Tapestries take shape inside Novoselic's studio

I was invited to Darbury Novoselic's studio in Deep River for a sneak peek at the embroidered tapestries she'll be showing at the Grays River Grange Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 24-25.

Living on the east end of the county, my trip to Deep River usually involves a quick cross-county jaunt. However, soon after leaving State Route (SR) 4, I found the Deep River spilling over the road meant to hold it, rushing across the pavement and into the fields.

I decided not to risk it. I didn't want to be one of those people who gets stuck and needs rescuing. I turned back and called the Novoselics. Krist was dispatched to collect me, his van sitting much higher than my station wagon. I left a note on my dash that read, "This Car Is Not Abandoned. I will be back," with my name and phone number.

I was shuttled through the rushing water (yes, I took photos and videos of everything), stopping more than once to take it all in. Krist said it was the worst King Tide flooding he'd seen in his 30 years living there.

Winding through Deep River, the road narrowed briefly to a single lane where a recent landslide had eaten away the shoulder. Krist told me he'd had to carry his mother through the mud to get her home. Flooding and landslides are simply part of life here. Not breaking news, but it set the tone.

We wound through the valley, passing the small, iconic Deep River Church, recently filled to the gills for a Christmas concert. When we arrived at the homestead built in the 1800s, I realized I'd already had a bit of an adventure. This was fun; like, in the old-fashioned sense. It was slightly inconvenient, unscripted, and totally worth it.

Darbury's second-floor studio is where her long-arm Consew sewing machine lives and hums, layering thread over thread over thread. It's her paintbrush. Windows stretch across three of the four walls, with trees just outside, including a very old redwood so close it feels like part of the room. The tapestries in progress hang here in safety while natural light brings them alive. I realized something then: all of Deep River is the studio.

Darbury's work reflects the greens, blues, ochre, gold, and silver of trees, skies, water, and grass. Stars and planets appear alongside winged and organic beings; part tree, part spider, part imagined. All of it woven together in fabric, thread, and ink, the work holds the landscape.

Darbury is not here to be an artist, but to live. She and Krist are adorned head to toe in her work because she has always made clothes a wearable art. Her skirt, she told me, was either once part of the tapestry currently hanging, or the tapestry was once part of her skirt. Either way, it's all one moving piece; Darbury and her work together.

We talked about how deep, in this place at night, the galaxy stretches overhead, unmuted by light pollution. It becomes part of the tapestry, too.

Our conversation wandered from sense of place and being, to centuries-old architecture and how it holds together, to her childhood in Eastern Washington and family. From the window, we watched her rescued donkey and mule frolicking. I couldn't spot the alpaca (or llama). "Look for a big moving brown bush," she said.

After a few excellent hours, Krist shuttled me back to my car. The water had receded, and the river pulled back within its banks. The fields remained flooded, though. My car was exactly where I had left it. I had imagined a studio as a contained space; walls and equipment and finished pieces hanging neatly. What I found was work in progress, work in motion with pieces still being adjusted, layers still being added, and decisions not yet made. It's like life here; always in progress, never finished.

Darbury's upcoming show takes place at the Grays River Grange Saturday, Jan. 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 25, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event is free and open to all. Donations can be made to support the Grange. The tapestries will be hung like giant mobiles, rotating in the space, meant to be felt as much as viewed. Stop in on your way to the Crab & Oyster Feed in Rosburg. For more info, visit graysrivergrange.org.