Welcome To Art By Carola
Art by Carola is the online home for everything I create, teach, and imagine. Born in Mercy Hospital and now working inside its historic walls, my journey has come full circle. This space gathers my entire art portfolio and the three branches of my creative life: Art After School sharing STEM + Textiles with middle schoolers; Fiber Art by Carola, my brand of wearables and home goods for sale in-person and online; and Carola Jones, Teaching Artist, the umbrella for everything I share. Together, these pages form a single creative ecosystem, rooted in heritage, shaped by craft, and guided by story. Welcome. Wander. Explore. And stitch yourself into the journey.
Links: Fiber Art by Carola | About The Brand
My brand and online shop featuring one-of-a-kind medicine cloth wearables, indigo-dyed textiles, quilts, and home goods. Each piece is made with ancestral intention, land-based practice, and contemporary design inspired by my participation in Indigenous Fashion Arts in Toronto and Calgary, Canada.
STEM + Textiles Art After-School
Gratitude: The quality of being thankful. I’m grateful for every sunrise and sunset. Only a few years ago, I was flat on my back and unable to turn over on my own. Divine Mercy saved me through the prayers and kindness of others. When I came back into my body after a painful near-death experience, God commanded me to put "middle schoolers first," and to make art. After four years of surviving death, in this fifth year I'm ready to live and thrive. It's been a long prayerful journey, and I'm humbled by walking out God's plan for my life.
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Current Work
I arrived in Gatlinburg,Tennessee carrying grief like a wet cloth, heavy, cold, clinging to my skin no matter how hard I tried to shake it loose. Grief depression had hollowed out the days until even breathing felt like work. I moved slowly through the world, as though my spirit had forgotten how to rise. But somewhere along the rhythm of the train and early morning winding roads from Greenville, South Carolina up to Gatlinburg, something inside me began to loosen.
At the Spring Pentaculum Residency and Retreat hosted by Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, the air itself felt thinner and lighter. Hammers ringing against metal, sewing machines humming, and looms clacking through open studio doors, everywhere, hands were making something. Not for perfection. Not for performance. Simply to remain alive inside themselves. And like an early morning fog, my depression faded while my hands stitched. The experience was like feeling a healing peace growing inside me that radiated into the lush green mountain. It’s also the inspiration for my new middle school program, “Streetwear Designer.”
At the Spring Pentaculum Residency and Retreat hosted by Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, the air itself felt thinner and lighter. Hammers ringing against metal, sewing machines humming, and looms clacking through open studio doors, everywhere, hands were making something. Not for perfection. Not for performance. Simply to remain alive inside themselves. And like an early morning fog, my depression faded while my hands stitched. The experience was like feeling a healing peace growing inside me that radiated into the lush green mountain. It’s also the inspiration for my new middle school program, “Streetwear Designer.”
