hand stitching

April 2022 - Update

April 02, 2022

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!

December 2021 - Update

November 30, 2021

ArtRich 2021 Exhibition at Richmond Art Gallery
Uncanny Cross-Stitch
Stitching, Unstitching (working title)
Embroidery floss organization
Stitching Loose Ends (ongoing work in progress)

ArtRich 2021 - December 3 – December 31

Richmond Art Gallery
7700 Minoru Gate

Opening Reception: Dec. 3, 6pm-9pm
Timed entry for the Opening Reception for ArtRich 2021. Visitors welcome to view the exhibit in 45-minute time slots. Register on EventBrite.

Richmond Art Gallery is delighted once again to partner with the Richmond Arts Coalition (RAC) for the fourth bi-annual, juried exhibition. The exhibition celebrates local talent by providing an opportunity for emerging and established artists from Richmond and nearby communities.

Gallery viewers will be able to participate in the People’s Choice Awards. Results will be announced in Richmond News early January 2022.

In a partnership with the City of Richmond, three ArtRich-selected artists will be featured in a public art exhibition for the No.3 Road Art Columns from February 1 to July 31 in 2022.

*Uncanny Cross-Stitch (1)*, 7 x 5.5 inches, embroidery floss, Aida cloth, 2021

Uncanny Cross-Stitch (1) is the first of a new series that was inspired by some of the digital art work I made while I was studying my MFA back in 2016. The reference images I used to create the cross-stitch patterns were multilayered digital imagery that I created using Photoshop. The source images used for these digital works were photographs of architecture and mundane industrial objects/structures such as fire hydrants, lamps posts, windows, and more! I’ve always been fascinated with these sorts of things and I love how they exist everywhere in the world, but each has their own unique character and design.

I’m interested in the idea of bringing things to the forefront that may go unnoticed or unseen. As I write this blog, I’m realizing there’s a parallel between these everyday mundanities that go unnoticed and the often invisible labour of women, which is a theme I’ve been exploring throughout this past year. I’m looking forward to producing more works that use handmade feminine craft processes to translate imagery of manmade masculine objects/structures. If you don’t remember or haven’t seen my cross-stitch series Remnants of the Manmade, this was my first endeavour into this new body of work that I will continue developing.

Stitching, Unstitching is the working title of a new work that I’m getting ready to start. The other day I ironed and cut a large piece of Aida cloth in preparation. For this project, I will log hours of labour spent cross-stitching white thread on white Aida cloth, approx. 16 x 16 inches (224 squares x 224 squares), in a 24-inch embroidery hoop. After the cross-stitching is complete, I will proceed to unravel all of the stitching and log these hours as well. The threads, labour logs, Aida cloth, and embroidery hoop used during the process will all be part of the final presentation.

This work is both conceptual and process-based. The absence of a finished cross-stitch piece directs the viewer towards the suggested labour that was performed but is no longer visible. The labour executed in this piece is two-fold: first there is the labour required to stitch, second there is the labour required to unravel the piece. In the end, the only evidence of this labour is the documentation of the hours logged. This represents how women often work tirelessly, only to have their labour undervalued.

By using a traditional craft technique, the project explores women’s unrecognized labour. The process of hand stitching emphasizes the value of physical labour over mechanical production. Although the labour is invisible, the viewer can imagine the movements, the time, the traces of what used to be there, as well as the woman and artist that the labour was executed by. Overall, the piece invites the viewer to question the value of women’s labour, productivity, and craft.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been doing one of the most satisfying things, organizing my embroidery floss collection! I’ve accumulated quite a lot of thread over the past four years and I thought it was time to make things easier to find and replenish stock when I run out of a particular colour that I need to finish a project.

At the end of 2017, right before I moved to Vancouver (and really when I started to focus more on cross-stitching within in my art practice), my mom and I went to a flea market in White Rock where I scored a huge stash of embroidery thread for a steal of a deal! Then in September 2019, while I was at the Vermont Studio Centre for an artist residency, I realized I hadn’t brought enough supplies to last for my trip and I would need to buy some more thread.

Well I didn’t have a car and there weren’t any local stores in small town Johnson, VT that sold embroidery thread. It was recommended that I join a neighbourhood buy & sell group, where I posted an advertisement asking if anymore in town had supplies I could purchase. Well lucky for me, someone nearby offered to give me (yes give me) any of the thread from their (even bigger than mine) collection. Another steal! Needless to say I’ve received lots of deals and freebies over the years, but a lot of the threads were odds and ends and they needed to be grouped together with their family of colours. So I’ve finally organized them all and they look spectacular (if I do say so myself)!

Lastly, I recently added to my ongoing side project Stitching Loose Ends. It may not seem like it, but it is growing, slowly and steadily!

