What tools do we use to write? Phone, computer and pen are among the most common, but embroidery and hand sewing have a densely layered textual past. Hosted at South Philadelphia’s historic Fleisher Art Memorial, this class examines a historically under-appreciated craft as an alternate means for written expression. We’ll investigate how embodied text-making alters the experience of expression, reading excerpts from Anne Boyer’s Garments Against Women, Karen Brodine’s Woman sitting at the machine, thinking, T Fleischmann’s Time is the thing a body moves through, Isabella Rosner’s Stitching Freedom: Embroidery and Incarceration, and MC Hyland’s The Dead & The Living & The Bridge. We’ll examine Agnes Richter’s autobiographical strait jacket, the arpilleras of artists living under Pinochet’s regime in Chile, Karan Al-Maloukh’s embroidered books made during his incarceration, and Ray Materson’s baseball player portraits made with found materials during his incarceration. Students will come away equipped to create a stitched text of their own. (Click gif to explore)
All supplies provided