renewed media: needlework

We here at magpie & whiskeyjack (and before anyone protests the 2nd person plural, I will stipulate that 'we' refers to all bloggers, feminine or feline, who answer to the name minouette) are fond of the multimedia, love the idea of reinterpreting what was one 'women's work' as high art, and have immense respect for the stitchers - the masters of embroidery, quilting, cross-stitch and other needlework. This post in particular, though, is specifically inspired by Mr. X Stitch, who has come to my attention as a new guest blogger on the craftster blog. He describes himself thus, "Mr X Stitch is a manbroiderer, cross stitch designer and runs www.mrxstitch.com, the number one contemporary embroidery and needlecraft blog on the planet." I don't know who determines the ranking of embroiderers, or their blogs, but I do recognize a tremendous capacity for finding and sharing some of the delightful, talented, creative and edgy contemporary work in this field - this corner of the craft movement, with a great sense of humour. You should read him too. He began his guest posts with a series of men, as he is a (ringleader? cheerleader?) proponent of the 'manbroiderer'. I might have been tempted to trace this movement back to Second Wave Feminism and artists like Canadian Joyce Wieland who deliberately began employing traditionally female handiwork in the 60s to reclaim these traditions as part of 'art'. However, seeing needlework embraced by both genders is wonderful. What could be more feminist than the removal of a gender-imbalance or bias in any field?


Orly Cogan, 'Busy Barbie', 2004, hand-stitched embroidery and paint on vintage tablecloth, 50" × 50"
So without further ado, get thee to the sites of some of these talented, contemporary artists! Here are a couple of his picks, and you can find more here or here. {Note both of these artists produce needlework which is probably NSFW}.

The work of Orly Cogan is playful mixing the erotic and the mundane, vintage textiles with new needlework, traditional subjects like embellishment of borders with vegetation and decorative animals with sex and bodily functions. Thus, the selection below is not-quite-representative, and work I deem a little more adult can be found on her site.


Orly Cogan, 'Natural Habitat'

Logan McLain is a contemporary, Irish, male, textile artist, or as he puts it 'AKA Feckin' Emboydery'. His work is irreverent and relates to morality and religion, tackling racism and homophobia, with humour intact. Also, there are a lot of corvidae.


Detail of Logan McLain's 'I Heart The Black Babies'