ELOÏSE PTITO - The Art of Story Cloth Workshop
All Images Courtesy of Multicolores.
Selvedge is proud to be hosting an upcoming virtual workshop this March entitled, The Art of Story Cloth, in partnership with the Mayan women arts association Multicolores. Within this cooperative of highly-skilled craftswomen, original works of art are brought to life through an innovative use of traditional embroidery and rug-hooking techniques. The development of each artist’s distinct voice through textile storytelling is also deeply encouraged. This visual means of narration is achieved through an exciting combination of both free-hand drawing and traditional textile templates, needle turn appliqué, as well as various embroidery stitches that allow for a layered, three-dimensional quality. Resulting in what Multicolores describes as “stitched paintings”, the story cloths display a rich, folkloric exploration of the artists’ inner worlds, ultimately inviting viewers to delve into and reveal their own.
During this weekend embroidery workshop, participants will be led by two Mayan women embroidery artists who will guide us in the process of creating one’s very own story-cloth. The course will begin with both instructors sharing their personal work and inspirations and later segue into a discussion and discovery of participants’ own memories, narratives, folklore, and sacred symbols. All of these elements can be used to form an effective visual language to draw from when creating your piece.
Other workshop highlights include learning the five fundamental stitches required for this unique picture-making, as well as being guided through the traditional story cloth design process. This includes: conceptualization, placement, scale, colour, composition and most importantly—how to properly transfer one’s design to fabric. Once these fundamentals are mastered, the possibilities for textile storytelling are truly endless.
Open to all skill levels, the workshop includes downloadable instructions and a design guide of original templates to add to your stitching repertoire.
To book, visit our Workshops.