artist studio

Year in Review - 2022

Before moving forward to 2023, I’d like to review and recap some of the highlights from the past year:

1. Moved into my first art studio at the City Centre Artist Lodge!

2. Received my second grant from Canada Council for the Arts and completed my “Becoming a Pixel” self-portrait series.

3. Turned 30 & paid off my student loan debt!

4. Had over 1000 visitors come through my studio during Vancouver Mural Fest, Holiday Art Market & First Saturdays. This exposure directly helped increase my art sales by reaching new & future art collectors!

5. Completed my largest cross-stitch project to-date, “Glitch Streak” which took 182 hours of labour total.

6. Presented my largest solo exhibition, “Back to the Future: Digital Art Through Embroidery”, at the Sunshine Coast Arts Council where I gave an artist talk, and participated in the Sunshine Coast Art Crawl.

7. Completed my project “Vancouver Cityscape”, which was my first time creating a mixed textile quilt combining machine sewing, cross-stitch, crochet, and free-hand embroidery.

8. Grew my Social media following. I posted on social media consistently 5-7 days a week for most of the year. By posting more behind the scenes photos and reels I was able to better share my art process. This directly influenced the growth of my Instagram following by almost 50%. I ended 2021 with under 500 followers and wrapped up 2022 with a little over 900 followers.

9. Completed 788 hours of labour on projects for 2022.

Wow, what a year, I still can’t believe some of these milestones from 2022.

Let’s see what 2023 has in store!

July 2022 - Update

  • City Centre Opening Weekend - Recap

  • Grant Project Update - Becoming Pixel (Portrait 3/5)

  • Glitch Streak (Work in Progress)

  • Vancouver Cityscape (Work in Progress)

City Centre Opening Weekend - Recap

Studio selfie from day 1 of the open studios at City Centre.

A little corner of the studio, showcasing framed works.

Congrats to Harvey + Miu who were the lucky winners of my weekend giveaway of an original framed artwork: Glitch Series 02 - Crop_2.jpg.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to the City Centre Open Studios last weekend! It was a whirlwind to see so many people out in public, enjoying the beautiful weather, and engaging with the art community in such a positive way. There was pretty much steady traffic passing through my studio all weekend long and I’m so happy that I was able to share both finished works, as well as works in progress with so many new people!

I spent several days prior to the event prepping the studio by hanging more works and rearranging some of the furniture to help showcase as much as I could. I made some sales and by far the best sellers of the weekend were my pins. The 1.5" Glitch pin was the most popular and lots of people were surprised that I had square pins! In case anyone is wondering, I get all my pins made locally at Six Cent Press, right here in Vancouver.

This week I updated my website shop, so if there's anything from the weekend that you missed or changed your mind about you can find it there! Feel free to reach out and arrange a private studio visit if you want to see works in person again or for the first time. If you are local I have the option to pick up from the studio so that you don't need to pay for shipping!

Grant Project Update - Becoming Pixel (Portrait 3/5)

Becoming a Pixel - Portrait 3/5, 2022, embroidery floss, Aida cloth⁠, 7 x 7 inches, 31.25 hours of labour

Last month I finished the third portrait from the Becoming a Pixel series. It’s the least detailed portrait of the three and at this point it’s becoming much harder to identify the image as a self-portrait. The first portrait from the series started with five shades of grey and this portrait is simplified down to only three colours of embroidery thread. The next portrait will be two colours and the final portrait will only be one. I can’t wait to share more progress as this series continues to unravel!

 
 

Glitch Streak (Work in Progress)

Glitch Streak (WIP), 2022, embroidery, Aida cloth

During the open studio event last weekend I was live stitching on this beauty! I felt a little bit like a broken record letting people know that “I’m just over half-way done this piece and I’m about 100 hours in”. My favourite part was seeing people react to how much time I’d spent working on this piece and them realizing that I’m not even done yet!

Glitch Streak (WIP detail), 2022, embroidery, Aida cloth

Vancouver Cityscape (Work in Progress)

I’ve been low key working on some cross-stitched “building” strips that will be added to the Vancouver Cityscape, mixed textile piece that I’ve also been slowly working on in the background (amongst my other higher priority projects). Here are some photos of the process, I hope to be done these in the next week or so!

Looking Back at 2021 and Moving Onward to 2022

A few weeks ago I broke my left (dominant) arm while riding my bike, so I will keep this review of 2021 short and sweet (since I’m typing one-handed)!

Notable Moments from 2021:

Still image from video recording of artist talk, Feminist Craft of Care for Times of Crisis, 2021

  • Remnants of the Manmade series was shown as part of the virtual group exhibition, "Seeking the Periphery" at the Paul H. Cocker Gallery

(Cover) Invisible Labour: Cross-Stitching, Feminism, & the Collective Strength of Women, 12” x 12”, hardcover book, 2021

Installation shot, Society Reboot: A Guide for Humans, video, 2021, ArtRich 2021, Richmond Art Gallery

Installation shot, Society Reboot: A Guide for Humans, video, 2021, ArtRich 2021, Richmond Art Gallery

Coming up in 2022:

  • Moving in to my first private studio space!

