Shea Wilkinson

A fiber artist working with felting, stitching, and hand‑embellishment, Wilkinson transforms traditional textile techniques into explorations of human curiosity and perception. Her practice treats fiber as both material and metaphor - an expressive surface where pattern, texture, and narrative intertwine.

In her recent work, Wilkinson turns to the language of mapping as a way to examine how humans make sense of the unknown. Rather than modern technologies, she draws inspiration from early hand - drawn maps, valuing their vulnerability, imagination, and deeply human attempts to understand a world larger than oneself. In her textile pieces, mapping becomes less about accuracy and more about connection: to discovery, to intuition, and to the enduring impulse to chart our place in the world.

Shea Wilkinson’s work is driven by a lifelong fascination with fiber, form, and the expressive possibilities of the handmade.

Across all her work, Wilkinson uses wool, thread, and surface manipulation to create tactile, sculptural forms that invite close looking. Her pieces honor the slow, intentional processes of fiber traditions while pushing them toward new conceptual terrain.

Wilkinson lives and works in Omaha, Nebraska.

Interview:

“I think I just like the questions and I always have through my work. Just imagining what if, what was, what might have been, and coming us with some sort of visual narrative for that, without answers”