Tara Badcock | Mr X Stitch

Welcome to the Cutting (& Stitching) Edge, where we feature embroidery and textile artists who are evolving the art form. This time it's Tara Badcock. Tara Badcock is a Tasmanian (Australian), with a fine arts background who currently practices as a textile & installation artist specialising in hand embroidered sculptures & wall pieces. Her work covers a broad spread of textile forms and stylish shapes. "After spending three years living and working in Paris several years ago, Tara's scope grew to encompass large embroidered curtains, cushions, clothing, bags & accessories under the umbrella of 'Tara Badcock PARIS+TASMANIA'. These works combine freehand machine and hand embroidery to embed imagery into textiles. Image copyright Devonport Regional Art Gallery. "Through a combination of textile manipulation and stitching, she seeks to connect with deeply ingrained human traditions of communicating both grand and worldly ideas, as well as private and intimate concepts, rendered in cloth. "Themes of beauty and utility, cultural identity, social and collective memory, and personal experience form the basis for individual pieces Tara creates from contemporary and antique fabrics and materials. Colonial Tasmanian history and the events in Revolutionary France are strong sources of inspiration within Tara's arts practice, where historically, tension and discomfort provoked an honesty and intensity within an individual's life- like following a thread through an ornate hand knotted piece of lace, these lives have been woven together inextricably to create our collective human past. "Most recently Tara has been experimenting with appliqué leather to create pieces for a public art commission, depicting Tasmanian animals and plants on leather covered shapes for a childcare centre. "Living in Paris with occasional pangs of homesickness also inspired Tara to embark on her Teacosy* Revolution project; the fabrication of an endless collection of sculptural and functional tea cosies, with accompanying Teacosy* Revolution Manifesto, part historical fiction, part photographic portraiture book- a longterm project which has temporarily been put on hold while Tara raises her first child with partner, Rainier. "Tara Badcock's work is also featured in a number of private and public collections globally, including the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery in Hobart, and UNESCOs Collection Permanent in Paris, and her hand embroidered silk rosettes feature as props in Baz Lurhman's new rendition of 'The Great Gatsby' film." I really enjoy Tara's work. There is a great breadth to her portfolio, encompassing textiles, machine and hand embroidery, and it's nice to see a bit of cross stitch in there as well. The work has elegance, style and the connection to Tara's history, expressed in the geo-political references in her work reminds us that most art is autobiographical. Taking the most stylish elements of the political past, Tara constructs new and relevant work that is engaging and informative. Visit Tara Badcock's website or dive into her Flickr portfolio to see more of her great work.