Category Archives: Embroidery

Han Cao

November 6, 2020 12:03 AM \

Han Cao is a self-taught artist currently based in Southern California.  The fiber artist hand embroiders old photographs with brightly colored flowers and landscapes directly onto each black and white image.  All of her work is one-of-a-kind and can be purchased on her website.  In an article on This is Colossal she says this about her found items: 

“There’s thousands upon thousands of vintage photos stuffed inside dusty boxes at these markets—long lost and forgotten by their families, so my work is an attempt to bring them back to life and renew their stories. I’m particularly drawn to images that offer a deeper story—photographs with haunting faces and figures, simple landscapes that can be magically transformed with added dimension and color.”

The fiber artist can be followed on her website and on Instagram.

Images:  Courtesy of Han Cao.

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Alighiero Boetti (1940 – 1994)

October 26, 2020 12:03 AM \


Firstly, we would like to apologize for the lack of posting.  Had a major computer snafu but now we are up and running again.

Alighiero Boetti was an Italian conceptual artist and member of the Arte Povera movement.  In 1940 he dropped out of business school to study art independently.  He used a variety of materials for his work including ball point pens and postal stamps.  Between 1968 and 1994 the artist created somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 maps.  Many of the maps were embroidered by artisans in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  He also collaborated with them to create other designs including the series,  “Word”.  He writes this about art: 

“Remember to do things that have an inner simplicity, like the sound two small brass symbols make when they strike. This is what needs to make sense of things today. A work is valid when its mechanism is simple and when it is perceived as simple and spontaneous by the viewer, for whom the simplicity of something born from nothing can be astonishing. Depending on who hears it, a small sound such as this can mean a lot or very little.”

You can learn more about the artist here on the Alighiero Boetti Archive is a Cultural Association founded in 1995 on the initiative of the artist’s family.

Images:  Courtesy of various sources.

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Andrew Orton

September 28, 2020 12:03 AM \

Admiring these incredible embroidery designs created by Manchester-based artist Andrew Orton who has been studying and making art for 15 years. His primary subject matter is the human figure, whether drawing from a live model at life drawing classes or commissioned portraiture.  The figure is his never ending source of inspiration. His expressionist life drawings is used to explore his creativity in a multitude of media – drawing, painting, collage and even embroidery.  He has exhibited around the city of Manchester as well as organizing his own art events.

The artist can be found on Facebook and Instagram.  Some of his work is available in his Etsy shop, Andrew Orton Art.

Images:  Courtesy of Andrew Orton.

Posted in: Embroidery \ Tagged:
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