*Stitching Loose Ends* (ongoing work in progress), embroidery floss, Aida cloth⁠, 16 inches wide x 4.5 inches thick⁠, 2018-2021

July 2021 - Update

July 03, 2021

Work in Progress - Funded Art Book Project
Recording: Feminist Craft of Care in Times of Crisis
Society Reboot: A Guide for Humans

Work in Progress - Funded Art Book Project

After three months of hard core cross-stitching and laborious unstitching, I’ve completed the final cross-stitch piece for my art book project funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. July will be spent reviewing all of the stories submitted through my open call and carefully curating/selecting which ones to include in the book. I will also begin the design and layout of the book using InDesign. It’s really rewarding to see months of work come together and I can’t wait to show off the book when it’s all done!

Recording: Feminist Craft of Care in Times of Crisis

Back in May, I was one of three artist’s that presented and participated in a panel discussion as part of the public programming for Cinevolution’s Digital Carnival Z. Now there’s a recording of the full event available to view on youtube!

Moderated by Minah Lee, Associate Curator.

How have the labours of women artists been affected by the challenges of the ongoing pandemic? By centering feminist understandings of time and intergenerational connections, can we resist normalized and privileged cruelties practiced by capitalist patriarchy in these unprecedented times?

This panel invites you to the works of Lena Chen, Mallory Donen, and Sarah Shamash, three women artists who are crafting "care culture" in their communities through their art practice and subverting the expected outcomes of feminized labours. Lena Chen is a Chinese American writer and artist creating performances and socially engaged art in live and virtual contexts. Mallory Donen is a multidisciplinary artist residing in Vancouver, exploring processes rooted in traditional craft passed down by generations of women in her family. Sarah Shamash’s projects often underline geopolitics, feminist thought, and historical difference as a marker for understanding the world and worldings in media histories. Threading together realities of gender, labour, and surveillance, the artists' dialogue will expose gendered bodies in resistance, woven into the textile and tactility of the digital world and beyond.

This artist panel is part of the public program series curated by Minah Lee for Cinevolution's Digital Carnival Z, featuring UNION by Featured Artists Nancy Lee 李南屏 and Kiran Bhumber ਕਿਰਨਦੀਪ ਕੌਰ ਭੰਬਰ.

Discover the rest of the events in the series at www.DigitalCarnival.ca.

Society Reboot: A Guide for Humans

I’m excited to share a new video work that I created as a response to the pandemic. The work is intended as comic relief from the anxieties that someone might be experiencing now that state of emergency restrictions are being lifted. How do we start functioning as social human beings again, after such an extended period of isolation? What is normal?

Society Reboot: A Guide for Humans is an instructional video created for humans starting over in a social setting. Have you been quarantined during a pandemic? Do you need a guide for social interactions that use to be second nature? Then, this is the video for you! Or maybe existing in society has always been awkward for you? If so, this guide will introduce you to the social basics and help you learn how to be more “normal”.

This project provides a serious reflection of society's ever-changing definition of “normal”. Humour, irony, and sheer ridiculousness are used as tools to confront discomforts and fears, as individuals are re-introduced to societal interactions.

May 2021 - Update

May 01, 2021

Feminist Craft of Care for Times of Crisis: a presentation panel
A WAY Online Art Gallery
Open Call - Submit your Story
Work in Progress - Funded Art book Project

Feminist Craft of Care for Times of Crisis: a presentation panel

On May 13th @6:30pm-8:00pm PST, I will be presenting at an artist panel “Feminist Craft of Care for Times of Crisis”, alongside Lena Chen & Sarah Shamash. The panel is part of Digital Carnival Z an annual festival run by Cinevolution Media Arts. I’m very excited to be part of such a well run event and to be presenting with such amazing and talented artists. Register online through Eventbrite to attend the event for free.

I will present works from the past several years which investigate notions of labour, productivity, and the value of art in relation to craft and women’s work. Instead of becoming reliant on computers and other advanced technologies that are accelerating the speeds of production and consumption alike, I choose to look back to centuries-old practices that have been passed down through generations of women. I explore the parallel between repetitive processes and computer programming by taking on the role of a machine.

By embracing time-consuming processes such as hand-stitching, I emphasize the importance and value of women’s labour. As a female artist, my labour is feminized and inherently connected to women’s domestic work. I challenge expectations of traditional craft by introducing conceptual layers and experimentation with new media. Throughout my artist talk, I will bring awareness to the value of feminine art forms and the connection between craft and fine art.

A WAY Online Art Gallery

GlitchSeries04 - Crop_1_crop.jpg, Archival inkjet print and embroidery, 11 x 14 inches, 2019

Glitch Series 04 is available for sale at A WAY Online Art Gallery for the next couple months, check out their website for my work and art by some other amazing artists!

Open Call - Submit your Story

Women’s stories surrounding pain will be chosen to be part of a conceptual art book project, mirrored with images of delicate handkerchiefs and embroidery.

Submit your anonymous stories and experiences of when you felt the need to hide either your emotional/physical pain in order to avoid pity or shame for being too sensitive.

Let us contradict the stereotype of women as pure and fragile by demonstrating the perseverance, dedication, and strength of women.

Work in Progress - Funded Art book Project

The past month has been jammed packed with many hours of cross-stitching, as I begun working on my project funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. First, I received my new embroidery stand and hoops in the mail. Second I fully prepped a piece of Aida cloth by securing the edge with stitches, to prevent fraying. I even marked the vertical and horizontal middles with stitches, which is something I rarely do!

