I was really excited to hear about the opening of the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, which looks like a terrific place to learn new skills, and I know needlework is high on their agenda. They’re doing a few projects with the awesome Joetta Maue, and we thought we’d share them with you, so you can take part!

Here’s what the Center say about themselves:

“Located in Brooklyn, NYC, The Textile Arts Center provides an environment for the professional, the artist, and the student. With an invested interest in the conservation of hand weaving and other fiber arts, the Center offers a fully equipped studio and gallery space for those with enthusiasm and curiosity, with and without experience. It is a place in which craftsmen are, once again, nurtured in their making from beginning to end.”

They’ve currently got a call out for submissions for their gallery opening exhibition, curated by Joetta:

As part of our opening party and premier exhibition artist & curator, Joetta Maue, is curating the exhibition of cutting edge fiber work. We are looking for fiber work that pushes the envelope and is a bit of the unexpected. Any fiber technique and materials can be submitted. We hope to see large scale pieces, installation work, suspended and sculptural work, as well as performance, site -specific works, and video.

Every submission should include $30.00 entry fee, which is good for 5 works per entry with a maximum of 1 detail per entry. Only jpeg images that are correctly sized at 300 dpi. and the largest dimension being 400 pixels. An artist statement at 300 words or less, the artists name, email, phone number, address, and website or blog url. All details including payment particulars are on the following link:

TAC Gallery Submissions

The deadline for submissions is August 20, 2010.

And in case that wasn’t enough, you can sign up for classes at the Center, one of which looks very tempting!

Autobiographical Embroidery
w/ Joetta Maue
Wednesdays, 6-8:30  July 7, 14, 21, 28

Glean from your daily life to create a one of a kind portrait by creating a “sampler” in embroidery stitch. Each student will design their own sampler with a water-soluble marker, using their own unique handwriting or provided stencils. We will discuss the creative use of diaristic writing and daily life documentation to create your own art while looking at examples if contemporary fiber artists and learning traditional stitches and embroidery basics. Students are encouraged to work with found, inherited, or vintage linen as their base. Feel free to bring stencils and quotes that you would like to include in your sampler.

Price: $175, + $25 materials fee

You can register at http://www.textileartscenter.com/adult_registration

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I think it’s really exciting that this Center’s opening and I know it’s going to be great because it’s got some great people running it. For more information on the Center, and everything happening with it, go visit their website – tell ‘em Mr X Stitch sent ya!

Jimmy McBride is a quilting artist from Brooklyn.

He creates large-scale quilted pieces inspired by Hubble telescope imagery.  They are phenomenal.

His work reflects the experience of an intergalactic haulier, producing quilts as he travels the cosmos: “I travel back and forth from rock to rock carrying those two all important gems- salt and vinegar. There’s a lot of time to kill up here so I downloaded a grandma program and she’s been teaching me how to quilt. There’s no “log cabins” or “poinsettias” around so I just stare out the window until something catches my eye.“

These quilts blow me away. They’re the kind of quilts that people need to know about; quilts that can inspire new crafters who may not engage with more traditional versions.

Jimmy’s blog does a great job of explaining his creative process – I read it and feel like I want to plan some outrageous quilting adventure for myself. There is no denying the tremendous amount of work that goes into each quilt, and it is amazing to see how he has interpreted these cosmic images into quilted form. It is very exciting work.

Jimmy’s site shows you all his terrific creations, his blog explores his creative process and you can buy his masterpieces from his etsy store.

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The Cutting (& Stitching) Edge is brought to you in association with Embroidery As Art, the inspirational stitched art blog from the legendary Jenny Hart.

Melanie Testa is a quilt and textile artist from Brooklyn.

From a distance, these pieces remind me of the gorgeous art work of David Mack – they are amazing. The layers of imagery and the colour composition are really beautiful. The quilting is used to add depth and texture and has really opened my eyes to what is possible. This first piece is entitled “Wandering in the Garden” and is a pleasure to behold.

Melanie explains her technique: “These are whole cloth quilts, painted in two layers on cotton broadcloth and silk organza. The sheer nature of the organza allows me to use it as the top layer and to collage between the two. In wandering, you will find silk flower petals lovingly gathered in local cemeteries. Everything and nothing is sacred.

“When I think of my work and what interests me about it, I would have to say layering and depth are my goals. I like to equate working and creating art with my love of fat books. The fatter the book, the more I am apt to read it. To turn that in to making art, I would have to say, the more techniques and time it takes to make a piece, the happier I am. I like making art more than I like having it, so it makes sense.”

The piece below is called Gentle and is Melanie’s personal favourite. She explains:

“Making Gentle was a lot of fun for me. He is the first and only male nude to date. When finding inspiration for this piece I surfed the web looking for simple, beautiful images of the male form. This is no easy feat! Men are often portrayed in the nude as extremely masculine, and seem to hide behind a mask of muscle by posing in the most ludicrous positions. While I can see the beauty in these poses, I wanted a simple image, a beautiful image, introspection and simplicity. I found it!”

I have to agree – there is a quiet peace to this particular work, which is refreshing in a piece with such obvious masculine references. I find Melanie’s work really absorbing and would love to spend time staring at the real articles – there are so many little pieces of interest and hidden gems to discover.

Not just content with creating these stunning works, Melanie also runs workshops on a range of textile subjects, and has also published a book called “Inspired to Quilt: Creative Experiments in Art Quilt Imagery“. It’s clear that she loves the subject and is extremely good at what she does. As I mentioned before, I don’t know much about quilting, but I know what I like. And I like Melanie Testa.

Megan Canning is an artist from Brooklyn.

Her most recent exhibition “Inside There Is Everything” is a collection of hand embroidered canvases that explore the five senses. They focus on how our senses are processed and the physiology behind these sensory experiences.

Megan explains her work:

“My interest lies in the convergence and overlapping of the scientific and the metaphorical – where the two inform one another and result in a deeper understanding of the human experience. I am interested in the relationship between inside and outside, and what takes place below the “threshold of awareness” – specifically in relationship to the human body and its internal systems, anatomy, organs and then its external form.

“Hand sewing and traditional embroidery techniques have gradually become a key element in the work, for both visual and conceptual reasons. Sewing literally pierces the ‘skin’ of the work, and also becomes a metaphor for the body – the embroidery results in an orderly, clean surface and a messy, chaotic underbelly, just like the skin is a calm exterior that masks the complex inner workings of the human body.

“Through my work, I am attempting to illuminate what is usually hidden beneath the surface – the physical interior of our human bodies and the memories stored within.”

I really like the style of these pieces – they retain that classic educational feel and yet there’s clearly a contemporary twist with them. The cross sectional diagrams of our sensory anatomy show us the mechanics that enable us to comprehend our world – these organs and nerve endings provide us with the context of our experiences, and Megan’s work gives us time and space to consider these processes in a bit more detail.

As part of her MFA thesis, Megan created an installation entitled “There Is A History Here Upon My Skin”. Embroidered pieces mixed with poetry phrasing create an exhibit that explores touch and sensation and the connections that lie within. I’ve spent a bit of time pondering on this particular installation and I like it – it’s a piece that you can get lost in.

Megan’s work can be explored in more detail over at her website. I’m very interested to see what she creates next.

This weeks post features the work of Michelle Hayworth. As with (it seems) most of the groovy stitchers featured on the Cutting (& Stitching) Edge, Michelle currently lives in Brooklyn*.

This is what Michelle says about her 2008 Retrofit Memory series:

“I come from a family of undisclosed origin that relocated often. As a result, I have become occupied with reconstructing memory through family snapshots and embroidery. The photograph is scanned, enlarged, and printed on paper. The image is then adhered to canvas and I begin to draw on the surface of the photograph with a needle and thread. The stitching models the details that have been lost through time and by the enlargement process in order to reclaim their reality. This slow method of sewing on an image we normally associate with spontaneity embodies the relationship of time in the present to our reconstruction of time in the past. My attraction to the use of the snapshot and the stability of stitch is rooted in the feminine as well as being an attempt to salvage permanence from the fleeting nature of my history. When I look at these images, I have little memory of them. As a result, I feel a physical impulse to consume them, as a way of enveloping them into my identity.”

Once you see the detailed pictures of Michelle’s work, you start to realise how amazing it is. The level of detail and stitching in each piece is intense.

Michelle told me that each of her pieces takes between 150 and 200 hours to complete, and once you realise the scale of the work, you can see why. Michelle’s pieces are generally 30″ by 39″, so the amount of work that goes into each piece is incredible.

I imagine there’s great personal value in taking the time to revisit and embellish works that feature family members – you can’t help but explore your responses to the content matter whenever you craft, and this must have been an interesting experience.

I think these pieces are terrific, from a technical perspective you can’t failt to be impressed with the work. But the added value of them being an exploration of personal family history elevates the work to a much higher level. I just wish I could see these pieces in real life…

You find out more about Michelle on her website, where you can explore some of her work in other media. Highly recommended!

What do you think?

* Clearly Brooklyn is a nexus for stitch based awesomeness… If anyone has a map of ley lines and can check that out for me, I’d be grateful.

Kim Hall, a textile artist, is holding an interactive textile workshop this Saturday May 30 at the 3rd Ward in Brooklyn.

Kim will show you how to make a “smart” hat embroidered with heat sensitive inks that can convey a cheeky message with the flip of a switch. In the off state, the embroidery will simply blend in with the fibers of the hat. When switched on, the thread will turn white (transparent) and the message will be visible.

The interactive textile workshop will run you $100 for non-members and $80 for members.

[via fashioningtechnology]

Mr X Stitch firm favourite and all round top chick Astulabee will be hosting a Craft Night at the Etsy Labs in Brooklyn on April 6th from 4-8pm. You can find out more about it on her blog. It sounds awesome and I’m frustrated to be on the other side of the globe from there. They will be webcamming it, so you can join in if you’re in a similar time zone.
Go to it, mention Mr X Stitch lots, make yourself a groovy embroidered banner and then come and tell us all about it!

Seriously, though, how cool is Brooklyn? Etsy Labs? Gallery Hanahou? Astulabee? Emily Eibel? Badecca?
It’s all happening over there!