A Beautiful Mindset : Séverine Gallardo
From badges to jewels, stones to totems, and headdresses to arm adornments, the sky’s the limit for Séverine Gallardo’s marvellous imagination. This self-taught French textile artist’s stitches speak well beyond what meets the eye.
With her creativity in the clouds but her studio firmly rooted in Angoulême, southwestern France, Gallardo makes extraordinary soft sculptures that trace a magical journey across the globe. With a nod or a spin, she sweeps us away to faraway countries, cultures, and moments in time while encouraging us to slow down and cultivate an almost childlike sense of wonder for everyday life. As all the minute details show, a keen method in Gallardo’s madness produces a playful, intriguing, and unique narrative.
Gallardo has always enjoyed immersing herself in her artistic endeavours. As a child, she would isolate herself to make things: draw quietly while her parents watched TV; she was happy in their presence but focused on her activity. She owes her passion for textiles to her two grandmothers and recalls how one of them taught her how to crochet when she was bored on vacation. “The pleasure of the repetitive gesture, the contact with the soft material of the thread, has never left me,” she says.
Perhaps surprisingly, when it came to higher education, Gallardo chose Multimedia Studies at Les Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts) School in Marseille. Textiles were not regarded very highly in France at the time, primarily associated with materials and manual work. Nonetheless, she pursued her needlework in parallel with fine art. She recognised that these studies sparked a desire to experiment and cultivate herself to give direction and substance to her practice.
Whether sketching, painting, sewing, knitting, needle felting, crocheting, or embroidering, curiosity and passion are Gallardo’s creative fibre, and her sources of inspiration span far and wide. “I am genuinely fascinated by the beauty of the world: the beauty of people, of old photographs of distant cultures,” she says, adding, “I love looking at old manuscripts that depict myths, stories, and legends through drawing.” The ideas for Gallardo’s eclectic felt sculptures originate from hours of research in libraries and museums and from years of collecting interesting objects and materials. They are influenced by primitivity, folklore, churches, and the mediaeval era, which she finds both fascinating and highly amusing, and they initially come to life as colours, patterns, and portraits in the pages of her sketchbooks.
Materials are the starting point for every piece of textile art Gallardo makes. She hunts for special items at flea markets and scours the web for unusual finds like fish leather, beetle elytra, and snakeskin to incorporate into her sculptures. “I like to be surprised by the material and let my hands do the work,” she says. “I like them to guide me and think. I particularly like felt, carded wool.” Wool, in any shape or form, makes her heart sing.
Gallardo’s first experiments with knitting masks were inspired by the architecture of faces, which she loves. She has always been captivated by masks, especially those crafted by the peoples of Africa and Oceania. She uses her interpretations of different facial architectures as a base to add jacquard patterns. Her interest in rituals and traditional regional and national costumes, many of which were discovered through the photography of Charles Fréger and Albert Kahn, opened up a whole new realm of exploration to her later. Impressed by Yoruba women’s ability to carry all manner of water containers piled up high, she became fascinated by the shapes and sizes of objects that people can wear on their heads.
Showing multiple influences from Africa, India, and Native America, to name but a few, Gallardo’s colourful and highly ornate headdresses are stunning and surreal. The fruit of her vivid imagination, they seems to belong to another time and place, yet they speak of the diversity of humankind. She is a contemporary storyteller who slowly builds her narrative by delving into details and delighting in the infinitely small, ultimately crafting something greater than its sum of parts. “I love spending as much time as possible to create something beautiful,” she says, adding, “In general, it is hundreds of hours of work. Because I also undo when I am not going in the right direction.”
One senses something deeper in Gallardo’s textile practice, too. Since 2007, as her daytime job, she has co-run the Marguerite Waknine publishing house with Franck Guyon, managing the Cabinet de dessins collection in particular (drawing, illustration, design, and architecture from all periods and genres.) She also teaches textile art and drawing at an art school open to all ages. Both of these professional activities nourish her work immensely. At the end of the day, when she returns to her own quiet, meditative needlework, she finds peace and comfort in the “slowness and sweetness” of her creative process. “My textile art allows me to refocus, to concentrate on beautiful things. It helps me see the world differently,” she explains, concluding that “my artistic practice is part of my spiritual life because it helps me to live.”
In keeping with her passion for architecture, especially churches, which she is lucky to be surrounded by in southwestern France, Gallardo likens her textile art to a prayer: “It is extremely satisfying, but it is also spiritual. My prayer takes the form of a headdress. I am a builder of ‘small’ individual cathedrals.” Interestingly, she sees these wearable, towering sculptures as an interface, as a way to connect the Earth and the Sky, ‘the visible real world and a mysterious and invisible ‘elsewhere.’”
Gallardo’s recent work has moved in a new direction, encompassing more of the human body. Her latest textile piece Die Erde (The Earth) 2024, a portable prosthesis depicting the Garden of Eden, wraps around the arm and the shoulder and is intended to be worn with Der Himmel (The Sky) 2024, a complementary headdress. Full of colour, joy, and life, the two-piece set, Chapel for F.W., is about death. An absolute treat for the eyes, composed of a kaleidoscope of embroideries, appliqués, braids, threads, pearls, buttons, millinery stamens, fragments of sewn saris, antique Aubusson tapestry, and ribbon transfers of Victorian post-mortem photographs, this fantastic head and arm adornment set represents “a great prayer” for a person very dear to Gallardo’s heart. Like every piece of textile art she creates, it is the product of a true labour of patience and love.
