LIBBY RAAB
Organic, abstract, woven paper sculpture
Raab began her art practice in 2021, working with photo and paper weaving as an exploration of structure, pattern, and color. She views weaving as an inherently architectural act, a form of spatial expression and material experimentation. Just as her residential architecture prioritizes connection and intimacy, her artwork seeks the same personal resonance, inviting viewers into layered, tactile encounters with familiar imagery.
Her work has been commissioned for private residences and public spaces, and has been featured in galleries, publications, and a museum exhibition.
Weaving is an act of integration. My paper weaves explore both the generation and the degeneration of this act: the simultaneous building up and the breaking down, the integration of structure and the disintegration of organic material into impermanence and decay.
The building blocks of my weaves are original photographs of patterns found in nature. Some images are intentionally degraded, others exaggerated, creating digital textures that evoke the impression of previously woven fabric. Working with pre-printed paper and paper raffia, I am drawn to how paper inhabits a space between the mundane (receipts, documents, packaging) and the transcendent. It is capable of evoking emotion and narrating stories far beyond its utilitarian origins.
My weaves are meditations on the balance between presence and absence. I have discovered that removing material, or "unweaving," can unveil unexpected beauty. I find the same quiet dignity in ancient textile fragments: remnants where time has etched its story through worn threads, missing sections, and faded patterns. Each tear and repair speaks of lives lived, of countless hands and moments woven into fabric.
By pairing a humble, everyday material with one of humanity's oldest crafts, I have found a lens through which to examine both. These are not functional objects as in traditional woven fiber, but pure artistic explorations of color, texture, and pattern, works that sit at the intersection of architecture and textile, structure and decay, the familiar and the transformed.
| 2026 | Thinking Through Tapestry, American Tapestry Alliance, Evanston Art Gallery, Evanston, IL |
| 2026 | Ripples Art Exhibit curated by Esther Mallouh, UC Law SF |
| 2026 | Winter Shadows, Silicon Valley Visual Arts, Burlingame Library, Burlingame CA |
| 2025 | Pacific Art League 104th Anniversary Art Exhibition, Palo Alto CA |
| 2025 | Sausalito Center for the Arts Open, CA |
| 2025 | Expressions of Fall, Silicon Valley Visual Arts & Community School of Music and Arts, Mountain View, CA |
| 2025 | One World, Many Voices, Flavio Dolce Art Projects, New Orleans LA |
| 2025 | Portola Valley Arts Fest, Portola Valley CA |
| 2025 | Bravemakers Film Festival, Redwood City CA |
| 2025 | Members Exhibition, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto CA |
| 2025 | Contemporary California Artists, Chandler Gallery, Mill Valley CA |
| 2025 | Spaces Between Exhibition, Surface Design Association, Florida CraftArt, St. Petersburg FL |
| 2025 | One World Exhibition (virtual), Museu Textil, |
| 2025 | Art at the CZI Community Space - 2025 Artist Cohort, Redwood City Park & Arts Foundation, Redwood City CA |
| 2025 | Dimensional Dialogues, Flavio Dolce Art Projects, New Orleans LA |
| 2024 | Pacific Art League 103rd Anniversary Art Exhibition, Palo Alto CA |
| 2024 | Off the Grid, 10-Fold Projects Gallery, Greencastle IN |
| 2024 | Portola Valley Arts Fest, Portola Valley CA |
| 2024 | Silicon Valley Open Studios, Portola Valley CA |
| 2023 | Paper Made, Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, Brattleboro VT |
| 2023 | Paper Weaving: Integration and Decay (Solo Show), Community School of Music and Arts, Mountain View, CA |
| 2023 | "Art at the Lex", The Lexington House, Los Gatos CA Portola Valley Arts Fest, Portola Valley CA |
Bachelor of Architecture 1996
Boston Architectural College, Boston MA
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology/Art History 1987
DePauw University, Greencastle IN