  • Preparing for two solo shows:

    • Back to the Future: Digital Art Through Embroidery, Doris Crowston Gallery, Sechelt, BC (October-November 2022)

    • Womanmade: Crafting Architecture and the Mundane, Morey Family Gallery at Art Reach of Mid Michigan, Mt. Pleasant, MI (February 2023)

Uncanny Cross-Stitch (2), 7 x 5.5 inches, embroidery floss, Aida cloth, 2021

I’m truly excited to see what this new year will bring. But for the first month or so, my focus will be on recovery (due to this darn arm injury!) and getting set up in my new studio. Can’t wait to share more about the studio and all the new work/explorations that will surely take place within it!

Until then, wishing you all a healthy and happy new year!

 
 

June 2021 - Update

  • Inside the Studio

  • Video Sound Archive

  • Work in Progress - Funded Art Book Project

  • Open Call for Anonymous Stories - Deadline June 30

Inside the Studio

Last week I took some long overdue portraits in my studio. I wanted to photograph myself amongst my art and some of the tools I use while embroidering/knitting. On the walls you can see works from my thesis exhibition, Glitch Series, and System Failure series. On the floor is Ouroboros (which I like to refer to as my big ball of yarn) and to the left is the wooden French Knitting loom that I use to re-knit finger knitted strands of yarn.

I have two embroidery stands in my studio. The first one has a rectangular frame and currently holds my ongoing work in progress Stitching Loose Ends. The second one functions more like a clamp stand, which means it can hold various types of frames. In the photographs, you can see it is clamping an embroidery hoop for cross-stitching the handkerchief patterns for my art book project. In another photograph, I am sitting in a wingback chair with a granny square afghan and arm rest covers that I crocheted myself (with a little help from my mom for the covers).

Video Sound Archive

Starting on June 4 @pm ET my video project Part 2: What Happens to a Stressed System? will be part of the first season of featured artists for a virtual video exhibition Video Sound Archive.

VideoSoundArchiveS1.001.jpeg

Work in Progress - Funded Art Book Project

Last month I continued to tirelessly cross-stitch patterns of handkerchief scans for my art book project. I have completed cross-stitching six of the nine patterns. Only three more to go and I should finish them by the end of June! Then I will begin working on the layout of the art book using InDesign.

Open Call for Anonymous Stories - Deadline June 30

Reminder that I will be accepting submissions for stories till the end of June. Everyone is welcome to submit their experience of having to hide their emotional/physical pain in order to avoid pity or shame for being too sensitive. Please also feel free to share!

 
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January 2021 - Update

Well it’s been one hell of a year and I’m happy to finally say goodbye to 2020. COVID aside, this past year actually allowed me more time in the studio and there are things that I’m happy to say I’m proud of. This year I submitted my first Canada Council for the Arts grant application (pending results by end of February), I participated in my first virtual exhibition, and I read several books, not only for research, but also for my own personal enjoyment.

I took a much needed hiatus from September - December 2020, since it’s always busiest time of year for my job. I now feel rejuvenated and ready to get back into the studio. I spent my most of my holidays cross-stitching, painting, and jotting down ideas in my sketchbook. Sometimes the hardest thing for me to do is to settle on the idea(s) I should execute and which ones I should leave behind.

I finished the third and final piece from the System Failure series. Overall I’m really happy with how the series came together. All three pieces may stand alone, each with a unique colour palette and various levels of “completion”. The cross-stitch patterns are based off of digital glitch images that have been disrupted or “glitched”. The series is a representation of a “glitch within a glitch”. However, the glitched or unfinished cross-stitch is a forced visual that alludes to a machine error or malfunction.

System Failure 03, 8x10 inches, embroidery floss, Aida cloth, 2020

System Failure 03, 8x10 inches, embroidery floss, Aida cloth, 2020

I finally finished a series of paintings (currently untitled), that I originally started while I was an artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center (in September 2019). They were only meant to be tests while I was trying out the painting technique I ended up using for the Translation Series that I also began in Vermont. The paintings were painted square by square, section by section, using tape to mask out various areas at a time.

Lastly I spent time on Stitching Loose Ends, an ongoing project that I started back in 2018. I used up all the loose ends lying around my apartment, which I guess means I need to get going on another cross-stitch project! I also finished another row on the second painting from the Translation Series. I’ve been making slow progress on this series since the process is quite tedious with all the tape masking. One day I’ll have a studio where I can have the painting out at all times and work on it in little spurts while taking breaks from other projects. Currently I don’t have that luxury and it takes a lot more motivation to get a painting station all set up in my apartment.

Looking forward to seeing what’s in store for 2021.

Happy New Year!