Inspiration: Kirsty Whitlock

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Check out the work of mixed media textile artist Kirsty Whitlock. She takes inspiration from political cartoons, news headlines and documentries and uses recycled and reclaimed materials to challenge 'throwaway culture'. She uses machine embroidery to add imagery and text to her found materials to transform the meaning of the material, like in the pieces above 'Bags of Aggro' and 'Tomorrow the World'. You can read more about Kirsty and her work here and see her portfolio here. 

Inspiration: Francesco Vezzoli

Francesco Vezzoli, Portrait of Lady Gaga

Artist Francesco Vezzoli combines the art of film and the art of embroidery to create his work. His best know pieces are these serigraphs in which details of the images are hand-stitched using petit-point embroidery techniques in shocking colours. There's an interesting interview with him over on FlashArt Online, here.

Petit-Point is a needlepoint stitch similar cross-stitch but it's worked on canvas and is even smaller in scale. If your thinking about embroidering onto images it's important to think about what you will stitch into - photographs? fabric? etc and what embroidery techniques you might use; there's lots of them! This post on Craftster is a great starting point to explore different techniques and Mr X Stitch is a great resource for inspiration! 

Inspiration: Jane Deschner

Artist Jane Descher creates these beautiful pieces from found photographs. She embroiders quotes from writers, musicians and philosophers onto the photos, as well as using the photographs as fabric to construct garments like the pieces above. Last September she was featured in Fiberarts Magazine and she described her practice as apporpriating everything, "Photographs taken by others; words spoken by others; fonts and embroidery stitches created  by others. My contribution is to gather, then combine these disparate elements into something more than the sum of their parts" you can read the full article, here. 

Inspiration/Tutorial: Sarah Terry

image source, 'Home Invasion' hand embroidery on reclaimed linen 

Textile Artist Sarah Terry who works predominantly using hand embroidery. Her current work explores the concept of 'disturbing domesticity' using place mats and doilies and stitching bugs, insects and spiders onto them. She describes the insects as 'a metaphor for the malaise that can lie beneath the facade of a seemingly happy home'. 

She's made an amazing tutorial to make your own insect embroidery! You can download the worksheets and templates here. 

Inspiration: Lisa Solomon

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Lisa Solomon is an amazing artist whose work spans embroidery, drawing, installation and more. Her work often depicts domestic scenes in soft pastel colours and includes a doily or two. You can read more about the ideas behind her work here and her blog gives an amazing insight into her practise.

Inspiration: Ausra Osipaviciute

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London based photographer Ausra Osipaviciute has created these embroidered photographs, which remind of pieces by Maurizio Anzeri but with more of a fashion edge. You can find more images on Trendland as well as Ausra Osipaviciute's own site. 

Inspiration: Maurizio Anzeri

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‘I work with sewing, embroidery and drawing to explore the essence of signs in their physical manifestation. I take inspiration from my own personal experience and observation of how, in other cultures, bodies themselves are treated as living graphic symbols. I then use sewing and embroidery in a further attempt to re-signify, and mark the space with a man-made sign, a trace. I am interested in people’s stories and histories, and the relation between intimacy and the outer world. I have been working with hair for the past few years. I stitch and sew hair together until it becomes a sculpture. I see hair as a metaphorical medium to represent bodily boundaries, the embodiment of space.’ Maurizio Anzeri

Maurizio Anzeri brings together vintage photographs from the 1920s and 30s with intricate embroidery to create these wonderful, slightly creepy, pieces. The photographs are on display at the Baltic Centre in Newcastle so if you happen to be up there it's well worth a visit! There's also more images of the pieces on Trendland and an interview with the artist on Don't Panic. 

Tutorial: Stitch Your Own Lamp

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Lamp Gustaf has launched the ultimate DIY project - stitch your own lamp! The site enables you to download existing patterns as well as uploading your own images to create your own designs! You can read more about the lamp here, and if you can't afford to buy a lamp perhaps you could make your own?

Inspiration: Tilleke Schwarz

Racing Thoughts, 1996, 66x66cm image source

Tilleke Schwarz describes her work 'as a kind of visual poetry'. Her embroideries tell stories in a way that draws the viewer in, and pushes them to create their own narrative within the work. Her website is wonderfully playful and also includes a gallery of drawings on paper which are worth looking at to inspire your own initial drawings. Her FAQ provides a great insight to her practise!

Inspiration: Hella Jongerius

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Look at these wonderful wall-hangings that Hella Jongerius created for Ikea. The pieces were created in association with UNICEF and was inspired by swedish fairytales. Jongerius creates a wide range of products including; funiture, ceramics and textiles. These blankets are also amazing! For more information about Jongerius have a read through the wide range of press articles available to read on her website.

Inspiration: Matthew Harris

Matthew Harris 'Lantern Cloth No.1' detail image source

For students currently working on flags or wall hangings the work of artist Matthew Harris may be inspiring. His work explores drawing, hand stitching, dying and cutting fabrics.

His paper works could be particularly inspiring when thinking about different approaches to your observational drawing work.