I recently had the pleasure of wandering through the exhibit, Pricked: Extreme Embroidery at the Museum of Art & Design in NYC and I loved it! I welcome seeing how people re-invigorate classic crafts such as embroidery. I romanticize the days when people created handwork out of necessity and then added embellishments of detail and design because the human eye delights in beauty. In fact, there is a studio near Philadelphia, the Handwork Studio, which teaches these crafts to the next generation.
But I digress. The artists in Pricked take needlework and bring it to contemporary art, conveying political and social messages – some subtle and some disturbing. Most are challenging to describe but I think I can do justice to one installation. I apologize that I cannot name the artist—I will call the museum so that I can attribute proper credit to the proper person. This was a series of lace doilies, mounted individually on black velvet, each with intricate designs, each one unique and beautiful. Upon reading the description we learn that each one is a true representation of different viruses: SARS, Flu, HIV and others. Until this exhibit, perhaps the only folks who thought a virus beautiful were the researchers who were intimate with their essence. Here, we are invited to re-examine potentially life-threatening illnesses with proper awe, brought to us by art.
Pricked: Extreme Embroidery is exquisite. Go and enjoy.
But I digress. The artists in Pricked take needlework and bring it to contemporary art, conveying political and social messages – some subtle and some disturbing. Most are challenging to describe but I think I can do justice to one installation. I apologize that I cannot name the artist—I will call the museum so that I can attribute proper credit to the proper person. This was a series of lace doilies, mounted individually on black velvet, each with intricate designs, each one unique and beautiful. Upon reading the description we learn that each one is a true representation of different viruses: SARS, Flu, HIV and others. Until this exhibit, perhaps the only folks who thought a virus beautiful were the researchers who were intimate with their essence. Here, we are invited to re-examine potentially life-threatening illnesses with proper awe, brought to us by art.
Pricked: Extreme Embroidery is exquisite. Go and enjoy.
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