Text by Deborah Eydmann
Images courtesy of Séverine Gallardo
Find out more and follow Séverine Gallardo:
@severinegallardo
séverine gallardo.tumblr.com
With her creativity in the clouds but her studio firmly rooted in Angoulême, southwestern France, Gallardo makes extraordinary soft sculptures that trace a magical journey across the globe. With a nod or a spin, she sweeps us away to faraway countries, cultures, and moments in time while encouraging us to slow down and cultivate an almost childlike sense of wonder for everyday life. As all the minute details show, a keen method in Gallardo’s madness produces a playful, intriguing, and unique narrative.
Gallardo has always enjoyed immersing herself in her artistic endeavours. As a child, she would isolate herself to make things: draw quietly while her parents watched TV; she was happy in their presence but focused on her activity. She owes her passion for textiles to her two grandmothers and recalls how one of them taught her how to crochet when she was bored on vacation. “The pleasure of the repetitive gesture, the contact with the soft material of the thread, has never left me,” she says.
Perhaps surprisingly, when it came to higher education, Gallardo chose Multimedia Studies at Les Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts) School in Marseille. Textiles were not regarded very highly in France at the time, primarily associated with materials and manual work. Nonetheless, she pursued her needlework in parallel with fine art. She recognised that these studies sparked a desire to experiment and cultivate herself to give direction and substance to her practice.
Whether sketching, painting, sewing, knitting, needle felting, crocheting, or embroidering, curiosity and passion are Gallardo’s creative fibre, and her sources of inspiration span far and wide. “I am genuinely fascinated by the beauty of the world: the beauty of people, of old photographs of distant cultures,” she says, adding, “I love looking at old manuscripts that depict myths, stories, and legends through drawing.” The ideas for Gallardo’s eclectic felt sculptures originate from hours of research in libraries and museums and from years of collecting interesting objects and materials. They are influenced by primitivity, folklore, churches, and the mediaeval era, which she finds both fascinating and highly amusing, and they initially come to life as colours, patterns, and portraits in the pages of her sketchbooks.
Materials are the starting point for every piece of textile art Gallardo makes. She hunts for special items at flea markets and scours the web for unusual finds like fish leather, beetle elytra, and snakeskin to incorporate into her sculptures. “I like to be surprised by the material and let my hands do the work,” she says. “I like them to guide me and think. I particularly like felt, carded wool.” Wool, in any shape or form, makes her heart sing.
Gallardo’s first experiments with knitting masks were inspired by the architecture of faces, which she loves. She has always been captivated by masks, especially those crafted by the peoples of Africa and Oceania. She uses her interpretations of different facial architectures as a base to add jacquard patterns. Her interest in rituals and traditional regional and national costumes, many of which were discovered through the photography of Charles Fréger and Albert Kahn, opened up a whole new realm of exploration to her later. Impressed by Yoruba women’s ability to carry all manner of water containers piled up high, she became fascinated by the shapes and sizes of objects that people can wear on their heads.
Showing multiple influences from Africa, India, and Native America, to name but a few, Gallardo’s colourful and highly ornate headdresses are stunning and surreal. The fruit of her vivid imagination, they seems to belong to another time and place, yet they speak of the diversity of humankind. She is a contemporary storyteller who slowly builds her narrative by delving into details and delighting in the infinitely small, ultimately crafting something greater than its sum of parts. “I love spending as much time as possible to create something beautiful,” she says, adding, “In general, it is hundreds of hours of work. Because I also undo when I am not going in the right direction.”
One senses something deeper in Gallardo’s textile practice, too. Since 2007, as her daytime job, she has co-run the Marguerite Waknine publishing house with Franck Guyon, managing the Cabinet de dessins collection in particular (drawing, illustration, design, and architecture from all periods and genres.) She also teaches textile art and drawing at an art school open to all ages. Both of these professional activities nourish her work immensely. At the end of the day, when she returns to her own quiet, meditative needlework, she finds peace and comfort in the “slowness and sweetness” of her creative process. “My textile art allows me to refocus, to concentrate on beautiful things. It helps me see the world differently,” she explains, concluding that “my artistic practice is part of my spiritual life because it helps me to live.”
In keeping with her passion for architecture, especially churches, which she is lucky to be surrounded by in southwestern France, Gallardo likens her textile art to a prayer: “It is extremely satisfying, but it is also spiritual. My prayer takes the form of a headdress. I am a builder of ‘small’ individual cathedrals.” Interestingly, she sees these wearable, towering sculptures as an interface, as a way to connect the Earth and the Sky, ‘the visible real world and a mysterious and invisible ‘elsewhere.’”
Gallardo’s recent work has moved in a new direction, encompassing more of the human body. Her latest textile piece Die Erde (The Earth) 2024, a portable prosthesis depicting the Garden of Eden, wraps around the arm and the shoulder and is intended to be worn with Der Himmel (The Sky) 2024, a complementary headdress. Full of colour, joy, and life, the two-piece set, Chapel for F.W., is about death. An absolute treat for the eyes, composed of a kaleidoscope of embroideries, appliqués, braids, threads, pearls, buttons, millinery stamens, fragments of sewn saris, antique Aubusson tapestry, and ribbon transfers of Victorian post-mortem photographs, this fantastic head and arm adornment set represents “a great prayer” for a person very dear to Gallardo’s heart. Like every piece of textile art she creates, it is the product of a true labour of patience and love.
Text by Deborah Eydmann
Images courtesy of Séverine Gallardo
Find out more and follow Séverine Gallardo:
@severinegallardo
séverine gallardo.tumblr.com