Embroiderer Stephanie K. Clark describes herself as a “thread painter,” which she sort of is. With the embroidery floss – her palette, and the needle – her paintbrush, she creates compelling sceneries that have a hand-made feel to them. “I consider myself a painter and I paint with thread,” she states on her website. “The process of transforming string into art struck me as something visually stimulating with complex simplicity.”
Having graduated in Painting and Drawing from the University of Utah, her art heavily relies on her background in painting. According to Clark, it was during her studies that she discovered her love for embroidery and thread drawings (drawing with her sewing machine), blurring the lines between fine art and craft.
“My background in painting has allowed me to explore the material using techniques from the worlds of drawing and painting,” she explains. “Engaging both traditional and innovative techniques in employing formal qualities with density, texture, and pattern.”
“Visually, I love it when people bypass my work thinking it’s nothing other than a simple painting,” she further relayed in an interview with Jung Katz. “Until they look a little closer and see that in fact it is fibers/thread. Then they have to proceed to look even closer.”
Take a closer look:
