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.

Work Space & Art Work

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I'm participating in an art show at Domy Books, Austin tonight: photos of artists' work spaces and brief talks about our day jobs and getting by as independent artists. For me, that would be with my company, Sublime Stitching. I will be giving a brief talk after 8pm and photos of my various, hectic workspaces will be included in the show.

Happy Birthday, Dolly

Lou Reed

Link

Domestic Animals - Group Show

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Tonight is the opening of "Domestic Animals" at Webb Gallery, a group show curated by Heyd Fontenot. I have three works in ink and colored pencil on Bristol. You can see all three pieces on my flickr set. I wish I could be there for the opening tonight, but I am in Chicago on book tour.

Link
Previously on EAA: Monkey Sketch

Back from Lille

I just got back last night from Lille, France (oh, how I wish we had high-speed trains in the US) where I attended the opening of "Sur le Fil" a huge group show of "deviant textiles" that included three of my pieces, along with mind-blowing works by artists from all over the world. Representing the US were artists: Orly Cogan, Richard Saja, Elaine Bradford, Mark Newport, Ray Materson and Andrea Deszö.

One of the most interesting things about being there was staying in the artists' residences and learning about their history. Lille used to be the center for manufacturing thread (poetically fitting, don't you think?). The museum (called Maison Folie de Wazemmes or, "crazy house of Wazemmes") and the residences, two buildings that face one another a long alleyway, are housed in the former factory buildings. The significance of the venue was not lost on any of us.

embroidery by Skart collective (Belgrade)

I will be blogging about works by individual artists from this show, many of whom I was previously unfamiliar with. And, as if that weren't exciting enough, there are two more group shows of contemporary needlework coming up (one curated by yours truly) and I'm gonna blog separately about those. Because hey, don't you want to go see my pictures from my trip?

Shelia Pepe Collab - Part 2

Thanks to all of those who attended my talk on Sunday at Testsite. The above video is of us as we knit and made objects from the installation. You can see me embroidering on the knitting I did about two minutes in. It was really interesting to see the web of Sheila's work further dismantled and re-incarnated into other objects. I couldn't help doing more knitting myself after last Sunday and made this necklace:



I think I'm going to add clear sequins to it here and there...Grateful appreciation to Shelia Pepe and the folks at Testsite for inviting me to speak and participate.

Beautiful Mess

Shannon Genova (aka Giggly Mama) sent me an image of her Sublime Stitching pattern-turned-tattoo. But, then, I took a sneaky peek at her flickr set and saw that she's been embroidering up a storm. I loved what I saw. Especially this "beautiful mess" of therapeutic embroidery: free-form, no pattern at all- just soothing stitching.

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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?

Biblical Proportions Show: St. John the Baptist

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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.

Whip Up: Man-broidery

I wrote a brief article for Whip Up about men working in embroidery. Hardly an exhaustive representation of dudes who do the stitching around the house, it's just a little post I wrote that starts like this:

Man-broidery. Boy-broidery. Guy-stitching. Bro-broidery. Whatever you call it, guys are (and always have been) doing it. You know, embroidering! Wielding the needle! Marking the muslin! Poking the pillowcase! Splitting the stitch! Which is fantastically awesome. I say: there needs to be more men embroidering. And it seems that there are.

Read the rest of my wee article on Whip Up:
Man-broidery by Jenny Hart

Related: Mark Frauenfelder and Mr. Jalopy embroider too!

Bill Hicks - Ars Longa, Vita Brevis Est

Several of my very good friends have been contacting me in the last week to let me know that David Letterman aired the previously censored routine Bill Hicks performed on "Late Night With David Letterman" many years ago, shortly before his death.

Realizing my portrait of Hicks isn't anywhere on my site (which is currently being re-built) I thought I'd post it here, although additional work to this piece has since taken place. It measures 28" x 23" and is difficult to photograph or scan due to its size. The words embroidered are the last two stanzas of a poem Hick's wrote, which was unpublished at the time this piece was created (special thanks to Charlie Sotelo for giving me access to his archive of Hicks' letters and writings).

For all who've watched with mounting horror
Evil's reign upon this world grow ever clear
For all who've cried in vain "Emancipators!"
Wielding swords of truth
And laughing without fear.

Link to a Hicks rant (NSFW)
Link to Wikipedia on Bill Hicks

Coccinelle

One of my earliest embroidered portraits was of Coccinelle, France's famous cabaret singer and also Europe's first recipient of a widely publicized gender reassignment.

This is also the first and only piece that I worked entirely in rayon floss. The look is shimmery and pearlescent, which suits Coccinelle nicely, but rayon is so slippery and difficult to stitch, that I never worked with it again after this piece.

Here's Coccinelle in action. Singing a cheeky and playful song asking, not so innocently, "Mais, qu'est-ce que j'ai donc?" ("What is it about me?"). And, that lithe young man who is the last to take a seat in the at the table? The one with the feathery blond pompadour? Mmmmhm.

Link

Link to Wikipedia entry on Coccinelle

Mitch's Riches

I just realized that many of my gallery images are down because I'm so neglectful of my poor little art site. So, I plan on restoring those images this afternoon at a leisurely pace (I do have a cold) and thought I'd pull a lesser-known image of Mitch O'Connell's embroidered family portrait from my portfolio to distract you while I work.