Gary Baseman Collab Complete

Gary Baseman's solo show opens at Corey Helford gallery this weekend, and my piece is finished! Gary asked me to embroider a version of his "Enlightened Chou" as part of an altar surrounding his four-foot version.

"Enlightened Chou" -detail of "creamy goodness" sprouting from his belly.

This is hand embroidery and black sequins on patterned fabric. I wish I could be there to pray at the altar of Gary Baseman this weekend. Thanks, Gary!

Corey Helford Gallery L.A. / Gary Baseman
opening Saturday, May 2nd 2009

Biblical Proportions Opening

I'm behind in my blogging (isn't everyone these days?) but I wanted to be sure to share this sweet snap of me and Jordan at the Biblical Proporations opening at (The Really Real Original) Bearded Lady Studio and Gallery. We both stood on either side of the piece like this through the whole opening. Was that weird?

Gary Baseman Collab

Gary Baseman invited me to contribute a piece to his upcoming show at Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles. He's building an altar around a four-foot version of his bear-like ChouChou character who has now become Enlightened Chou, spouting creamy goodness from his bellybutton. Here's a sneak peek at my contribution to the altar. More details to come.

Link

Press: Plus One

There's an article on Faythe Levine's HandMade Nation documentary in the current issue of +1 magazine. The piece opens with an image of my Marianne Faithfull.

Download the PDF of the magazine

Biblical Proportions Show: St. John the Baptist

(click image to enlarge)
All the Girls Wept Tears of Pure Love / St. John the Baptist
(Jordan Lee)
hand-embroidery and sequins on cotton panel, 18" x 20"

My embroidered version of the classical theme of St. John the Baptist's head on a platter is now finished. I was inspired to do this piece last fall while in Paris, seeing all the paintings of this theme repeated again and again. When Michael Schliefke approached me last December asking if I'd like to contribute to his "Biblical Proportions" show I gave an enthusiastic yes. I knew it would commit me to creating this piece. All artists were invited to pick a story from the Bible and create a work based on it. The model for the piece is Sublime Stitching's fulfillment manager, Jordan Lee.

About the Bible story: (Matthew 14:6 - 8) King Herod had John killed at the request of his step-daughter, Salomé, after she performed the "Dance of the Seven Veils" for him on the occasion of his birthday. He was so delighted by her dance, he said he would give her anything she wished. After consulting her mother for what to ask, she said "Bring me the head of John the Baptist."

About the piece: Jordan was a perfect model for this piece, looking very much like I imagine John the Baptist did: an innocent, wild-boy. Because John baptized Jesus in the river of Jordan, I incorporated Jordon's own name into the composition. I called it "All the girls cried tears of pure love" because Jordan is also a (very talented) musician and I liked the idea of merging the rock-star adoration with mourning his / John's death. On a side note, Jordan's sister is the well-known latch-hook rug artist, and my good friend, Whitney Lee.

This work will be on display for two days only, as part of the New Testament leg of the show. Full information for this weekend's show is on the exhibitions page, and also on the Biblical Proportions site.

You can also see images of this piece from start to finish here.

More Animated Embroidery

This is one of the most impressive bits of animated embroidery I've seen, and it was posted over a year ago on YouTube. It's really fluid and well conceived. Watch it a few times to catch all the things that are, um, "happening".


Link

Related: The Thread

Rosalind Wyatt

At first glance, I thought this was an abstract bit of needlework, but then the structure of a building became apparent. British artist Rosalind Wyatt is chronicling the contents of letters and stories in embroidery on dresses.

Link