“What I’m really interested in is the future and what it looks like” and “in inventing a future through history and material culture and art.” – J. Morgan Puett, designer and artist. Puett elaborates further on this philosophy: “It’s not about nostalgia or re-enacting,” she said. “I believe that all of these time periods and histories are pressing in on us at once.” These quotes are from a NY Times article, In Her Own World by Alastair Gordon. Be sure to view the related NY Times slideshow.

I just finished re-decorating my bedroom with mustard-colored and ivy-covered painted walls, faded floral curtains and a blue floral strip quilt. The room reminds me of the comforts of my grandmother’s house in Wichita, when I was growing up – but it is not a direct quote of her 1920s/30s prairie heritage. The room instead reflects a collective memory of comfort and coziness, while still being part of the 21st century.

Then this morning, I read the NY Times article and realized that what Puett was creating is what we should all be doing, making a place that is an “ongoing experiment in art, design and aestheticized living”…The house is filled with Ms. Puett’s and Mr. Dion’s eclectic collections of art, antiques, hundreds of books, stuffed birds, skulls, outsider art and ephemera. It’s at once a private, family space and a public, multipurpose environment, as Ms. Puett describes it. “This is not my dream house,” she said. “This was designed as a central community kitchen and reference library.”"

The web site for Puett’s space, called Mildred’s Lane, defines the project as: “Mildred’s Lane is an artist-driven project for the rethinking of the contemporary art complex, which is tucked away in the woods of Pennsylvania, on the upper Delaware River. It is a large-scale collaboration between the artists J. Morgan Puett and Mark Dion who have lived and worked on this rustic 96-acre site since 1998. From the beginning there has been a desire to critically re-imagine the space between environmental practice, artistic domesticating, and socially engaged research. By hosting and supporting international cultural producers, organizing informal residencies, developing site sensitive projects, seminars, dinners, research think tanks and more — they have made Mildred’s Lane a significant but invisible center for new forms of cultural practice.”

Puett’s web site offers glimpses of many more of her installations, including grafters bee shack with embroidered veil and miscellaneous bee-related textiles; the nurse’s uniform, which covers the uniform’s history and future (intergalactic nurse); and a collection of wonderful shots of her (former) NY store, when it was in Soho.

Oddly, the name Carol*n Dahl is shared by two gifted fiber artists. One is the Carolyn Dahl, book author and quilt artist. Her work is stunning, but not the focus of today’s outing. The other Dahl is Caroline Dahl, pianist and embroiderer. Dahl’s embroidery, Shopping Mall Day of the Dead, was included in the 2006 Art of the Stitch, Embroiderers’ Guild, International Biennial Exhibition, Bristol, England. This is a high honor for an American to crash the international exhibition. Dahl’s embroideries deserve it. They are fantastic embroideries. These are fantastic in both senses of the word: the workmanship and intricacy of the images is stunning, and the imagery appears to take place in the world of alternate reality and magic realism. Dahl’s statement on Fiberscene gives this glimpse into her work:

When you graduate with a B.A. in English, as I did, the time eventually comes when you say, “Now what?” My answer to that questions, after a period of several frantic, tangled years, about which the less is said is better, was to become a musician and textile artist.

I enjoy the balance of these two different activities. Textile art is a solitary, meditative pursuit, with visible results over time, while playing music is active, in the moment, and usually group oriented.

After starting out making quilts nearly thirty years ago, my textile work for the past twenty-five years has been primarily embroidery with more recent use of applique, piecework, and/or beading. I make contemporary narrative textiles that are very energetic with color and pattern. DMC embroidery floss and Kreinik metallic braid on cotton muslin are my materials of choice. My imagery comes from my observations of popular culture and from my experiences over time at my job as a piano player.

Make time to click on several of the links on Dahl’s gallery page. I wish there were thumbnails, so that I can pick and choose the links in a logical manner, but then, the random click has the same thrill as grabbing a random chocolate out of the box: you are usually rewarded and seldom disappointed.

It’s a stitched polaroid popularized by a d.i.y. (do it yourself) group in London. Threadymade has taken stitching to the clubs. While the bands play in another room, Sonja Todd snaps polariods and dispenses stitching kits, complete with color coordinated thread! An evening of (emo? punk?) music and craft together!

Scroll down this page for more sewlaroids.

