Schiaparelli + Cocteau Embroidery Collaboration

Flipping through a book of Elsa Schiaparelli's work at Assouline, I was thrilled to come across this embroidery collaboration with Jean Cocteau. This wasn't their only collaborative work together, and Schiaparelli was known for working closely with the surrealists.

I think the most surreal thing I discovered while writing this blog post was that Elsa Schiaparelli was once the mystery guest on "What's My Line":

Indie Craft - Jo Waterhouse

US cover version with Blue Dolly

Indie Craft, a new book surveying the wave of contemporary crafting, DIY-inspired fine art and illustration has just come available. Jo Waterhouse interviewed me for the book, and the foreword is by Faythe Levine. From the publisher's website:

This book showcases the new wave of cool crafting – quirky, cutting-edge, craft-based artwork, often called Indie Craft or D.I.Y. craft. Indie craft is ‘not your grandma’s craft’. While the methods and disciplines are the same – such as embroidery, crochet, knitting, cross-stitch, tapestry, needle felt and plush toy making – the finished results are very different. Indie craft is contemporary, sometimes controversial, sometimes kitsch, ironic or humorous, often blurring the lines between art and craft.

UK cover version with work by Marloes Duyker

There are two versions of the cover: the US release features my embroidered portrait of Dolly Parton and the UK release features work by Marloes Duyker.

Link

Monster Show Five - Domy Books

I will have one, strange little drawing included in the Austin leg of this group show at the wonderful Domy Books:

Monster Show Five
Saturday, October 30
@ Domy Books, Austin / Houston 7-9pm
show hangs until December 2, 2010

Edna Martin

"Grandiflora", appliqué and embroidery wall hanging by Edna Martin
circa 1980's? (no date given)

While researching the voluminous (but largely unattributed and completely unorganized) embroidery folios at the Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, I came across the work of Swedish artist Edna Martin.


I have been unable to find much info about her online, but did turn up the above book cover published by Carlssons. If any Swedish readers are familiar with her, please drop me a line! I did manage to turn up this link and this link of a group show from 2003 at American Textile History Museum. Same Edna Martin?

ETA: I received a very kind email from Maria Lindgren in Sweden who translated this encyclopedia entry for me (and you):

Martin, Edna, née Johansson, 1908-2003, textile artist, made a Professor in 1980. She was artistic director of Svensk Hemslöjd (roughly translates to Swedish Crafts, an influential organisation started in 1899 to promote, support and develop the home crafts of the Swedish country population) 1945-51. Martin was senior professor of textile arts at the Royal College of the Arts 1957-69. In her role as manager and artistic director of Handarbetets Vänner (roughly translates to Society of Needlecrafts, an organisation formed in 1874 to specifically promote the textile crafts. It is alive and well today, with some respected training programmes) 1951-77 she renewed and vitalized the enterprise by uniting ancient weaving techniques with free-form art. She attached famous artists Sten Kauppi and Kaisa Melanton to the company and invited artists such as Lennart Rodhe and Siri Derkert (well-known enfant terrible of the Swedish art world) to produce originals used for textile monumental art. Her own creations consist of, for example, small, brilliantly coloured embroidery works, flamboyant “caparisons” and stringent, woven “glory quilts”.

Maria also said:

If you like Swedish style textile art, you might want to check out this link, and see if you take a fancy to anyone else!

How nice of her! Thank you, Maria!

Recent Project - Magazine Cover

It's been a long stretch between blog posts here on Embroidery As Art. I've been on vacation. Sort of. Work found its way to me despite my attempts to run far away. And, even though I try to find a quiet corner away from twitter, facebook and my own websites- I still take my embroidery supplies with me.

I wasn't prepared for this though: a commission to do a magazine cover. In cross-stitch. (What's that?) Vacation interruptus. Am I complaining? No way. The cover hasn't been published yet (I think it comes out this weekend), so once it's out, I'll let you see the whole thing. I'll also pronounce my discourse on cross-stitch at that time too, so you can start getting excited now.

Stitch: Modern Embroidery - Group Show

"Work" 2007, Wendy Huhn

This evening is the opening of Stitch: Modern Embroidery at the Haydon Art Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. From the website:

Stitch: Modern Embroidery celebrates the traditions of the thread and needle and uses them to explore contemporary issues of domesticity, gender roles & feminist perspectives. Artists Jenny Hart, Wendy Huhn, Elizabeth Ingraham, Lauren McEntire & Maggy Rozycki fill the gallery with colorful stitched works that drape from the ceilings, hang on the walls, and fill the room with sculpture.

Stitch: Modern Embroidery First Friday receptions will be held on Friday, October 1^st & Friday, November 5^th from 6-8:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public.

Link