“Mythology and folklore surrounding moths and butterflies carries complex and sometimes contradictory symbolism,” artist Larysa Bernhardt says. “I was always attracted to their paradoxical nature.” While on one hand, she dreads certain types of the winged creatures turning up in her house because of the risk they pose to textiles, she is fascinated by their variations and loves to see them thrive.
Dualities abound in Bernhardt’s sculptural, embroidered textile moths. Her creative process begins outdoors in a seemingly unrelated aspect of the studio—her garden. The artist tends to a “moon garden” every summer, comprising fragrant botanicals like tobacco, moonflower, datura, and jasmine that perfume the air and blossom with small white flowers that “glow in the dark like stars,” the artist says. Sphinx and luna moths often visit, accompanied by thousands of fireflies.
When the sun comes up, the garden transforms into a riot of color, with zinnias, poppies, and roses attracting daytime pollinators like butterflies and bees. “It’s the duality of it—night and day, sun and moon, moths and butterflies” that fascinates Bernhardt. She adds, “It’s an incredibly complex balancing act I am forever mesmerized by.”
Mirroring the supple fuzziness of the insects’ wings, the artist enjoys working with velvet to achieve the moths’ elegance and whimsy. It’s a challenging material because the pile can be unforgiving; make a mistake and the ghost of the stitch will remain as a mark on the fabric. Bernhardt stitches freehand when applying motifs to the wings, starting with a loose sketch but allowing intuition to guide her in creating star-like patterns and symbolic objects like vases or eyes.
Bernhardt also loves working with vintage needlepoints and old tapestries. “I find textile pieces in dusty corners of antique stores; I love these discoveries,” she says. “And I love giving them another chance to go back up on a wall and be admired again, cherished.”
The artist’s work is currently included in Daughters of Eve at Quirky Fox in Taranaki, New Zealand, and Beyond the Sea at Nanny Goat Gallery in Petaluma, California. In August, Bernhardt will be part of a show with Beinart Gallery in Melbourne, and she’s currently working toward a solo exhibition at Haven Gallery in Long Island, New York. Find more on her website and Instagram.
