‘Inside the Book’ with Super Eliot

I was completely charmed when I recieved an email from Eliot, who told me that he had made an ‘inside the book’ video.

Eliot, a beat box artist and crafty superstar from Berlin, cross-stitches graffiti style artwork onto stretched canvases. I interviewed him for Hoopla, and within the book we discuss the cross stitching in relation to his path as a graffiti artist. His work is bright, colorful, and tongue in cheek.

Eliot has also written a blog post on Hoopla that shows pieces of his artwork which were published in the book. Take a look at all of his art on his site, and don’t miss the beat boxing videos in the music section. They are not to be missed.

Thanks Eliot!

Miss Cross Stitch, Germany

Now this is a brilliant combination of cross-stitch techniques and yarn bombing:

Image from Miss Cross Stitch: http://misscrossstitch.wordpress.com

In the same school as Ulrika Urdes’ public embroideries, not only does this woman create ‘street embroidery’, but she has also made patterns out of her designs and sells kits. I quote:

Now you are able to beautify your surroundings for your own: Here you can get the first Embroidery-Kit, which contains all the things you need, a light and weather-resistant rope, tie-wraps and a detailed instruction manual. It´s available in 4 different motives at Dawanda.

Traditional motifs of ducks, hearts, and flowers somehow look much more appealing when they are large and on iron.

West Coast Tour Recap

As I learn to write ’2012′ in my calendar, I’ve been taking one last look back at the year that was 2011. In wrapping up the year, I thought that I should post some images from the second half of my Hoopla book tour.

After leaving Winnipeg on the east coast lag of my tour, I had one day at home in Vancouver before it was time to be off to sunny San Francisco. My first stop was the amazing Craft Bar with Etsy Labs ($1 beers while you learn a new craft. amazing.) at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco. If you are ever in SF during one of these events, I highly recommend stopping in!

Craft bar seated about 100 people and there was a group of extremely skilled craft teachers (most of them part of the Etsy SF Street Team) who quickly learned to teach Siobhan Long’s Photo Feelism project from Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery to attendees.

Sherri Lynn Wood, who I featured in the book, arrived with one of her infamous embroidered tattooed baby dolls. This is the very last doll in the series that she started in the mid-nineties. Everyone wanted to look at this doll – it was a really special experience to be able to see it. This was seeing embroidery history in the making.

Karyn Fraser, who designed the beautiful All Aflutter Necklaces featured in Hoopla also attended the event. It was great to be able to meet both of these women who were a big part of the book.

Some of the attendees came up with some really inventive interpretations of the historical photographs that they were given to stitch on:

It was such a fun night! Craft bar was followed by an amazing tour of San Francisco. We rode cable cars, had our fortunes told at the Musee Mechanique, shopped at the 826 Valencia Pirate Store, visited the Curiosity Shoppe, and ate too many wonderful Mexican and Italian meals.

A few days later, it was off to Nine Rubies in San Mateo. When we arrived at the store we were greeted by a luxe, knit-graffiti gate created by Saloni, Christine and the staff of Nine Rubies:

Local artist Scott Hamilton had made an amazing window display of mohair pillars. My iphone camera does not do these justice. They were beautiful in person!

After I talked about both Yarn Bombing and Hoopla, I received a very kind invitation from Lucy Barter to come see work by students of the Royal School of Needlework at the local Hyatt. The school, which is based in England, has an outreach program in the Bay area twice a year. Students learn traditional techniques, including goldwork, blackwork, stumpwork,and silk shading. Many of the students I met that last night were working towards certificates in embroidery under Lucy’s guidance.

After San Francisco, it was a short plane ride to Portland, Oregon to the In Other Words feminist bookstore and resource centre, famously parodied on Portlandia. The volunteers were gracious and kind, and thought the parody was funny. It was a stormy night, so we had a small crowd mostly of book contributors – including Penny Nickels and Johnny Murder, Amy Adoyzie, and Cate Anevski who all answered questions about their work.

I could not leave Portland without visiting Powell’s books and sampling some craft beer. I went to Deschutes and had some of their ‘End of the World’ stout. It was delicious.

From Portland, we took the train to Seattle. We only had one night in Seattle, so we took in the new(ish) Rem Koolhaas-designed downtown library, which had some banana yellow escalators and red inferno-esque meeting rooms. I loved it. They even have an established room in the library for writers to work undisturbed. Amazing.

Then it was off to Assemble Gallery and Studio, the host of my Seattle event. I was so honoured by Andie and Emily’s crafty window display.

Assemble is a dream boutique and workshop space – by which I mean, I wish I lived close enough to be there all the time. They have a wonderfully curated selection of books, jewelry, embroidery kits, stationary supplies, and cool nick-knacks. Both women obviously have great taste and strong design sensibilities. It is a must-see in Seattle.They also host classes in book-binding, needlework, sewing, and other crafts.

I purchased some silkscreened wooden buttons for a friend and a Print Workshop book for myself.

After giving a brief talk about the artists in the book, we got down to business, drank some white wine, and worked on some stitching projects.

The participants made fun projects and we left a crafty mess behind. All in all, it was a successful night!

The tour was definitely the highlight of 2011, and an experience that I will always remember. It was so good to meet so many of those who contributed to the book and find out what crafters are up to in other places. The trip taught me many life lessons including:

1. Always bring an extension cord. You will need it.
2. Don’t expect to embroidery much when talking about embroidery to strangers. You will end up with a mess.
3. Customs officers do not know what embroidery thread is. It is better to say ‘sewing supplies’ and make grand hand gestures in the air.
4. Independent bookstore and craft store owners are among the most generous people.
5.  The Occupy movement (I saw it everywhere that I traveled) is unique to each city
6. Powdered energy drinks will explode in your suitcase
7. After a long day, cheap Trader Joe’s wine IS good
8. Using twitter on your phone in another country is very expensive
9. The Bart doesn’t run as early in the morning as you think it should. Sometimes it IS better to take a cab.
10. Urban Spoon is actually quite helpful.
11. Craft tourism is at its best when you buy supplies that you can’t get at home (linen thread, anyone?)
12. People, and crafters in particular, are amazing.

Tumim & Pendergast interview

Christopher Pendergast and Matilda Tumin in their studio (photo Clare Gee)

Curious about the strange stitched animal on the Hoopla book cover? Read this wonderful interview from Northings with contributing Scotish artists Tumim & Prendergast to learn more about the motivations behind their work.

Also, related to Hoopla, pattern designer Andrea Drajewicz wrote a great post about contributing to the book and how she conceived of her pattern for a embroidered graffiti project: http://kidsbyhand.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/as-promised-hoopla-pics.

From Brooklyn to Bowen

Entering Snug Cover Terminal on Bowen Island, photograph by Adam Jones.

My book tour has come full circle, and I’m back in Vancouver, prepping for local events. The first is this coming weekend on beautiful Bowen Island. Here are the details:

Author and Artist Talk
Sat. Oct. 22, 2011 at The Gallery
589 Artisan Lane, Bowen Island
For all who love art and textiles with a dash of whimsy!

Event schedule:
4:30pm – Doors open
5:00pm – Author Leanne Prain talk & slideshow presentation
6:00pm – Local artist Sarah Haxby brief talk & stitchwork demonstration
6:15pm – Question & Answer, book signing, sales and nibbles

Thank you to the Bowen Island Fibre Arts Guild`s members, and supporters of this event. This event is organized by the artist Sarah Haxby, whose new work is featured in the book.

Free/admission by donation, all ages are welcome to attend! I will be discussing Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery and also a little bit about my first book Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti.