Modern and Traditional Embroidery Dress

The French artist Nastasja Duthois explores silhouettes and shadows with needle and thread. Common themes occurring in her work are people, landscapes and animals and she likes to express the fleeting moments and surprises in everyday life.


Nastasja began incorporating embroidery into her artworks several years ago as a progression from her pictures using a biro or ball point pen. 'I have done a lot of art with ball point pen and I use needle and thread, in the same way, to trace contours or to fill areas.'
Nastasja creates beautiful line work in her unique style, often transferring techniques adopted with the pen such as cross hatching with thousands of individual hand stitches.


Currently exhibiting in Auray, France, it's exciting to see what she will produce next.

Susie Vickery's textile art incorporates a unique blend of hand embroidery, machine embroidery, collage and animation. Her work is illustrative and often holds a story.

Crow 2 - Watch the animation here.

Vickery is inspired by her work with communities on rural and refugee development projects in Nepal, Tibet, Myanmar and India and she 'draws on issues of iconography, identity, gender and Asian art'.

Baby Krishna - ICONS OF THE ORDINARY & EVERYDEITIES

Initially working as a costumier in film and TV for more than twenty years, Vickery's needlework skill is fundamental to her work.

ON THE MELANCHOLY OF TAILORS

My favourite piece is from the 'Sweatshops' collection and it's a row of animated machinists. Cotton reels and rulers are used to create the models. The piece is so beautifully crafted and it presents such a powerful message.


Please visit Susie Vickery's website to find out more about her work.

Karen Nicol is a well known, established artist with over 25 years of experience working in gallery, fashion and interiors. She works from her London based studio and her clients include: The King of Qatar, The Pope, Chloe, Vera Wang, John Rocha, Julien Macdonald, Givenchy and Chanel couture.


Specialising in a variety of free hand machine embroidery, beading and hand embroidery, Karen Nicol's style is unique and densely textured, incorporating a plethora of mixed media.

Last week I visited 'The 'Wit' of the Stitch' exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre in Wales and saw a selection of Karen Nicol's fine work. Her art really speaks for itself and I was fortunate to be able to fully appreciate it up close and absorb every detail. It was breathtaking! To find out more about Karen Nicol and her work see her website here.

Louise Saxton has an expert eye for antique embroidery and lace. Her artistic practice is centred around reclaiming vintage needlework to produce contemporary, textile collages and sculptures. Louise Saxton talks about the appeal of embroidery: 'Needlework is an ancient art form, beautiful as well as practical, and whether simple or complex in design it is painstakingly constructed.'



Saxton predominantly uses pins to fix the textiles and fabricate her collages and with this technique she can achieve a textile relief. This technique also echoes the traditional handwork experience and the labour involved.


Undertaking residencies in Mexico and Malaysia has broadened her insight into local artisan technique, influenced her work and also helped in increasing her great collection of needlework.


Saxton regards her artistic process as a 'silent collaboration with the anonymous original makers'. This transformation of forgotten and discarded textiles is integral to her work as it returns importance and value to the craft of needlework and showcases these precious pieces of handwork. Saxton elaborates: 'Historically, handmade embroidery and lace were as economically valuable as gold and silver... Needlework is cross-cultural, but sadly in most parts of the world today, it is in danger of disappearing.' Promoting traditional needlework and textiles within her work helps to protect the art form.

To find out more about her work and upcoming exhibitions look here.

Undulating, organic sculptures are masterfully crafted by artist and designer Rowan Mersh. Each element of his sculptures is individually positioned and fixed.



The elements and structure of the chosen materials are explored to maximum effect. Mersh creates stunning textural art works using an assortment of media from leather and fabric to walnut shells and seashells.


The textures hold so much depth that they resemble nature perfectly such as ruffled feathers, knots in oak, tousled fur and sea creatures' swirling tentacles. The realistic quality of Mersh's works of art and attention to detail is inspirational.

From his Design studio, artist Benjamin Shine creates ethereal tulle portraits and sculptures which are renowned throughout the world. Shine's background began in Fashion Design and his affinity with fabric stemmed from his upbringing within a family of material manufacturers.



