Landscape is a constant in Matzkuhn’s work. She approaches it as a character with a varying temperament. Her work is inspired by the time she spends in the backcountry experiencing the changing weather, light, and fragrance. She enjoys revisiting the same places many times through different trails, allowing her memories overlap and create composite images. She frequently takes photographs and makes sketches of the scenes that surprise her, such as two rivers meeting, or a perfectly symmetrical arc of wild roses.

She records these observations through the slow and meditative process of embroidery, which connects her to the women in her family who sewed and mended, and to generations of textile artists and craftspeople worldwide who speak through thread.

Spending time in nature and working by hand are unmediated personal practices that cannot be replicated. Yet Matzkuhn’s textile landscapes have an uncanny ability to capture and transmit the serenity and quietude of her experiences and artistic processes. Her work invites stillness and rewards the mindful viewer’s attention through subtle changes in the textile’s texture or appearance of details at different lights.

Matzhuhn also often uses textile and embroidery, commonly seen as dated crafts, to speak about what needs to be preserved and celebrated today. Many of her works warn about changing climate, diminishing diversity, drought, erosion. Her messages resonate in the defiant tranquility of her work.