For this project, I am creating an art book consisting of scans of my Ama’s original handkerchiefs and corresponding cross-stitched replications of each pattern.

I have chosen and scanned nine handkerchiefs, which I am converting into cross-stitch patterns. Using the patterns, I am cross-stitching nine embroidered pieces (approx. 6x6 inches each), which are scanned once completed.

After each cross-stitch piece is completed, I will mirror the cyclical structure of a woman’s existence and allude to the concept of invisibility, by recycling the same piece of Aida cloth and the same strands of embroidery thread for each new pattern. I will unravel each completed cross-stitch replication and re-stitch the next handkerchief by reusing the same material.

The art book will consist of pages with a scan of a handkerchief on the left and a scan of the corresponding cross-stitched piece on the right. It will also include stories selected from an anonymous open call (Submit your story to be a part of the project). The stories will be examples from women who have had to hide or pretend that they were not in pain in order to avoid pity or shame for being too sensitive.

Throughout April, I completed three of the nine cross-stitch pieces. Each piece took an average of 25 hours to cross-stitch and 14 hours to unstitch. It’s weird to think that the only evidence of these works will be the final scans/images that will be included in the art book. Although it may seem unusual, it adds to the conceptual aspects of the work, by emphasizing the invisibility of the labour. This connects to the idea of women’s labour and pain as invisible.

I acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

March 2021 - Update

March 01, 2021

Highlights

Canada Council for the Arts - Research & Creation Grant
Art Hole Magazine, Issue 9, February 2021
Seeking the Periphery, Virtual Exhibition Launch, Mar 11, 6:30pm EST
Uncompressed, Group Exhibition, Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery, Coastal Carolina University
Digital Carnival Z, Virtual Public Presentation, Artist Panel, May 2021

At the end of February I received some amazing news! The Canada Council for the Arts informed me that my application for a Research & Creation Grant was successful. This means that I’ll be receiving funding to complete my proposed art book project. More to come on the project later, right now is the time for celebration and reflection. This is a major milestone in any artist’s career and I acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for their recognition and validation of all my hard work and determination over the past few years. It’s not always easy staying motivated to pursue an art career while at the same time maintaining a career which helps me sustain a living. But now I’m confident in saying that dreams really do come true and this is just the beginning of more milestones to come.

My focus over the last month shifted from creating to research and reading. Readings included cross-stitching techniques, the history and future of technology and the connection between technology and women. I surprised myself because this was the most I’ve read in years and it made me feel like I was back in school (but in a good way)!

Lastly, I’d like to share some news about where I’m currently showing and will be showing my art. I was recently published in a UK magazine called Art Hole: 9, for their February Issue, which can be purchased online.

This month my new cross-stitch series Remnants of the Manmade will be part of the virtual group exhibition, Seeking the Periphery at the Paul H. Cocker Gallery, Department of Architectural Science, Ryerson University in Toronto. The virtual exhibition launch will be taking place Mar 11, 6:30pm EST, via dasxhibitions.ca. and free admission tickets are available through Eventbrite.

Later this Spring 2021, my video Part 1: Introduction - What Am I? will be exhibited in the group show Uncompressed, at the Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery, at Coastal Carolina University.

Along with two others artist I will also be presenting a virtual public presentation in May 2021. The Artist Panel (key words: gender, labour, surveillance) is part of the 9th Annual Digital Carnival: Z, organized by Cinevolution Media Art Society.

January 2021 - Update

December 28, 2020

Well it’s been one hell of a year and I’m happy to finally say goodbye to 2020. COVID aside, this past year actually allowed me more time in the studio and there are things that I’m happy to say I’m proud of. This year I submitted my first Canada Council for the Arts grant application (pending results by end of February), I participated in my first virtual exhibition, and I read several books, not only for research, but also for my own personal enjoyment.

I took a much needed hiatus from September - December 2020, since it’s always busiest time of year for my job. I now feel rejuvenated and ready to get back into the studio. I spent my most of my holidays cross-stitching, painting, and jotting down ideas in my sketchbook. Sometimes the hardest thing for me to do is to settle on the idea(s) I should execute and which ones I should leave behind.

I finished the third and final piece from the System Failure series. Overall I’m really happy with how the series came together. All three pieces may stand alone, each with a unique colour palette and various levels of “completion”. The cross-stitch patterns are based off of digital glitch images that have been disrupted or “glitched”. The series is a representation of a “glitch within a glitch”. However, the glitched or unfinished cross-stitch is a forced visual that alludes to a machine error or malfunction.

System Failure 03, 8x10 inches, embroidery floss, Aida cloth, 2020 — *System Failure 03*, 8x10 inches, embroidery floss, Aida cloth, 2020

I finally finished a series of paintings (currently untitled), that I originally started while I was an artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center (in September 2019). They were only meant to be tests while I was trying out the painting technique I ended up using for the Translation Series that I also began in Vermont. The paintings were painted square by square, section by section, using tape to mask out various areas at a time.