Ceara Lile Art

07/07/2026

Inkless prints meet plastic waste, machine stitching and hand stitching... This time on paper in this Venn of Us crossover... These little tidbits are currently available at Red Delicious Gallery in Greytown. They are each framed and ready to hang on your wall at home.

29/06/2026

I love the power of nature!
The natural pigments and chemistry of plants working together with natural fibres and metal created the prints on all these pieces.
These are some sneak peaks of silk and wool climate change scarves (more about these limited edition pieces below) I've recently printed with leaves from places special to me, and dyed with pōhutukawa wood.

In order these are:
1 - Mission Garden - geranium and rose leaf prints on pōhutukawa
2 - First Light - mānuka and kānuka branches
3 - Drift - windfall maple and rose leaves with pōhutukawa
4 - Home - windfall oak leaves and mānuka branches on pōhutukawa
5 - Healers - ginkgo leaves and mānuka branches with pōhutukawa
6 - Night - windfall maple and rose leaves on pōhutukawa

I'll be listing them on my website soon... But if you want to snap one of these ones up, just message me for details!

My climate change scarves all carry the story of renewal - of the beauty in resilience and imperfection. They were damaged during unseasonal monsoon flooding in the villages where they were woven, rendering them unsuitable for sale due to holes and staining. My wonderful supplier bought them regardless, selling them onto people like me who found purpose in mending and decorating them, breathing life into them. I have patched some, cut, reshaped and hemmed others, and dyed and printed them all.
So these scarves have each been touched by many hands, adding to their legacy.

21/06/2026

Tūi being a tūi...

17/06/2026

A little snippet from today's photo session...
There's Mildred in the background of this 100% silk satin georgette scarf printed only with what nature has provided - I don't use synthetic inks or dyes. The Autumn windfall Oak leaves sit behind the rugged kānuka... And all are supported by the burnished colours from my latest Pohutukawa dye-bath experiment.

I'll be adding a whole lot of new pieces to my online store in the next week or so. If you'd like to have first dibs just make sure you've subscribed to my emails. All you have to do is head over to my website - cearalile.com - and fill in the form at the bottom of any page. I'll share a link in my bio ❤️

16/06/2026

13/06/2026

Can you tell how thrilled I am to have two of my pieces - The Giver and Seeker - included at Village Arts in Kohukohu?!?

I've admired this gallery since we moved up to the North last year, so I'm stoked to have my pieces in such wonderful company as part of the Alignment exhibition for Matariki. I've never seen these two works hanging side by side and love how they look... Especially when you see how beautiful the whole exhibition looks! (Check out those stunning pieces surrounding mine - there's something for everyone.)

Alignment is on this month and most of July as well. So head on over if you get a chance (and feel free to send me a photo if you do)!

09/06/2026

Today I'm photographing my latest batch of climate change scarves... So here are a few gorgeous sneak peaks from one of them.
My climate change scarves all carry the story of renewal - of the beauty in resilience and imperfection. They were damaged during unseasonal monsoon flooding in the villages where they were woven, rendering them unsuitable for sale due to holes and staining. My wonderful supplier bought them regardless, selling them onto people like me who found purpose in mending and decorating them, breathing life into them.
So these scarves have each been touched by many hands, adding to their legacy.

Soon I'll be uploading them to my online shop on my website (https://www.cearalile.com/)
Head over and subscribe - through the form at the bottom of any page - if you'd like to be first to know when these beauties are available!

03/06/2026

I'm so excited to be part of this exhibition at Village Arts, Kohukohu!
"Alignment" will celebrate the celestial conjunction and alignment of the stars, exploring themes of connections, new beginnings and annual cycles.
This is a mixed-media group exhibition, opening at 11am on Saturday, 13th June, and running through to Sunday, 26th July.

03/06/2026

Thank you, Annie, for sending me these gorgeous photos of my premium silk crepe and silk wool voile scarves in situ at
Each piece is cut, hemmed and printed by me - I'm pretty finicky so prefer sewing my own scarves (I suspect 'finicky' should actually read 'control freak').

And the nature-lover in me enjoys working with nature to produce these inkless leaf prints. Nature has a way of putting us in our place and showing us that she can't be controlled, so I enjoy being surprised by the results of collaborating with her. Each ecoprint session is an exercise in letting go of control (to a point 🤔🤣) and learning to embrace surprises and the imperfections that actually make things more organic and perfect.

The imagery is created through eco-printing, a natural dyeing process that transfers the forms of plants directly onto fabric using their own pigments. No inks or synthetic dyes are used.

02/06/2026

Close up details of my piece for Winter Light, Winter Shadow group fibre exhibition at Cocker & Son Gallery in Auckland...

First Light
Climate Change Scarf (silk and wool), eco-printed and naturally dyed
2026
First Light is a wearable artwork that can also be displayed as a wall hanging. Botanical forms and natural colour evoke winter mist lifting from distant ridgelines as the first light of day emerges.
The imagery is created through eco-printing, a natural dyeing process that transfers the forms of plants directly onto fabric using their own pigments. No inks or synthetic dyes are used. New Zealand kānuka branches and autumn ginkgo leaves create horizontal bands reminiscent of mist-covered hills and valleys. The organic vertical forms extending through the piece were created by processing the fabric in a natural dye bath of pōhutukawa, creating layers of shadow and light.
Created from a silk and wool Climate Change Scarf, First Light transforms a textile marked by climate events into a work of renewal.

Climate Change Scarves are handwoven silk and wool scarves sourced from North India. Following severe monsoon flooding, many completed scarves were left stained or damaged and could no longer be sold. Rather than being discarded, these textiles were purchased to support the weaving communities affected by the flooding and given a new life through creative reuse.