this place special, the more they will invest in protecting it. 

Keep up with the latest stories by subscribing to Scenic Hudson’s monthly digital newsletter, and connect with us on social via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Threads.

Our mission is to immerse you in the storied history, fresh happenings, and coming solutions for making the Hudson Valley greener and more livable long-term.

Viewfinder is published by Scenic Hudson, the celebrated nonprofit credited with launching the modern grassroots environmental movement in 1963. With over 25,000 passionate supporters, Scenic Hudson’s mission is to sustain and enhance the Hudson Valley’s inspirational beauty and health for generations to come. Viewfinder supports that mission, because the better people understand what makes this place special, the more they will invest in protecting it. 

Keep up with the latest stories by subscribing to Scenic Hudson’s monthly digital newsletter, and connect with us on social via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Threads.

Lynn Freehill-Maye
Managing Editor
editorial@scenichudson.org 

Riley Johndonnell
Director Creative Strategies & Communications
rjohndonnell@scenichudson.org

Lynn Freehill-Maye
Managing Editor
editorial@scenichudson.org 

Riley Johndonnell
Director Creative Strategies & Communications
rjohndonnell@scenichudson.org

We’re always looking for ideas around our main topic areas of Climate Solutions, Land + Air + Water, Plants + Animals, History + Culture, Outdoors, and Community.
  • Journalists and writers who have deep familiarity with New York and the Hudson Valley, we’d love to have you contribute! Please do introduce yourself by email, sharing writing samples and any relevant pitches you may have.
  • Photographers and videographers, we’d love to hear from you and see what you do. Please send along a portfolio with images or footage that showcases your best and/or most relevant work, with an emphasis on anything captured outdoors. 
  • Illustrators, we commission artwork on the regular. Drop us a note with some of the beauty you’ve created.
  • Media Partners & Social Media Influencers, we welcome opportunities to team up on series and campaigns. Reach out with any background about yourselves and your ideas.
We’re always looking for ideas around our main topic areas of Climate Solutions, Land + Air + Water, Plants + Animals, History + Culture, Outdoors, and Community.
  • Journalists and writers who have deep familiarity with New York and the Hudson Valley, we’d love to have you contribute! Please do introduce yourself by email, sharing writing samples and any relevant pitches you may have.
  • Photographers and videographers, we’d love to hear from you and see what you do. Please send along a portfolio with images or footage that showcases your best and/or most relevant work, with an emphasis on anything captured outdoors. 
  • Illustrators, we commission artwork on the regular. Drop us a note with some of the beauty you’ve created.
  • Media Partners & Social Media Influencers, we welcome opportunities to team up on series and campaigns. Reach out with any background about yourselves and your ideas.
  • We love to collaborate with media outlets, especially on episodic series (like these) of interest to our shared audiences. Past collaborations have included radio interviews, panel discussions and other events, original artwork, and e-blasts, all furthering the campaign’s excitement and reach. 
  • We also love to partner with other organizations whose missions align with Scenic Hudson’s. Feel free to reach out with some background on your group and its work.
  • Writers, photographers, and creatives, if you have an idea for a series or content campaign that might be a good fit, drop us a line!

Businesses, please note that as a nonprofit, Scenic Hudson is restricted from advertising or promoting for-profit companies, through Viewfinder or other outlets. While we understand content managers may wish to alert us to your company’s role in a relevant topic, we are unable to add links to businesses to our stories.

  • We love to collaborate with media outlets, especially on episodic series (like these) of interest to our shared audiences. Past collaborations have included radio interviews, panel discussions and other events, original artwork, and e-blasts, all furthering the campaign’s excitement and reach. 
  • We also love to partner with other organizations whose missions align with Scenic Hudson’s. Feel free to reach out with some background on your group and its work.
  • Writers, photographers, and creatives, if you have an idea for a series or content campaign that might be a good fit, drop us a line!

Businesses, please note that as a nonprofit, Scenic Hudson is restricted from advertising or promoting for-profit companies, through Viewfinder or other outlets. While we understand content managers may wish to alert us to your company’s role in a relevant topic, we are unable to add links to businesses to our stories.

Subscribe!

Get the latest articles delivered right to your inbox  — for FREE!