Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Jillian Tamaki - Monster Quilt

Jillian Tamaki's Monster Quilt (click to enlarge)

Thanks to an auto-generated "you might also like", I saw a tiny image of Jillian Tamaki's Monster Quilt out of the corner of my eye. I clicked away accidentally before I could follow the link. I did some hunting to turn up what I thought I saw. Wonderfully worth the effort.

I am particularly interested in artists who depart from their usual medium to try embroidery. I think it's important to recognize that when we do, we are not textile artists in the traditional sense. Personally, I've never been comfortable being referred to as a textile or fiber artist (because I don't have that background). We are artists trying embroidery with a new curiosity and different approach to its challenges. Jillian speaks to that in her blog entry about doing this work. It's the "not knowing" that produces fresh results and roads not yet taken.

Link to Jillian's blog entry on her quilt
Link to Jillian's illustration portfolio

ETA: After posting about Jillian's work she contacted me: "Thanks, Jenny! I started embroidering with the help of one of your starter kits." That made my day. I am now hoping she'll consider a Sublime Stitching collab.