Giant Embroidery Diagram 1 - Feather Stitch

(click to enlarge)

Working on oversized embroidery diagrams. This is a feather stitch.

More Fence Embroidery

Who did this? It was spied on Brick Lane in London and posted to Flickr. I see a heart, a comma and is that an "LOL"? -Oh, it says "act". I see that now! And, I agree.

UPDATE: Seleena kindly wrote in with what she believes is a link to the artist (thank you!).

Link
Related: Giant Embroidery

Shela Pepe Collab / Jenny Hart Talk: Testsite

Why do I have a craft project on Embroidery As Art? Well, this wristlet is the result of a collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist Shelia Pepe who currently has work on display at Testsite with Elizabeth Dunbar. Shelia's crochet takes on enormous scale and creates a mind-blowing web of needlework. Shelia wants viewers of this show to participate by pulling apart the artwork (how often do you get to do that?) and making something functional from it. So, last Sunday during gallery hours, my dear friend Jessica Vitkus (author: Alternacrafts and creator of these hilarious Craft the Vote projects on Slate) and I hung out, knit (yes, I knit something -but I also embroidered on it!) and chatted under the helpful eye of Toby from Hill Country Weavers.

(image via Brooklyn Museum of Art)

Shelia and the curators at Testsite invited me to give a talk this coming Sunday at noon on the lessening divide between art and craft. Please come and take part in the discussion.

Jenny Hart discussion "Forming the Function: The Role of Functional Media As Art" @ Testsite, Austin, TX Sunday 6/14 1-2pm.

The Sultan's Elephant

A parade in Nantes, France, of giant marionettes playing out the story of a little girl who's crashed landed on our planet, and begins playing, destructively, with everything around her.
These are cars she stitched to the earth.

Link

Giant Embroidery

A little over a year ago, I took advantage of a chain-link fence at Maker Faire to show other ways embroidery can be executed, interact with a plane, and how any surface offers up ways to be embroidered. Chain-link fences are particularly enticing.

I have been interested in creating 'Giant Embroidery' for some time. Making embroidery stitches into giant, visually discernable shapes. Embroidery is always thought of as so minute and tiny, that my interest has been about making it bigger. Easier to see. Easier to understand, and less mysterious. Both as art, and as a method for teaching it. I like to use all six strands when I work (not the tradition and considered to be a less refined technique, I suppose) so my stitches appear chunky and the texture isn't lost. While I admire fine lines in thread, I like something to look 'embroidered'. I like to see the hand in it. I like to see the stitches. Embroidery was mysterious to me for such a long time, and the simple fact of understanding how to do it brought me into a tiny world I understood more easily, and I wanted to magnify it to show others.




Rayna Fahey of Radical Cross Stitch in Melbourne, Australia, has also been inspired by fences for political messages and outside art installations. "Fence Weaving" by wrapping wool yarn around areas of the fence to spell out site-specific messages and political, group commentary. Wonderfulness.

Revolutionary Craft Circle Fence Weaving

also see:
Giant Isolated Chain Stitch
Fence Embroidery
Lace Fence

Isolated Chain Stitch

Since the show has opened and the piece has sold, I'll go ahead and post my contribution to Arthouse's 5x7 show, which is up until June 1st. This is a prelim for a larger sculptural work I've long wanted to do. It's an isolated chain stitch, worked exactly as it would be on fabric, secured by its own tail. Very special thanks to Justin Goldwater who helped me source the metal and cut the holes and Nathan Green who granted my wishes on how to display the piece. I've provided a front and back view of the work on Flickr.

Link