Layers of Meaning

Ray Materson, Sin and Needles

Ray Materson is an ex-con who embroiders tiny works with shiny fibers unraveled from socks. To learn more about Materson's work, listen to this interview with Materson on NPR. The NPR quick summary of Materson's life reads, "Ray Materson taught himself to embroider while in prison, where he was serving a 15-year sentence for drug-related offenses. By fashioning a hoop from a Rubbermaid top and salvaging threads from old socks, Materson was able to create intricate, multi-colored scenes depicting everything from prison life to football emblems to romantic sunsets. These scenes are only 2-by-2 inches, with 1200 stitches per square inch."

As the interview plays, you can view Materson's work at the Materson Gallery, Raw Vision.

If you want more details still, Materson's story is told and illustrated in a book, Sins and Needles.

The Diane Rehm Show offers a one hour interview and book discussion with Materson. The emphasis in this interview is on overcoming addictions through art as well on the art itself.

"Creativity is part of our very makeup," he says. A failure to nurture or encourage the creative urge, he believes, can lead to crimes against others and oneself, such as drug addiction and alcoholism."