Thread is a collection of modern artworks. Hand-embroidered meditations on canvas, they’re designed to bring a feeling of lightness and quietude to interior spaces. Artwork that helps you create space for mindfulness. Artwork that encourages a slower, more contemplative way of living.
At the beginning of the pandemic, a lot of us were dealing with anxiety about an unknown future. Thread is a response to this apprehension, based on the idea that slowing down and living in the moment leads to lightness. Creating Thread has been a meditative act. Each meditation is meticulously sewn with embroidery thread. The stitching itself is a meditative process… in… out… in…out, like meditative breathing. In this way, the act of creating each piece is the same as the concept of the artwork. Thread is also connective, like an email thread, or the thread of a conversation. Every in-out-in-out stitch links the embroidery thread to the canvas.
With Thread I wanted to work with the ancient technique of embroidery, which often has an old-fashioned-grandmotherly feel, and give it a new graphic language. I contemplated – what can I do to modernize embroidery? How can I use it in a graphic way, a way that is completely different from how it is traditionally used? The designs for Thread artworks are tied to history, craft, and tradition, yet speak a modern aesthetic.
I’ve found a need to disconnect and create something tactile. Thread was born as a sort of antidote to the all-consuming screen. “As a designer, artist, and maker, I feel creating is an optimistic act. There is a sacredness in making with your own hands. Call it slow design. The creation of Thread has been a meditative act towards lightness.”
Nature has often been a source of inspiration in my work. Thread Design No. 05 began with a collection of smooth rocks I hand-picked from Point Pelee. (The southernmost point of mainland Canada.) The gentle curves of the rocks became the basis for this threaded design of concentric circles. A circle with no beginning and no end, in an endlessly moving cycle. Like Chakra’s – they’re spinning discs of energy.
We live in an overstimulated society. Thread is about removing clutter, getting rid of excess, and creating artwork that encourages stillness and contemplation. However, the process for creating Thread series didn’t begin with such a minimalist approach. “I went through months of development on this project. Working through sketches, experimenting with different stitch work, incorporating painted backgrounds with embroidery, and using colour. Gradually, I reduced and reduced the visual noise until the white canvas and black embroidery thread created the calming aesthetic I was looking for.”