Shine made a mark creating fabric collages of famous figures using strips of material woven through eyelets and he began to consider creating a portrait with a single piece of fabric. This led to the tulle portraits which originate as a single piece of tulle (fine net) which is then scrunched and pleated using an iron to sculpt the shapes and shadows in the form. Shine's 'Hands of Time' is made from over 164 feet of tulle.



These extraordinary pieces have so much depth and detail. Shine expresses that 'If my work can provoke the reaction ‘How?’ or ‘Wow!’ then I’m satisfied'. You can find out more about his work here.

Bella May Leonard creates vibrant, sculptural embroidery using common electrical wires, other found cables and textile assortments. The firm yet malleable properties of the cable add a tremendous 3D effect to her embroidery and allow the viewer to see a different perspective to embroidery. Bella explains that 'The sculptural aspect of textile art for me is intriguing; three-dimensional, interweaving threads that build up structure with colour and texture is exciting'


The wires and textiles are often stitched and entwined onto a clear, perspex surface juxtaposing her use of colour and transparency. Bella's love of cables initiated when she discovered a pile of discarded, electrical cable in a junkyard as a young girl. The excitement for it's creative possibilities continues and her experimentation with this medium.


Bella refers to her work as a 'collaging technique' and her creative process is led intuitively: 'Making decisions with colour combinations, scale and shape are made intuitively as I work until I feel a piece is resolved and balanced.'


Bella completed a residency in Mexico at the end of last year and has started to showcase this new work. To find out more about Bella Leonard's work and upcoming exhibitions see her website here.

Iris Hutegger creates beautifully expressive, embellished landscapes.


The landscape photographs are originally captured in colour and then developed, the old fashion way, in black and white to reduce detail. The details and colour are then added with free-hand machine embroidery and a dense and more realistic scene evolves.


At distance the artwork looks like a drawing, painting or coloured photograph. The eye is drawn into the view and upon closer inspection the handwork and embellishment is evident.

Amsterdam based embroiderer Alexandra Drenth creates vibrant and mystical textile collages. Taking inspiration from music lyrics and poetry, Alexandra combines old and new to create timeless pieces.


Re-cyling and re-working is often the starting point for her work; many pieces are appliqued with old, vintage fabrics adorned with embroidered line drawings and detailed cross stitch designs.


Drenth says she often retells stories of childhood memories, expressing themes of love and relationships entwined and enriched with elements inspired by nature such as flowers and birds. Her work takes one on 'a journey through time where no sense of time exists'.

Canadian based artist - Amanda McCavour creates beautiful, dreamlike, large-scale embroideries. Her basis in drawing led her to experiment with various mediums to create line and she was intrigued to incorporate embroidery in her drawing. Shading and colour are worked into her embroideries as one would do with a paint brush or pencil. Drawing and line remain fundamental to her work 'I would describe my work as being drawings that are made out of thread. I am interested in thread as both drawn and sculptural line.'



Amanda uses a sewing machine to create her pieces and embroiders free-hand onto water soluble fabric. Once the fabric is dissolved in water only the thread is left and these thread lines form the structure of the installations. Amanda 'is interested in thread’s assumed vulnerability, its ability to unravel, and its strength when it is sewn together.' The embroideries appear delicate however the countless, layered stitches create a new fibre and the pieces hold strong without a base cloth.


Amanda's knowledge and experience of printmaking is also apparent in her work. One particular installation is influenced by doodling. Amanda explains 'I made more than 400 neon orange thread "scribbles" and hung each from the ceiling with a pin and a piece of thread. I was hoping that this repetitive imagery and action would create a mass of thread, a giant scribble. It was all of these similar repeating parts that created a larger whole. Some of the repetition in my work relates back to these ideas which are present in printmaking.'


Amanda talks about the impact of fibre in contemporary art. 'It seems to be that the possibilities for fibre in contemporary art are endless and that the role it might play is one of expanding and broadening the boundaries between art, craft and design.'