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.

Fiber Arctic - Group Show

The Fiber Arctic Show opens this Friday, June 12th at Schmancy in Seattle. I just completed the above work for the show, called "Ice Princess". You can see the progress of my work on Flickr. There's also a related interview with me on Plush You.

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.

Cross-Stitched Cars

I received an email from the curator of an upcoming exhibition in Berlin called "Strich und Faden" and was blown away by the work of Lithuanian artist Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene. She has several examples of her unbelievable cross-stitching on car hoods, car doors, skillets, platters and watering cans. Field trip to Berlin, anyone?

From the Strich und Faden website:

The folksy expression "nach Strich und Faden" has its origin in the craft of weaving, where it was used when testing the cloth's quality. It means to do something thoroughly, with great artistry and precision, or according to the rules of an art or craft. In contemporary language it has gained connotations of trickery, deceit and travesty.

This also brought to mind the playful work of Lynette Andreason who embroiders on jewelry and metal platters to great effect.

Link: Strich und Faden exhibit in Berlin
Link: Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene

Related: Isolated Chain Stitch
The Sultan's Elephant

Kate Bingaman Burt

Kate Bingaman Burt, who is famous for her beautifully obsessive hand-drawn script (she lettered the Handmade Nation book) and meticulously hand-drawn recreations of her store receipts and bank statements, has created some wonderful embroidered dresses, that document her outstanding debt and purchases she's made. Kate will be part of a small show of contemporary embroidery that I'm curating for the fall called "Over and Under" and these dresses will be on display. More info on this show coming.

This work also reminds me of the embroidered works and dresses by New Yorker columnist and illustrator Maira Kalman. Kalman also authored the gloriously poignant and personal memoir The Principles of Uncertainty, which includes several photos of her embroidery and stories about the work's meaning to her.

Obsessive Consumption - Kate Bingaman Burt

Joetta Maue

While I was in DC speaking at the Summit of Awesome, I had the pleasure of getting to meet Joetta Maue, whose work I'd only seen online. She had several of her embroidered works on display at the market, which make use of existing doilies and finished textiles she further embellishes with her own needlework.

Link

Gary Baseman Chou Altar

(photo via Supertouch)

Oh, how I wish I could have torn myself away and attended the opening of Gary Baseman's solo show in L.A. to worship at the Enlightened Chou altar! Thank goodness there are photos of it. (Thanks Rzl for the tip.)

(photo via Supertouch)

There it is! In the black frame in the lower right hand corner. Yay. Super happy and excited about this collab. You can see details of my embroidered version of Gary's Enlightened Chou on flickr. If you're in LA, Gary's show will be hanging at Corey Helford Gallery through the end of May (Coop's show opens May 29th).

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.

Link

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