Full Mano

Fellow embroiderer and French artist Full Mano has a show opening tonight at the Krash Bar in Paris. Of course -just a week after I left. Bien que ce soit un cruise bar, j'y aurais allée bien volontiers! Bon vernissage et bisous!

Full Mano on Facebook

Previously on EAA:
Full Mano - Sur le Fil
Full Mano - Encore

Hong Chun Zhang

"Twin Spirits"#1 (2002)
4ft x 10ft (each)
charcoal on paper

This past weekend, I spoke at Hello Etsy's satellite event in Washington D.C. at The Smithsonian American Art Museum / National Portrait Gallery.

When I had a moment to slip away, I walked through the permanent collection and also checked out the current exhibition Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter. I was absolutely blown away by the monumental work of Hong Chung Zhang.

Nicola Ginzel

Found objects, trash, ephemera, discarded receipts, cardboard boxes...embroidered, embellished and made precious by Nicola Ginzel.

(Thanks, Becky!)

Richard Saja - Sideshow!

The last time I contacted Richard Saja the response was something like "Can't talk now. Working on new line of fabric." That was exciting to hear, so I hung back, waiting to find out what he was working on.

The first time I came across Richard's work was in 2005 at The Future Perfect in Brooklyn. Their successful collaboration continues, and I found out today that he is releasing his new fabric line this weekend:

(available in yardage)

Debut of Richard Saja's SIDESHOW! Toile
@ The Future Perfect
55 Great Jones Street, NYC
ICFF Opening Party
Saturday, May 14th, 7-10pm

Don't miss the many incarnation of his own fabric:

Sideshow! Toile - Embroidered & Sideshow! - Woven. Congratulations, Richard!

Stephen Sollins

The embroidery work of artist Stephen Sollins is new to me. He works in numerous media, but I missed seeing this series of needlework when it was exhibited in 2003. Sollins "unworked" cross-stitch samplers, and then re-worked the ground fabric in the same number of stitches and colors as the original composition (a ghostly outline remains), reducing the work down to condensed blocks of color.

found via dearada

Inge Jacobsen

A reader sent in a link to work by Inge Jacobsen. I especially love that she includes images of the backs of her work (click the images above to see in larger detail). Cross-stitching over existing photographs gives the work a depth that the stitching alone wouldn't convey. I love the look it gives, which is very similar to those by Cécile Jarsaillon who works in a similar fashion, to great effect.

Inge is a student in her final year of studying Fine Art Photography at Kingston University, London and her principle focus is on photography. However, she's recently turned to stitching over magazine advertisements and covers. From her statement:

The work I am currently making is an intervention into found images through embroidery, cutting, and collaging. The images I use are from women’s high fashion magazines and pornographic images found on the internet. These make up the basis of most of my work although I am starting to explore newspaper imagery as well. My main concern as an artist is how one responds to the mass of imagery in the world. Altering these is central to a lot of my work.

Her blog entries offer some insight into her thoughts (and misgivings) about stitching over photos that are interesting.

Link (Thanks, Alexandra!)

Also see:
Lauren DiCioccio
Cécile Jarsaillon
Maurizio Anzeri

Jennifer Hunold

Stitched in my memory (detail), 2008, by Jennifer Hunold
Hand embroidery, colored pencil, acrylic, and gesso on muslin
30 x 40 inches

Jennifer Hunhold recently sent in an email to let me know that she's curating a show at Collar Works Gallery and has posted a call for entries on her website. But, I spent most of my time looking at her own work, which I really enjoyed. Especially this piece above, along with her other very delicate and ephemeral works such as embroidering on leaves or delicate facial tissue:

Her Dream House Floor Plan works are also fantastic.

Lace Portrait - Penny Nickels

Johnny Mumbles by Penny Nickels
Hand-worked lace - 9" x 11"

Hand-worked lace amazes me. I love Penny's portrait of her brother. I love his beard. I love his gaze. He looks like a mountain.

Link

On D+R: Lace Fence

Orly Cogan & Mary Jo Matsumoto Collab

dress by Mary Jo Matsumoto

Mary Jo Matsumoto is debuting a collection of art-inspired dresses at at The Stephen Cohen Gallery on Thursday, March 17, from 6-9pm during LA Fashion Week. She designed this dress with fabric printed from Orly Cogan's art piece titled "Searching For My Prince". I don't know what other artist-inspired works are included in her collection, but I'm intrigued.

