Upping Needlework's Game

This week’s rummage round the Net dredged up a story about up-cycling furniture with embroidery. Embroidery I know about. But up-cycling? This is new.  Good thing there was a picture to illustrate the concept. 

Needlework Upholstered  Chairs

I smile to myself wryly. When I was furnishing my first apartment -- in the last century mind you -- sprucing up old furniture was called refurbishing.  Later Eco-conscious kids, now in their 40s, came up with “recycling.” Saving the planet while not spending the earth fitted their zeitgeist.  But in her day my grandmother, who reused her mother’s linen chest, knew it as common sense frugality.

So now giving objects a second life is up-cycling.  To me up-cycling sounds like rescuing pieces from a former inferiority, giving them a boost up the aesthetic ladder. After all, who would want to live with “down-cycle” items?  Well actually those up-market folks who buy authentic antiques, real retro, or vibrant vintage. They see “cool” not “inferior” in things from the past.

But I do digress. Refurbishing, recycling, up-cycling.  Never mind what it’s called. It’s good it’s happening! And that needlework is part of it. 

This example of up-cycling I found is quite appealing.  Art deco chairs upholstered in baroque and romantic themed needlepoint is visually interesting.  A recent design school grad would call it a mash up!  An art critic would say the mix of styles created “tension.”  Whatever, I like it. I suspect that price of needle-pointed canvases at rummage sales has just gone up. Maybe psychedelic bargello or the needle point designs by Erica Wilson , whose husband was a famous furniture designer by the way, may be up-cycled into vogue again. 

  

As seen in the V& A shop

Certainly the combination of hand-embroidery and furniture seems to be in.  On a visited to Victoria and Albert Museum in London, I came across a striking embroidered chair in their shop. With apologies for the photo quality, it is a style combo if I ever saw one. The straight lined stitching, Suzani embroidery from Uzbekistan, in a flamboyant folk motif worked very well on a contemporary chair 

design from the “mid-20^th century.  (I have to keep remembering my “contemporary” is my kid’s retro!)  The price certainly made them exclusive! Selling for just ₤1,500 or about $2,500, the piece was hardly up-cycled, although its stylistic elements were.  

Another very clever embroidered piece I came across in a Dutch magazine is less expensive.  It is a table, literally stitched together pieces of pegboard.  Talk up up-cycling lowly materials into something trendy.

 

Pegboard and ribbon side table

There is not much new understand the sun, is there.  There is a time to come, and a time to go…away for a bit.  Ideas and things do resurface. Take the old, which by now is odd, add a bit of branding and you get pizzazz, engendering acceptance by the trend-setters, and there we go again. 

Embroidery’s reappearance in home decorating is encouraging. Maybe it will rekindle an interest in creating needlework.  Never underestimate the power of trends. You can ride them, but you can’t buck them. Upwards and onwards, needlework!

3-D printing and Needlework?

Technology, arriving in unrelenting waves,  replaced  skill in many crafts, transforming workshops into factories.  Computer-controlled machines turn wood perfectly; knit stockings flawlessly; form chocolates precisely; and weave patterns consistently.  As a result, former luxury goods are, today, cheap, cheerful, and ubiquitous. By comparison, the visual arts have remained largely beyond the reach of skill-looting technology. That is about to change!

An original 3D printout by Prixel

Last week, Russian entrepreneurs unveiled a 3-D printer that can replicate paintings, even impasto. The machine mixes pigments and builds up layers of variegated paint, reproducing  the artist’s swirling strokes faithfully.  Prixel claim to duplicate a multi-million-dollar Van Gogh masterpiece for just $200. That’s well below the €25,000 ( $34,000)  that  Amsterdam’s  Van Gogh Museum  now charges for its limited editions 3-D printouts.

These developments astound me.  Museum visitors are accustomed  to seeing images from  collections plastered on  posters, scarves, and cups. Merchandizing profits defray institutional operating costs.  By offering high-caliber 3-D facsimiles, museums – those adjudicators of cultural merit – are shifting gear. Selling “tasteful” souvenirs -- literally memories -- of a collection is quite different from touting “original” replicas, which purists consider camp or parody. Camp/ kitsch mocks precisely what museums seek to mark as culturally significant/valuable/unique.  That’s a pity, that is. But it’s becoming acceptable, even Andy Warhol-like. And we embroiderers should be cheering. Why? Read on.

Besides providing more revenue for museums, 3-D printing is a great money spinner for contemporary artists too. Painters can now clone their most popular canvases to stave off starvation. For  clientele, buying 3-D printed oils could prove a bit like acquiring a numbered etching.   Caveat emptor. Collectors will need to be circumspect that their  3-D printed oil is as “rare” as it purports to be. Numerous Rembrandt etchings unearth at rummage sales are actually recently printed with  Rembrandt-engraved plates onto “old paper” still floating around. And there are countless genuine color photocopied maps hanging on walls trying to pass as  hand-colored antiques.  Oh well, nothing new here.

Now spare a thought for those poor – figuratively speaking – art collectors with deep pockets, who kick on owning exclusive and authentic  canvases covered in paint.   The arrival of 3-D printing has just  made exclusivity and authenticity harder to come by. So, is there a visual art form where authenticity and exclusivity can survive the onslaught of 3-D technology?  Absolutely.  Embroidery is one. I would say that wouldn’t I.

Hoodi and Bump by Me

The rise of 3-D printed paintings makes me, the hand-embroiderer, smile in glee. Even, the Chinese, who can copy anything by hand or machine, acknowledge the chasm between good machine embroidery, which remains crude compared to exquisite hand-embroidered art.  In the realm of embroidery it is still possible, even easy, to distinguish between machine and artisan items.  We humans are imprecise, thank goodness, compared to machines.  Even though Chinese hand-embroidery workshops reproduce images multiple times, the miniscule variations in needle placement make each rendition unique, too.

Moreover, there are numerous embroiderers who create singular works without following a pattern.  Me, for example.  I stitch portraits in thread.  Unlike Monet ,Van Gogh or the Chinese, who painted the same subject on numerous occasions, for me once is enough, thank you very much!

The embroidery style I practice is called thread painting. It is similar but not as fine nor as subtle as the classical Chinese technique in silk. Still it defies mechanization. Even I use about 40 colors of cotton thread per portrait.   I doubt that a machine exists that can handle the number of thread changes that my thread paintings demand. Never say never.   For the moment, there is no economic incentive to even try. So the uniqueness and authenticity of my work and those of other  thread painters is assured well into the future.  
 

Let’s hope the onslaught of 3-D printed paintings may just speed up a paradigm shift in thinking about what’s worth collecting.  Art aficionados need to get passed the bias that solely painting embodies the requisite authenticity and exclusivity so characteristic of a “good investment.”  Cautiously, galleries are reeducating art collectors by expanding  exhibitions to inclue embroidery and other “interesting” media. 

Consider the work, currently on display in London, of Australian Benjamin Shine.  He uses tulle and an iron to the create portraits for and of the rich and famous. The man irons.  Talk about putting a new wrinkle on something like art!  Pun aside, Shine is doing something difficult, daring, and delightful.

His success encourages me, the embroiderer.  I will stick to my thread painting, knowing that what I stitch is authentic, original, and exclusive to me. Will anyone in  the world, beyond my family, come to enjoy or collect it? Maybe, maybe not. Let's face fact. There are millions of  talented individuals out there making  billions of interesting things. Only a minority use paintbrushes.. or even  needle and thread.

Pretty Embroidery is Cool

This past week, embroidery hit the main stream media, once again, big time.  

Finally after weeks of reading poignant accounts about vanished airplanes, capsized ferries, and tragic strife two stories brought balm to the soul, at least from my perspective, which looks at life through the eye of the needle.

Broderie Anglaise smock -19th century from Wikipedia

 Many papers across the world splashed photos of a lovely broderie anglaise garment on their front pages. Of course it made news because it was worn by the Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, the real object of the story. Still it is was a stunning piece that could have stood on its own in embroidery magazine, like the Australia’s Inspirations, which is known for its fabulous handwork projects. 

Designed by Australians Nicky and Simone Zimmermann, the dress showed off embroidery techniques to a tee. The intricate patterned panels of white work were even held together with neat trestle stitch at the hems and seems. That was very clever!  Where did the fabric come from?  Only the designers know, but it was not run of the mill, that’s for sure. It looked hand stitched. But it probably wasn’t as the dress is available – or was available –from the Zimmermann collection.  

The second eyelet dress Catherine chose for her trip Down Under was less intricate. She wore it when she took George to the Sydney Zoo. To me the material looked machine made, and why not. It was again broderie anglaise fabric stitched in pale yellow. Pretty fabric, pretty design and practical too; it stood up to a baby’s drool in a pinch. 

Catherine is turning out to be quite a patron of the stitching arts. Remember her wedding dress embellished with handmade lace by the Royal School of Needlework? How refreshing that this trend-setting, down-to-earth young woman shows taste that is a blend of traditional and modern, and so politically/culturally savvy.  Wittingly or not, the future queen is making “pretty embroidery” cool, classy and comme il faut! Hooray! 

This brings me to second instance this week that big-name media wrote about embroidery. The National Geographic’s  April  issue carries a piece on embroidered headdresses of Brittany. 

And while Breton embroidery is, of course, about a quintessentially French style of white work, in some forms is strikingly similar to broderie anglaise. (I don’t want to start an international incident here, but note the French terminology to describe the English embroidery.)  The photos made by Charles Fréger show off the embroidery and the headdresses beautifully. Have a look.

