Hello makers,
I grew up sewing and stitching. I started my first cross stitch sampler when I was about 5 years old. I used all the colours and had no plan, wasn’t life easier when you were a kid! You didn’t think about it, you just went for it! You pulled out thread colours you liked, (which was all of them), and you didn’t care what anyone else thought. You were creativity in its purest form.
Then you grow up and it can all feel a bit hard. More so, when someone decides to derail the world and now you’re worrying about how you can afford to drive to work! (There’s no public transport and it takes two and half hours to walk there). You worry how you will afford food now that fuel prices are going through the roof. And you are more than 14,000km from where this latest war is even happening!
At times like this, I think its important to remind yourself of your values, what’s actually important (other than putting food on the table). For me, creativity is important. Curiosity is important. Craft is important. So, to lighten the mood, I want to share some of my favourite embroidery/thread artists. These people have taken the craft I grew up with and transformed it into fine art, accessible art, insanely creative and beautiful art!
Let’s go!
My top 10 embroidery/thread artists (in no particular order):
Anna Hultin - Olanderco Embroidery
I recently discovered Anna’s work on Substack and was in awe of her style. She takes inspiration from nature and combines thread, paint and beautiful embroidery skills to created serene fine art landscapes. I love how her work expands off the edges and evokes such a strong sense of place and feeling (fields of grazing animals, chilly tundra scenes, wildflower meadows). Ahhhhh so good.
Anna Hultin - OlandercoEmbroidery.com Ok, here is a woman who can take embroidery and make it mind-blowing! My arms ache just thinking about the millions upon millions of stitches she makes. But the results are incredible. Her use of colour and shapes and bold messages are just so completely different from any sort of embroidery I’ve ever seen before. She is a true inspiration for how to take a traditional craft and make it go POW!
Liz Payne - lizlpayne.com Britt Fabello - BrittFabello.com
You know when you see something that instantly makes you want to touch it and stroke it and make deep sighing noises? Yikes, that went a bit weird! Sorry. But Britt creates the most exquisite texture by stitching organic curves and shapes onto deliciously thick watercolour art paper. Her artist statement is just as beautiful:
Through material exploration and subtle textures, Fabello balances the natural world with the human experience. By focusing on these interwoven relationships, her art engages the senses and encourages moments of reflection.
Britt Favello - brittfabello.com Sarah has done a fantastic job of taking a traditional, and somewhat old-fashioned craft, and brought it into the modern world for all to enjoy. She’s made it contemporary and colourful and fun. I’ve become a bit of an indoor plant lover myself, but how amazing would it be to have one of her imaginary plants in your home (see below)! Her work is unbelievably smooth and perfect and thick with thread. I just love it.
Sarah K. Benning - sarahkbenning.com I was immediately taken by Jordan’s beautiful landscapes that sit within a grid of equally beautiful repeating patterns. It felt like such a unique way to portray rolling hills and stunning skies, sunsets and faraway mountains. Then I read more about his work, and it deepened everything. His Palestinian ancestry informs these imagined landscapes of a utopian Palestine, woven together with traditional embroidered patterns. So beautiful and so inspirational.
Jordan Nassar - jordannassar.com I love it when you look at a piece of art and it immediately draws you closer. You want to get your face right up to it, see how it was made, see the texture and look at it from all the angles. That’s how I feel about Giulia’s work. From a distance she creates something that looks vaguely familiar. And then when you see it up close, it looks haphazard and messy, like the back of an embroidery. So clever and so stunning.
Giulia Birindelli - giuliabirindelli.com Apparently there are professional models who are also embroidery artists! Sheena won Asia’s Next Top Model, but more importantly, she creates beautiful minimalist black and white embroidery portraits. Her feminine forms strike simple poses but it’s the hair that catches your attention. Long and flowing, braided or bunned (I know that’s not a word), or being cut off! The hair is literally coming off the fabric. I just love these.
Sheena Liam - timesnewromance.com I don’t know how I first discovered Nneka’s work, but it was like nothing I’ve every seen before, or since! She has created a series of almost chilling thread portraits whose faces feel like they look into your soul. The way she uses colour and imagery and tones, you know there is a deeper meaning and a story behind each one. You want to learn what’s happened, you want to talk to these girls and women and hear their stories.
Nneka Jones - artyouhungry.com Aerial embroidery landscapes. Who knew that was a thing? Victoria creates vibrant, lush looking landscapes originally inspired by the fields and meadows of Devon, UK. If you love looking at maps or starring out of plane windows, I think you’ll love Victoria’s work. Each piece is a like a little snapshot from above, but without the feeling of how ravaged the land is. She makes it all look beautiful.
Victoria Rose Richards - victoriaroserichards.co.uk Kim Strongman - my mum
I grew up lucky enough to have a mum who could teach me cross-stitch and embroidery and sewing and knitting (although we would both argue we spend more time unpicking than knitting!) She doesn’t call herself an embroidery artist and she doesn’t have a website or instagram page, but damn she done some amazing things with thread in her life. She even did a high school certificate in Embroidery while raising two very young children on a remote island 800km off the coast of New Zealand! I don’t have many pictures of her work, but I wanted to share this amazing piece that proudly hangs in our entrance way and was mums gift to me when I graduated university. It’s an embroidery version of Picasso’s Girl before a Mirror.
Well I hope this post has brightened your day. When the world feels like it’s just gone too crazy, maybe pick up a needle and thread and see where it takes you.
Until next time,
Oh my gosh these are amazing!! Thank you for sharing them.
Fabulous introduction to marvelous artists!!!