Unspooled: An Embroidery workshop w/ Jenny Hart

(photo by Kimberly Genevieve)

In conjunction with the exhibition Unspooled at the Annenberg Beach House (January 21 - April 17, 2016), this workshop will show students how to take the art of embroidery far past the traditional boundaries of the craft. Participants will learn the basics of embroidery (no previous experience necessary) while creating a project that incorporates a tracing of an image seen via the Camera Obscura, an optical device of low-tech wonder. This workshop is for the creatively adventurous who aren't afraid of unpredictable results!

Students will also learn various pattern transfer techniques with plenty of ready-made templates and tools for making original designs available to experiment with and take home.

Parking for these short classes is a breeze! Parking Structure 6 on 2nd just around the corner is $2.50 for 3 hours.

Jenny Hart is a Los Angeles-based fine artist and embroidery designer. In 2001 she independently launched the revolutionary design company Sublime Stitching, offering contemporary embroidery patterns, exclusive tools, threads and textiles. Since then, Jenny has become an internationally recognized fine artist and designer. Hart is an award-winning author of seven titles on embroidery for Chronicle Books including Embroidered Effects. Her works have been exhibited and published internationally and are included in public and private collections of note, including the estate of Elizabeth Taylor. She has appeared on numerous television shows, been interviewed on Martha Stewart Radio, and her work has appeared in countless magazines including Vogue, Rolling Stone, Nylon, Spin, The Face, Juxtapoz, The Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine and others. Her work has been noted in multiple art books of cultural surveys, most recently including The Graphic Art of the Underground: A Countercultural History (Bloomsbury).

Since moving to Los Angeles, her work has been selected for group shows alongside artists John Baldessari and Laura Owens. She has undertaken collaborations with Mark Allen and experimental workshops (Embroidering in the Dark) with Machine Project. Most recently, Hart's embroidery work was commissioned by Penguin Books UK for the Penguin By Hand series of book covers for Sarah Blake's novel The Postmistress.

In addition to running Sublime Stitching and her studio work, Hart teaches in and around Los Angeles. In 2013 she conceived a series of workshops called Embroidering in Architecture to allow students the opportunity to stitch in an architecturally significant and inspiring setting. Recent locations have included Neutra's VDL house in Silverlake and Greene and Greene's Gamble House in Pasadena. In 2012, Hart's work became a part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum with curator Nicholas Bell stating: "Embroidery in the United States is unexpectedly in revival due in large part to the efforts of Jenny Hart." Jenny divides her time between her private art studio and Sublime Stitching's office in Los Angeles. www.sublimestitching.com // www.jennyhart.net