Frances Goodman

South African artist Frances Goodman has an entire series of hooped embroideries called "Toilet Grafitti". This one that looks like a chisel marker tag is my favorite.

Link

Full Mano Encore

Full Mano just posted images to Facebook of new work and I wanted to share. He is an artist living and working in Paris.

Previously: Full Mano

Mary Woodring's Barking Dog

Ní beithíoch ionnraicthe é, by Mary Woodring

My good friend and fellow stitcher, Mary Woodring, sent me an email the other day with what she's been working on. I asked her if I could share it with my readers. Here's what she said about the piece:

It's an homage to my neighbor's dog, the barkinest dog in creation. The title was suggested by my sister Nora, who lives in the basement apartment downstairs in the same house as the dog: "Ní beithíoch ionnraicthe é," which means "It is not a natural animal, it is a monster." It is 7 3/4" x 9 1/2", white glow-in-the-dark thread on black muslin. And that's not just a random bunch of stars! Jim suggested I do Canis Major.

Mary's piece is part of an upcoming show curated by Pamela Davis of Mucho Design:

Dwelling on the Past
@ Twilight Artist Collective
4306 Southwest Alaska Street
Seattle, WA

Opening Jan 13, 6-9pm
show hangs Jan 13-Feb 7 2011

Related:
Jim Woodring Embroidery Patterns
Glow-in-the-dark thread

Jillian Tamaki - Monster Quilt

Jillian Tamaki's Monster Quilt (click to enlarge)

Thanks to an auto-generated "you might also like", I saw a tiny image of Jillian Tamaki's Monster Quilt out of the corner of my eye. I clicked away accidentally before I could follow the link. I did some hunting to turn up what I thought I saw. Wonderfully worth the effort.

I am particularly interested in artists who depart from their usual medium to try embroidery. I think it's important to recognize that when we do, we are not textile artists in the traditional sense. Personally, I've never been comfortable being referred to as a textile or fiber artist (because I don't have that background). We are artists trying embroidery with a new curiosity and different approach to its challenges. Jillian speaks to that in her blog entry about doing this work. It's the "not knowing" that produces fresh results and roads not yet taken.

Link to Jillian's blog entry on her quilt
Link to Jillian's illustration portfolio

ETA: After posting about Jillian's work she contacted me: "Thanks, Jenny! I started embroidering with the help of one of your starter kits." That made my day. I am now hoping she'll consider a Sublime Stitching collab.

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":

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!

Liyen Chong - Hair Embroidery

"Breathe" 2009, Liyen Chong

Melenie in New Zealand sent an email to let me know about the work of Liyen Chong (who is also in New Zealand). Her works in embroidery are exclusively worked with hair. There is a long tradition of embroidering with hair in China and, Chong works with blonde, red and black hair. Having attempted embroidery with my own hair only once, I am astonished at the results she achieves.

Link (thanks, Melenie!)

Alicia Ross - Phrenology Studies

Alicia Ross has recently published a collection of her work. Among my favorites are the tightly cross-stitched phrenology studies. In particular, I like this pensive MacKenzie Phillips.

Cayce Zavaglia - Au Verso

"Teo" (verso detail) 2010 by Cayce Zavaglia

Cayce Zavaglia sent me images of her most recent work, and she also included the backside, which is just as mind-blowing as the front. Click the image above to enlarge.

Previously on EAA: Cayce Zavaglia

Out of the Wild - Group Show

Detail from Cul-de-sac Vengeance by Maggy Rozycki Hiltner

Currently @ Art Star in Philadelphia: Out of the Wild, "a 3 person exhibition featuring animal imagery in fabric and thread". Through August 29th, 2010.

(Do not miss Maggy Rozycki Hiltner's quilt.)

Peter Crawley

Looking at a collected list of "minimalist websites", Peter Crawley's was at the top. I had not seen his work before. Worked almost exclusively in black thread on paper, the precision and line work that could be mistaken for pen and ink is sweetly betrayed by the soft burs and errant fibers. The architectural studies are my favorite.

Link