Are you knitting to calm the knots in your stomach? Crocheting to crush your worries? Quilting to keep from wilting? Using thread to quell your dread?

Keep your hands busy and your heart light by joining textile artists Jay Hutchinson and Victoria McIntosh in a special online craft circle.

Whether you’re a dab hand or just starting out - pull up a chair, pull out your project and join the conversation as Jay and Victoria discuss the role of embroidery in their own practices and the calming qualities of craft in uncertain times.

This event is limited to 8 participants, so be sure to book via Eventbrite – places will fill fast!

Please note: This event will be held via Zoom, from the comfort of your own home. Book to secure your place and we will send you a link to join the group 30 mins prior to the event commencing.

About the artists:

Jay Hutchinson is a New Zealand artist based in Dunedin. Originally a graffiti writer, Hutchinson traded his cans of spray paint for needle and thread in 2006. In a project titled ‘Concrete to Textile’ at the Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Jay recreated a series of graffitied walls as elaborate hand-embroidered panels. After spending hundreds of hours on the project Jay developed a passion for the craft and has since produced several projects a year using the labor intensive process. His current projects explore urban environments and then recreates found structures and discarded objects as hand-embroidered sculptures.

Victoria McIntosh was born and is currently based in Ōtepoti Dunedin. Her practice uses found materials from op shops and second hand stores combined with domestic crafts such as embroidery, beading and quilting to translate collections of underwear and purses into soft sculptures that remember the shapes of the bodies they once held. Highlighting the many ways women and their bodies have been exploited and controlled, Victoria’s works are also a homage to her maternal grandmother who taught her many of the needlework skills she employs in her practice.

This event runs in conjunction with Ā Mua: New Lineages of Making, which features projects by more than 20 makers from throughout Aotearoa, to explore and challenge the definition of craft in Aotearoa today.

http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/a-mua