Skip to main content

Oh the wonderful work of Tilleke Schwarz



I was in my element two weeks ago when I joined Tilleke and 13 other talented artists in an embroidery workshop hosted by the Maiwa School of textiles in their beautiful loft studio on Granville Island.

Together we spent three creative days stitching, sharing and collaging wonderful nothings on cloth and with paper. I say "nothings" because the joy and beauty of Tilleke's work is the "nothings" she notices on signs, in the newspaper or maybe overheard conversations. Her international sense of humour and unexpected cynicism was as amusing as her work is honest.

What I love about Tilleke's style is the graphic randomness of the elements. Her work feels raw, unstructured and energetic.

The image on the top of this post, is one of my collages from workshop. The exercise was to collage a flower using one colour (and tones/shades of it) from supplied magazines. Being a pretty colourful person, I decided to stretch my comfort zone by executing the exercise in only black and white. I'm pleased with the result and plan to incorporate a version it in my classes.

If you get the chance, treat yourself to a class with Tilleke. You'll come away with a new appreciation of embroidery.

Keep creating! 
~ Kathryn




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Picture-perfect Idea

When I last spoke of the Anonymous Art Show that I participated in back in Nov. 2011, I neglected to note a detail that really stood out for me. On the main wall near the entrance, the organizers hung a large canvas wrapped with all the names of the contributing artists. I was proud as punch to see my name included in print among the over 400 other talented souls who participated in the annual event. It's a small thing, one's name typeset amongst so many others, but it spoke in a large way to me. It said that my work is valuable to this organization; it's appreciated, acknowledged, and recognized. And that feels great. So if you find yourself in need of a creative way to express thanks to your contributors at an event, this may just be the final touch you need.
Post a Comment
Read more

Starbucks saved my marriage

In early February I was still greatly enamoured with my Christmas "urchin" necklace ( see Jan 20th posting). I put it on daily feeling extra warm and fuzzy with the knowledge that my guy had showered me with such a special gift of love. And then I lost it. I mean I physically lost my necklace. One morning, apparently the clasp wasn't fully closed, the chain released and the necklace slipped off of my neck. I was beside myself with sickness; and my better-half was using all of his energy to restrain anger-based comments from exiting his mouth. Pulling my emotions together, I retraced my steps multiple times, posted LOST signs around the neighbourhood and sent out a lot of gratitude vibes hoping a Kind Soul would return it to me.  One very long day later we received a call from a Kind Soul. A fellow Starbucks regular found my necklace on the floor near the coffee bar! English isn't his first language so he didn't know how to go about finding the necklace...
Post a Comment
Read more

Graffiti Embroidery?

You bet! Welcome to the world of renown fabric artist  Tilleke Schwarz . In her own words, this is what Tilleke says about her work: My work is a mixture of graphic quality, content and fooling around. The humor in my work is typical for my Jewish background: a mixture of a laugh and a tear. Folk art and daily life are great sources for inspiration. I use mixed media with a focus on hand embroidery on linen and on drawings and paintings.  My work can be understood as a kind of visual poetry. It is a mixture of contemporary influences, graffiti, icons, texts and traditional images from samplers. And of course cats are usually included. The embroidery contains narrative elements. Not really complete stories, with a beginning, a storyline, and an end. On the contrary, the narrative structures are used as a form of communication with the viewer. I am thrilled to be attending a lecture by Tilleke on September 30th, here in Vancouver courtesy of the Maiwa Symposium on Granv...
Post a Comment
Read more