About Pip Stitches
Meet the embroidery artist turning stories into stitches and memories into thread.
Finding my way to embroidery
Of all the art media I have experimented with, embroidery is my favorite. The materials are simple: cotton thread, beech wood hoops, brightly colored fabrics. My subjects vary on the spectrum between illustrative and abstract. I have rendered architecture and children’s drawings in thread, represented brain scans in stitches, and commemorated life events. Art has been one way I’ve processed the debilitating effects of the illnesses that affected my husband and me.
Impressionism is my favorite art period. I gravitate to the effects of shifting light and the exploration of color. Seeking atmosphere over detail was a pivot in the course of art history that I find intriguing. Impressionists had such nerve, to subvert the artistic status quo in bold and innovative ways. Art does not occur in a vacuum. It acts in dialogue with the cultural context and political climate of a time and impressionism is no exception.
Embroidery materials are simple: cotton thread, beech wood hoops, brightly colored fabrics. My subjects vary on the spectrum between illustrative and abstract. I have rendered architecture and children’s drawings in thread, represented brain scans in stitches, and commemorated life events in 8 inch circles.
I use the effects of shifting light and the exploration of color to evoke the energy and locations in France, the home of impressionism. Seeking atmosphere over detail was a pivot in the course of art history that I find intriguing. Impressionists subverted the artistic status quo in bold and innovative ways.
Art does not occur in a vacuum. It acts in dialogue with the cultural context and political climate of a time and impressionism is no exception. Embroidery has connotations of women’s craft rather than fine art, and I seek to change that one hoop at a time.
Stitching has been one way I’ve processed the debilitating effects of chronic illness because relaying the experience of pain necessitates metaphor and abstraction. Long interlacing stitches evoke adhesions of scar tissue caused by endometriosis; bright auras of swirling colors represent centers of abdominal pain or migraine. Symmetrical figures speak to a meditative state sometimes required to endure high quantities of suffering.
Embroidery has connotations of women’s craft rather than fine art. I relish the versatility of needle and thread and imagination. I try to prove embroidery is fine art, one hoop at a time.
PipStitches 