Olivia Claire Luke Fiber Artist

Weaving, watercolor and performance that hold many moments at once. Time as a thread, the shoreline as a loom.

Portrait of Olivia Claire Luke in her studio

Biography

Speaking the language of weaving.

Olivia Claire Luke is a fiber artist and weaver based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Weaving is the core of her practice, and it shapes everything she makes, even her watercolor paintings.

She is autistic and often finds words difficult. Weaving is the language she trusts. Through it she visualizes theories of hyperspace: time dilation, relativity, every moment existing at once, and our place in the universe.

Born in Norfolk and raised in New Mexico, she has been an artist for as long as she can remember, following her mother, a crafter, and her grandmother, also an artist. Mostly blind and losing her sight with age, she has spent her life whitewater kayaking and mountain biking. Her studio is entirely outdoors.

She holds an MFA from James Madison University. She is inspired by Lenore Tawney, Marcel Duchamp, and Cecilia Vicuña.

Threads of the practice.

Six strands that run through every piece, from the loom to the shoreline.

The artist seen through a large, loose suspended weaving
01

Fiber

Weaving

Floor to ceiling weavings in a loose, open structure that should not hold, and yet it does.

A metaphor for the slipperiness of time and the provisional nature of all we know.

Framed watercolor works on paper in a gallery
02

Painting

Watercolor

Paintings that hold multiple moments at once, like a time lapse laid onto paper.

Pigments are foraged and handmade from earth, giving each piece a true sense of place.

The artist kneeling at the shoreline placing sticks
03

Ritual

Performance

Weave, Unweave places sticks and feathers at the shoreline and lets the waves draw through them.

A ritual for the present moment, and a way of grieving the past as it washes away.

Parallel lines of foam stretching between sticks
04

Theory

Hyperspace

Time dilation, relativity, and time as a line we walk on, with every moment existing at once.

The work tries to show what it looks like when a dimension is added.

Projected light washing across a gallery ceiling
05

Space

Installation

Light, shadow and water moving through a room, so the viewer can step inside the work.

Making what is ephemeral, tangible.

Sticks planted in the sand as a wave washes in
06

Natural Materials

Land

Dirt, sticks, feathers and natural pigments. The studio itself is entirely outdoors.

A lifetime outside, from summer camps to whitewater kayaking and mountain biking.

Portfolio

Selected Work

Curriculum Vitae

Exhibitions and teaching.

Education

MFA, James Madison University

Thesis: Weaving Eigengrau, 2026

Request the thesis document

Exhibitions and Projects

2026
  • Weaving Eigengrau, Graduate Thesis Exhibition
  • In The Flux, ArtWorks Gallery
2025
  • Proposals, Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art
  • Performing a String, collaboration with Jeremy Starn and JMU BFA students
  • One Thousand Questions, group exhibition, Harrisonburg Innovation Hub
  • Proposals for Creativity, Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art
  • Weaving Spaces, public exhibition in collaboration with Jeremy Starn
  • JMU MFA Student Visual Art Exhibit, Office for Creative Propulsion, Harrisonburg Innovation Hub
  • TIME OUT // TIME IN, Recording In Progress, with Stella Shoemaker, Harrisonburg Innovation Hub
2024
  • Shadows + Projections, Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art
2023
  • Senior Capstone Show, Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art
  • Madison Award for Public Good commission, James Madison University, for Dr. Anthony Fauci
2022
  • International Fiber Arts Festival, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea
2021
  • Praise the Process, ArtWorks Gallery
  • Rising Seniors, Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art
2020
  • Inspired in Isolation, ArtWorks Gallery

Teaching and Employment

2026
  • Adjunct Professor, Form and Space studio, James Madison University
2025
  • Adjunct Professor, Color and Composition studio, James Madison University
  • Graduate Assistant to Dymph De Wild, FDS 104 Form and Space
  • Graduate Assistant to Allyson Taylor, FDS 102 Color and Composition
2024
  • Graduate Assistant to Robert Mertens, Introductory Fibers: Structures
  • Graduate Assistant to Gregory Stewart, Introductory Sculpture
2024 to 2026
  • Woodshop Assistant to Rob Sullenburger, Duke Hall Woodshop, JMU
2022 to 2024
  • Activity Head, Mountain Biking, and Counselor, summer camp
2020
  • Art Teaching Practicum, Churchville Elementary School

Every Moment, All at Once

For curators, collectors and commissions. Exhibitions, acquisitions and site specific work are welcome.

Weaving, Watercolor & Performance

Virginia Beach, Virginia

WEAVE Unweave
WEAVE Unweave
WEAVE Unweave
WEAVE Unweave
WEAVE Unweave
WEAVE Unweave
WEAVE Unweave
WEAVE Unweave

Get in Touch

Start a conversation.

For exhibitions, acquisitions, commissions and studio visits, reach Olivia directly or use the form. Based in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Inquiry