Benji Whalen is one of the young artists who are pushing fiber and fabric new ways that are a bit shocking and abrasive to the older fiber artist, but his work is also a breath of fresh air, an pointer to how much further textiles can be pushed. One range of Whalen’s work is lush representational oil paintings of print yardage, draped in deep shadow and highlight. The other area of Whalen’s repertoire deals with provocative interpretations of decorative embroidery. A few of Whalen’s these embroidered explorations are somewhere between boring and cheesy, in an attempt to parody the cheesy and boring embroideries of the 1960s. The strongest embroideries are the stuffed biker arms, replete with embroidered tattoos.

Growing up as a child at the Bread and Puppet Theatre commune in Vermont, Whalen experienced art in three dimensions as a part of his daily life.

“Like many young artists of the moment, Benji Whalen is working in the overlap of art, craft and popular culture, as well as insider and outsider art. His New York gallery debut is an idiosyncratic gem of cross-fertilization that is both sharp and sweet.

First there are Mr. Whalen’s small Tattoo Samplers, embroidered versions of the variously sentimental, sexual and commemorative design options — called flash — that dot the walls of tattoo parlors. Fusing and subverting traditionally female and male crafts, these richly colored images are presented on their circular embroidery stretchers, evoking little tondo paintings.” Ilana Stanger of TheArtBiz.com

For someone who either goes barefoot or wears black clogs, I am strangely obsessed with the possibilities of shoe decoration. Recently I have discovered Peranakan shoe beading, a traditional art in Singapore.

“For those unfamiliar with the wardrobe of a Peranakan woman, beaded slippers were elegant and delicate looking footwear made from fabrics like velvet or gauze, and decorated with tiny colourful beads, and gold and silver coloured thread… Local Nyonya expert and part-time curator Michael Cheah described how a bride had to craft an assortment of slippers to be presented as part of her dowry to the groom and his immediate family. To show off her expertise, a special showcase of embroidered slippers was even prominently displayed in the nuptial chamber. Ghulam Sarwar-Yousof, an expert on culture, added that it was also the custom to present a pair of beaded slippers to the matchmaker…

Not surprisingly, crafting a well-made pair of beaded slippers was a time consuming affair, and the ‘face’ for each pair could take several months to complete. The maker had to possess an infinite amount of patience and perseverance, a steady hand, good eyesight and of course a flair for aesthetic creativity.”

from Nyonya kasut manek – timeless objects of beauty

A bit of background, “Peranakan refers to the descendants of the early Chinese community who settled in the Malay Archipelago from the 17th century and who has integrated with the Malays in this region.” The article Peranakan Beadwork & Embroidery offers this insight as to the best beads for the work,
“The most unique feature is the type of beads that was used by the Nonyas of the past. You know, the ‘manek potong’… ‘Manek’ means beads, ‘potong’ means cut and it is like a faceted diamond. It is a cut bead.”

Peranakan Beadwork is a book out on this traditional beading style. A presentation at Bead Expo 2000 offers this summary:

“Here, the history of the art of Peranakan beadwork, exclusive to the Peranakan community of Singapore, Penang, Malacca and Indonesia, is presented for the first time to an international audience. It reveals how every young girl of the past generation had to learn to sew and embroider beaded slippers, pillow covers and other decorative items to enhance her chances of marriage. Peranakan beadwork is intricately vibrant in colors and designs, which were symbolically associated with Chinese beliefs. The beads used were minuscule Venetian glass faceted beads and beadwork up to 8 feet in length was created to decorate the bridal chamber. Peranakan interest in beadwork waned after WWII and has almost become a lost art.”

There is a rehabilitation project, The Industrial and Service Co-operative Society Ltd which is reviving this art as a means of helping women ex-prisoners and ex-drug addicts rejoin society.

Rosa Zharkikh is a Russian self-taught artist who creates elaborate visions of her personal world. According to an article in Raw Vision, she dates this drawing to 1967:

“she became seriously ill and underwent a series of operations. Unable to cure her illness using more conventional means, her doctors eventually gave her a full blood transfusion – and Zharkikh dates her creative impulse from this event. During her lengthy recovery in hospital, Zharkikh began to draw. Or – as Zharkikh herself describes it – her hands began to draw, seemingly of their own volition and directed by an invisible force. It was clear to Zharkikh that the emerging images were self-portraits, but self-portraits of an ideal self, living in a harmonious world that existed only for her….
Zharkikh refers to the visionary world depicted in her work as a ‘parallel world’, and believes that her purpose in life is to create a bridge linking the real world to this alternative world. The parallel world is brightly-coloured and well-populated, radiating light and joy. Miniature temples and pagodas with cupolas are scattered across the landscape of her work. Processions of people in white clothes echo mysterious visions that Zharkikh recalls from her youth. Her human images are usually female, often with graceful and tranquil faces that symbolize Zharkikh’s own presence in the parallel world. Some observers have noted that the world depicted in Zharkikh’s work is reminiscent of the visions described by people who meditate deeply or have been declared clinically dead, suggesting that the roots of Zharkikh’s art may lie in visions that she saw during her illness – images that were recorded in her subconscious memory.”

