The Dark Art of Mary M. Mazziotti

Death Looks for Love - Mary M. Mazziotti

Death Looks for A Date - Mary M. Mazziotti

Mary M. Mazziotti sent me some images from her incredible macabre but charming series ‘Death Gets Married’. Take a look at her website www.mazziottiart.com to see the whole series.

Takashi Iwasaki, Field Report from NYC

Hukrodama – Embroidery by Takashi Iwasaki

Ever wonder what it would be like to go to New York City and see your embroidery work in a gallery show?

Takashi Iwasaki, Hoopla book interviewee from Winnipeg Manitoba,  did just that this past November. His work was shown as part of Full Fathom Five at the Jenkins Johnson Gallery on West 26th Street.

Here are some photographs from the trip that he took to New York with his adorable wife Shih-Han:

He says, “Shih-Han and I really had a great time sharing our experience and thoughts, seeing “Chicago” show on Broadway, eating good food, meeting some of my friends, visiting many galleries, and a bit of shopping.”

“We ate a huge lobster at Chelsea Market and pastry at some places. We love eating, so those were our great memories! The High Line’s renovation has been completed (it had been an abandoned rail way in the middle of city for many decades, but it have just become a park/walkway), and we walked on it for many blocks. The day we did was a very sunny perfect day for a walk, and there was a good amount of people on the path. It really is a great place for a walk to see the city from a very different perspective. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you to next time!”

East Coast Tour Recap

I had a blast visiting Toronto, Brooklyn, and Winnipeg on the East Coast lag of the Hoopla Book Launch Tour. Here are a few photos from my trip:

In Toronto I visited the eclectic Kensington Market. There was a car turned into a garden and some interesting graffiti.

I also got to spend some quality time with Diane Yee, who has designed both of my books, and her cute son Sullivan. We ate chocolate-garlic ice cream (yes, you read that right), Korean food, and the most amazing salads at a restaurant called Hibiscus. We also visited the Textile Museum of Canada which has a really fun hands-on room where you can play with looms, test your fibre knowledge, and play with all sorts of textiles.

Beautiful embroideries at the textile museum.

Next up was the Toronto launch of Hoopla at the stunning Type Books on Queen Street West. Everything that I’d heard about this book store was accurate. It was beautiful and it had a well curated book selection.

I managed to eat a lot of wonderful Italian food in Toronto. Thanks to Jessie, Mike, Diane, and Alia for introducing me to some very good restaurants, including Terroni.

And, on my way to lunch with Alia, I noticed a young girl and her grandmother finger knitting on the Toronto subway.

Next up was Park Slope, Brooklyn where I fell in love with each and every brownstone.

After some lunch with Dory Kornfeld who kindly showed me around the ‘hood, I bought some linen embroidery thread at the well-stocked Fibre Notion.

Then I took off to Textile Arts for the Brooklyn Launch of Hoopla with artists Richard Saja, Iviva Olenick, Annie Coggan-Crawford and project designers Malarie Burgess and Erin Stanton.

Textile arts is a wonderful space.

The day following the event, I had an epic 14 hour walk around Manhattan.

Then it was back to Canada. Hello Winnipeg! Winnipeg was the friendliest place that I’ve ever been.

I arrived in the middle of their Nuit Blanche festival, an all night art party near the city art gallery. Both yarn bombing and embroidery were on-site.

The next day I met Takashi Iwasaki. We had an event together at the stunning McNally Robinson bookstore which is as epic as Powells in Portland and Strand in New York City.

Takashi’s embroidered works:

My days in Winnipeg concluded with some sight-seeing of the Osborne and Exchange Districts, and some of the best sushi that I’d ever had.

Next stop, San Francisco! If you are on the West Coast, please take a look at my San Mateo, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle event details on my book tour page and come out to stitch & bitch, listen to a talk, or just to say hi.

Embroidered Covers

A messy test embroidery. One of many options that was considered (and rejected) for the cover of Hoopla.

It has been quiet around these parts as I prepare for the upcoming local book launch of Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery and a three week book tour on the east and west coasts of the US.

While I’ve been making travel plans, I’ve also had several big life changes – one that includes moving apartments. The past few days I’ve been minimizing my collection of craft and design books. After a decade working as a graphic designer, I have boxes of event posters, old offset printing guides, paper samplers, and old sketchbooks to dispose of. Sorting through these things has led me to think of the marriage between stitching and graphics as it was a stitched lettering book that inspired me to write the book proposal for Hoopla.

I’ve been seeing more and more stitched design work as of late, which makes me extremely happy. Here are a few things that have caught my eye:

Jillian Tamaki‘s whimsical book covers for the Penguin Threads Deluxe Classics editions of Black Beauty, The Secret Garden, and Emma.

Black Beauty cover by Jill Tamaki

Emma cover by Jill Tamaki

Stitched Secret Garden cover by Jill Tamaki for Penguin Threads

Each of the covers has a wrap around design and french flaps which are really beautifully done.

Inge Jacobsen’s hand-stitched, reversible Vogue cover:

Olympia Le-Tan’s replica book covers on handbags are just stunning. See the whole gallery of her work here.

and, the delicious type work illustration of Maricor & Maricar in ESPN magazine.

I hope this is just the beginning of many more embroidery and design collaborations.

Richard Saja Sideshow!

If you live in New York City, this show looks like one that should not be missed:

Step right up and look at this embroidery-altered toile.

Bearded ladies! Strong men! Short vs Tall!

*Swoon*. Thanks again, Richard, for blowing my mind.