fabric

October 2024 - Update

  • NEW Available Works B&W Static Glitch 02-03

  • October Studio Sale & Uni Design World Pop Up/Free Workshop - Oct 5

  • First Saturday Open Studios - Oct 5

  • Upcoming Fall/Winter Events

NEW Available Works B&W Static Glitch 02-03

Last month I showed a new series of black & white glitch inspired cross-stitch pieces as part of the First Saturday exhibition. I had all three works professionally framed at my go-to framer (Kent Picture Framing) and surprise, Kent (the owner), bought one of them!

SOLD - Static Glitch – B&W 01⁠, Cotton embroidery, 14ct Aida cloth⁠, 10 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches framed, 2024

The other two works from the series are still available for purchase through my website.

Black and white framed cross-stitch artwork.

Static Glitch – B&W 02, Cotton embroidery, 14ct Aida cloth⁠, 10 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches framed, 2024

Black and white cross-stitch framed artwork.

Static Glitch – B&W 03⁠, Cotton embroidery, 14ct Aida cloth⁠, 10 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches framed, 2024

October Studio Sale & Uni Design World Pop Up/Free Workshop - Oct 5

I’m so excited to announce that I’ll be sharing my studio space with Maya the owner of Uni Design World this First Saturday, October 5th! Her sustainable fashion brand uses a unique style of patchwork design; every piece is meticulously crafted and is truly one-of-a-kind!

We’re partnering for this open studio to offer you a unique textile and fiber experience! Come play/interact with us at our FREE workshop to see how we improvise and create different colour combinations and turn scraps of fabric/threads into something new.

During the open studio we’ll both be offering end of season/end of line discounts. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this (I’ve never offered discounts this high before)!

Help me clear out some old inventory, I’m running out of space in the studio.

Hope to see you there!

First Saturday Open Studios - Oct 5

As always, there will be other studios at City Centre opening for First Saturday, so there will be plenty to explore!

First Saturday is a public monthly artist-run open-studio event.

Come visit artists where they work at City Centre Artist Lodge.

The following artist studios will be open:

Tracy Anne Northey - Studio # 34
Ilena Lee Cramer - Studio # 109
Elana Sigal - Studio # 110
Lukas Lundberg - Studio # 208
Mallory Donen – Studio # 211
Stephane Savoie - Studio # 123
Devorah Peterson - Studio # 221 

Location: 2111 Main Street, Vancouver, BC V5T 3C6
Date: October 5, 2024
Time: 12pm-5pm

https://www.firstsaturday.ca/next-open-studios

Upcoming Fall/Winter Events

April 2022 - Update

  • Grant Project Update - Becoming a Pixel

  • Vancouver Cityscape (mixed media textile project)

  • Cross-stitch on 23 inch embroidery hoop

  • 30th Birthday & Debt Free

Grant Project Update - Becoming a Pixel

This week marked the start of my next grant project. Huge thanks and photo credit goes to Ivana Djordjevic for taking some beautiful portraits (I'll be sharing more shots from the studio, but you'll have to wait patiently to see those)!

Yesterday morning, I uploaded this photo into StitchFiddle.com to create the pattern I am using to cross-stitch the first portrait from my "Becoming a Pixel" series.

I'm so excited to work on this project and of course I need to make a special shout out to the Canada Council for the Arts for their support in funding this one.

Stay tuned with me on social media in the next couple of days, where I'll be sharing more of the process and behind the scenes.

Photo credit: Ivana Djordjevic - Ease Creative Inc.

Vancouver Cityscape (mixed media textile project)

I began working on a new mixed media textile project which I’m creating specifically for a solo exhibition in February 2023, in Mt. Pleasant Michigan. The theme of the show is “crafted” architecture and I’ll be showing works that feminize masculine imagery through the use of traditional feminine craft processes. I will be constructing a Vancouver cityscape using only textiles and fibres with a combination of hand sewing, machine sewing, crochet, cross-stitch and free hand embroidery. So far the process has been very experimental and I’ve pretty much just been taking it one step at a time and seeing where it takes me.

The first part of the process was taking photographs of the city line and digitally collaging various images of the industrial urban environment. Once I finished this digital collage, I projected the image onto a large piece of craft canvas and sketched the outline of the city using pencil.

Next I had to re-familiarize myself with how to use a sewing machine since it’s been over ten years since I’ve used one (not since high school)! I purchased a second hand sewing machine through Facebook Marketplace. I quickly read the manual and started doing some tests on scraps of fabric. From there it took a little guts and courage to take the leap into sewing with the machine on my large canvas, overall I’m satisfied with how the city outline turned out.

I also started to experiment with free-hand embroidery, which is very new to me! As most of you probably know, cross-stitching has been my main medium of choice for the past several years. So getting out of the structure of the grid and being a little more free with my stitches has been very relaxing and fun to say the least (don’t get me wrong, I still love and prefer to cross-stitch). In the end, the analytical part of my brain is too strong to give into free-hand embroidery over cross-stitching. Trust me it’s just not going to happen.

As I moved onto the next stage of the project I knew I wanted to incorporate fabric, but wasn’t exactly sure how I would do it. I sorted through a box of scraps that my mom delivered to my studio a few days before getting started on the project. I separated similar colours together and landed on three different patterned fabrics in a blue colour scheme. I cut them into two inch strips and started to pin them onto my canvas. Voila! Just like that, I started to visualize the progression of the project!

After pinning the strips, I went straight to the machine and sewed my fabric buildings onto the canvas. With the spaces in between I wanted to use a variety of fibre mediums and so I planned out the layout of the fibre buildings in my sketchbook. I headed to Michaels and purchased a few skeins of yarn which could be used for the project. Then I got started on crocheting building strips in two different shades of blue.

A lot came together for this project in the span of just a few days, but I’m really happy with where it’s going so far! Sad to say that for now the progress on this project is going to slow down as I focus on my grant project and another new large cross-stitch project which I’m making for my show in Sechelt this October 2022.

Cross-stitch on 23 inch embroidery hoop

This large 23 inch embroidery hoop project will also be taking a back burner position for most of this year. Expect to see very slow progression on this one, as it’s for my solo show in Fort Wayne, Indiana in May 2023.

30th Birthday & Debt Free

A few weeks ago I celebrated two big milestones. The first was my 30th birthday, which was a day filled with pampering. The day included a massage, a pedicure and a fabulous dinner with my best friend Mara, at The Botanist at the Fairmont Pacific Rim, served by my wonderful cousin Avital!

That same day I made the final payment on my student loans, which is a huge accomplishment and weight off my shoulders. I went to post-secondary directly out of high school and was a full-time university student for seven years straight (four years of which I was also a student athlete). I didn’t have enough time to work a steady job with a steady income.

After graduating with my MFA I found myself a job in Vancouver (with SAXX) which paid salary and I was determined to pay off my loans. Four and a half years later, I did it and I’m thrilled to finally be debt free! Cheers!