In 2003, Rosa Zharkikh, along with four other artists, was featured in a show at Galerie St. Etienne in New York. The gallery wrote this of the artists and their inspirations:

“Probably an outgrowth of Communist indoctrination, utopianism is an undercurrent in the work of many Russian self-taught artists. The contrast between the dreams put forth by Soviet propaganda and the harsh realities of Soviet life may have prompted some artists to seek refuge in an alternate spirit universe—despite the fact that the open practice of religion was strictly forbidden. This seems to have been the case with Rosa Zharkikh, a Moscow factory worker who began receiving visions at the age of 46, after suffering a near-death experience. Directed by an unseen external force, she started to draw. Several years later, Zharkikh retired from the factory and moved more completely into the world of her visions. Using thread and fabric, she tried to replicate the magical, flower-like costumes that appeared in her dreams, often working for several years on a single embroidery. She drew more quickly, eventually filling her tiny apartment with hundreds of colorful sheets documenting what she terms the ‘parallel world.’…
Only grudgingly will she talk about her work, which she refers to as ‘children’ rather than as art. Beyond the pictorial symbols, Zharkikh imbeds her drawings with messages in a secret hieroglyphic code that only she can understand, but which she refuses to translate.”

Over the next week, I hope to look at some of the judges for the Art of the STITCH 2006 exhibition. The first on the list is Chris Berry, Embroiderer, Selection Panel and Embroiderers’ Guild Chairman. Berry’s bio page for the Embroiders’ Guild practical study group offers insight into her background and interests:

“As an embroiderer I have two passions, Venice and Tudor stitchery. Most of my most recent work has been inspired by Venice though, when I look back, water has always been prominent in my work.
I trained as a Primary School teacher but the schools I taught in were keen to make use of my interest in textiles. This experience proved useful when I became Chairman of the Young Textiles Group, the under 18 Members of the Embroiderers’ Guild, in 1990. During my six years in office, two conferences for teachers and a major touring exhibition, A Splash of Colour, promoted the work of the YTG.
I have been involved with textile education in many other fields. Working with the Embroidery Development Scheme of the Embroiderers’ Guild I have reviewed the work of individual Guild members who have set themselves their own challenge rather than participate in a structured course. For twenty years I have taught the City & Guilds course in Embroidery and for part of that time the Patchwork & Quilting course also. “

Berry is a contributor to the wonderful downloadable embroidery book, Riches of Stitches. Her pages, entitled Stitches Worked on Bars, demonstrate how to build up color and texture in an embroidery (image to the right).

Berry was part of the selection panel for the 2001 Art of the Stitch exhibit.

update: 7-5-05; My face is red! I was tactfully informed that Chris is a she, not a he. The article about has been ammended to reflect the changes. And my sincerest apologies to Ms. Berry.

Megan Whitmarsh creates pop culture modern embroideries of yetis, space travellers and battling elf maidens. The size is small: 3″ X 5″ to 8″ X 8″. Whitmarsh draws from her background as an art school painting major to bring a contemporary sensibility to embroidery. The backgrounds are stretched plain fabric. The imagery creates a sense of alienation from the real world and escape to a world of pop culture fantasy. Whitmarsh further explores the emotional isolation of being a yeti in the short film, The Life of a Yeti.

“Whitmarsh’s work primarily consists of embroidered depictions of Yetis, Elves and various pop icons. These characters are sewn in numerous arrangements over monochromatic stretched fabrics. Scenes include socializing Yetis, people from the future chased by geometric shapes, or Elf-girls chatting on cell phones. For her first show with Sixtyseven Whitmarsh presents her most recent embroideries, a series of drawings and a video entitled ‘The Life of a Yeti’.
Whitmarsh’s choice of medium bring to mind the Arts and Crafts movement of the 1970’s while other elements in her work relate Minimalism and Pop Art. Since her cast of characters is sewn over flat backgrounds, the pieces resemble color field paintings with little specks of color. A closer look reveals a tiny cigarette held by a Yeti or a golden necklace worn by an Elf. Some pieces include more familiar references: The band Kiss or Darth Vader can be found inhabiting a monochrome… Other pieces include art historical inserts: A Yeti next to a Franz Kline painting, King Kong staring at a Robert Indiana sculpture and so on.” from “Forest Logic” at Sixtyseven gallery.

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