The photos aside, the best part of the article comes in its summary paragraph. Writer Amanda Fiegl, categorizes the young French women who stitch and wear their traditional costumes at festivals like this:

A (Breton) woman is frank and unafraid..She doesn't let anyone walk over her. Like her headdress, she is a tower of strength.

With women like Catherine of Cambridge and the young women in Brittany as advocates, embroidery clearly is making a new statement. What strides feminism has made. Finally, pretty does not equal weak. Now that’s progress. 

Needlwork Guide: A Listicle

Daylight savings time arrived in Europe last week end, a tip-off that the summer holiday season, isn’t far behind. To boot, the week-end newspapers are full of travelogues and ads for the delights of exotic beaches and mountain treks.  As lovely as they are, I need more. 

As beautiful as it is...is there embroidery nearby?

So this week I offer my readers –and thank you for being one -- a “listicle”, an article that is a list. 

Here a catalog of large scale embroideries I want to visit, if not this year, then some time soon.  This inventory is also  meant to appeal to long-suffering,  non-stitching members of my family who have a deep interest in history and all things mechanical.

My list  is offered as a work in progress, which just happens to kick off  in northern Europe.  And do chime in with your suggestions of museums, collections or pieces worth making a detour to.  The world is a big place with lots of interesting things in it.  Together we might just compile an insider's  guide to the fascinating world of embroidery. 



I review what I have unearthed, it is fascinating to note the similarities among the works. First, they are often misnamed tapestries. Technically speaking, a tapestry is woven, not stitched.  Perhaps the name tapestry has stuck because items are so large. Even by comparison with today's gargantuan paintings, these embroideries are huge. 

Then, the pieces seem to derive from a single work dating from the 11^th century, the Bayeux Tapestry. It is as if communities have concluded that  ensconcing ancient tales in modern thread gives  history more power in the imagination of the local population than an a painted version might. One thing is sure, the projects certainly literally and figuratively stitched a community together for many years. And maybe that was a goals too.

So here goes: 

 

The Bayeux Tapestry - Bayeux, France

Probably the most renown embroidery in France, this 70-meter (230 feet), this English embroidery in wool chronicles the victory of the Norman William the Conqueror over English King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It was probably stitched by English professionals in the 11^th century.  It has survived wars, revolutions, and moths!  

Replica of Bayeux Tapestry - Reading Museum, Reading, UK 

Created by William Morris and his wife during the reign of Queen Victoria in the 19^th century, the replica is an astoundingly work in itself.  If you can’t get to the French original or this Replica, the Reading Museums’s website provides panel by panel view. 

http://www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk/Index.htm

Overlord Embroidery –  D-Day Museum, Southsea, Portsmouth, UK

Modeled on the Bayeaux tapestry, the Overlord Embroidery depicts events associated with 1944 D-Day invasion of France during World War II.  In 1968 Lord Dulverton commissioned a 22-year old artist, Sandra Lawrence, to produce drawings from  which the Royal School of Needlework interpreted in thread. The 34 panels measure 83 meters.

http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/d-day/d-day-and-the-overlord-embroidery 

4.      The New World Tapestry – Bristol, UK

The 24 panels of this 83 meter embroidery depict English colonisation in Newfoundland, North America, the Guyanas and Bermuda between the years 1583 and 1642. The work, begun in 1980, took 20 years to complete. When it is not on tour, the tapestry is on display in the  British Empire and Commonwealth Museum in the original 1840s terminal station designed by  the UK’s engineer Brunel near the modern Bristol Temple Meads railway station in central Bristol, England.


The Quaker Tapestry Tapestry Kendal, Cumbria UK

The Quaker Tapestry Tapestry comprises 77 panels illustrating the history of Quakerism from the 17th century to the present day. Based on an idea of Quaker Anne Wynn-Wilson, the tapestry has a permanent home at the Friends Meeting House at Kendal,  England.  Each panel measures 25 inches wide by 21 inches tall.  Over 4,000 men, women and children from 15 countries worked on the panels between 1981 and 1989.

http://www.quaker-tapestry.co.uk/

New Ros Tapestry, New Ros Ireland

The Ros Tapestry, a series of fifteen panels, tells the story in thread of the Vikings and the foundation of Norman New Ross.  It took 150 volunteer embroiders 10 years to complete work on this project, which was conceived in 1998 by the local rector as an historic attraction for the town. The embroideries are based on the sketches of internationally renowned artist Ann Griffin Bernstorff. Countess Bernstorff’s Paris-trained daughter, Alexis, guided the embroiderers in translating the cartoons into vivid stitched images.  

http://www.rostapestry.com/

Now I'm off...to pack my bags? Not just yet, but I'm thinking about it.