Stitching a Story

Selvedge’s first 2020 workshops are now available to book. In April, Austrian/American stitch artist Gina Ballinger will host a one-day embroidery workshop, the Art of Stitching a Story.

Gina is an artist who tells her stories in the form of small-scale embroidery. In the sixties she was an art student at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, now California Institute of the Arts.

As a student, she worked at a department store and started stitching while bored during break times, an activity suggested by her mother. Stitching then went on to become her career.

In 1970 Gina moved to the countryside in Austria. It was there she discovered the local farmers' hand-spun and hand-woven linen which became the canvas of her stitched stories. Their stories of cloth production were interwoven into her work and they took a new life in her stitched characters and motifs.

Gina stitches on antique hand-spun/hand-woven linen or taffeta silk. Her threads are hand-dyed linen and silk. Scraps from her fabric collection and antique buttons complete her pictures. Her inspiration comes from the motifs of Carmen Ramirez and Erich Ballinger and she exhibits her work frequently.

During the workshop, students will learn stitching techniques, including appliqué and embroidery and have the chance to transfer original drawings onto fabric. Supplies of antique handwoven fabrics, threads and vintage fabrics will be used to explore how to stitch a story.

25 April 2020, Art of Stitching a Story with Gina Ballinger.

For further details and to book, visit Selvedge workshops.