the telescopic eye
the telescopic eye series is ongoing, and is an exploration of the value of art as a way to translate greater concepts, and furthermore, a criticism of the historic undervaluation of embroidery as art. These embroidered depictions of Mercury and Mars are of scientific renderings of their surfaces—art being used to convey what those bodies look like even though we can’t see them. Mercury’s design comes from the images produced by the NASA MESSENGER mission in 2013, and the colors represent its topography. Mars’ design is modeled after a composite image of its ‘Global Colour Mosaic’ created by the European Space Agency to illustrate a full image of its surface in a way we can’t visually comprehend without tools. Embroidery is one of the most human, most tangible mediums; an observer can see every stitch and be reminded that it was made by my hands. The juxtaposition of bodies so intangible being rendered this way is reflective of the juxtaposition of being a craft artist in a visual arts world.
drawn to the natural world
My curiosity with interpreting we can’t see extends to my other work—I enlarge nature to gain a better understanding of it, as well as to showcase and appreciate the art that already surrounds us.
