Layers of Meaning

Eirian Short - Realism in Embroidery

Eirian Short is a British embroidery legend whose pinaccle seems to have occurred prior to the advent of the internet. One of the few pages that I could find of her work features an embroidered landscape with crows and a short biography - given first in Gaellic then in English:
"Eirian Short was born in Fishguard in 1924. She studied sculpture and embroidery at Goldsmiths College, London. From 1953 to 1985 she lectured at various London art colleges, while developing her own work and exhibiting widely."

A student newsletter from 2001 provides a bit more depth as to the significance of Short's work: "Admitting to a vulgar side of her nature, she works with subjects and imagery, which arise from a sense of necessity and a commitment to an inner integrity in terms of idea and concept. Eirian avoids any danger of good taste, working from a cycle of subjects, which have recurred over the years. Her subjects focus over a wide span of ideas, although most are based on the creatures and landscape of her home in Wales.
The great Black Crows of the early '80's were depicted as a crucifixion, and exhibited in a 62 Group exhibition at the RIBA galleries in Central London. Other, equally controversial subjects followed over the years, the snakes series shown in the On the Edge exhibition of 1998 at the Knitting and Stitching Show, ranged from a series of exquisite, detailed drawings to a huge, padded and sculpted snake which encircled a mirror....

A committed hand embroiderer, Eirian uses thread and stitch as a painter would use paint and brushes, each stitch a mark of colour, and in turn multiplying and building until it has filled the canvas. Her stitch language is simple and straightforward, straight stitches, detached chain stitch and French knots. Working with crewel wool means that she is able to vary the number of threads in the needle and mix colours - much as a painter would mix colours in a palette. Every scrap of the ground fabric is filled with stitch, which creates a smooth even surface of coloured wool, the surface values and qualities created not with texture, but in the way that she is able to modulate the light/dark contrasts of tonal values." (pages 20-22)

One of the great drawbacks to the Internet is the lack of information on older, not-so-fashionable people/issues/art. Short's books are still available through libraries and used book stores, but sadly not much can be found online.

To see more images: The Open Window; Flying into the Sun and The Moon (both on p. 2 of a catalog in.pdf format))