Laura Gaskin
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I love the beauty of the natural world, and I am fascinated by the ways in which we try to capture and hold on to it. That is the story I tell. I use an embroidery technique that I developed, borrowing from needlepoint and crewel traditions to create a style that is uniquely my own.
I make stitched pictures using a technique of my own. First, I outline the design onto embroidery canvas. Next I stitch free form, filling in color and shading with cotton floss. I go over each area repeatedly, adding a new color with each pass, until the area is filled. This is a deliberate, meditative process, one that evolved over years of working with cloth. As a child, I watched grandmothers embroider, knit, crochet, quilt and sew for their families. I learned those skills as I grew up. I also learned that needlework can produce beautiful items from ordinary materials. While my professional career has taken me into teaching and librarianship, working with fibers has always been part of my life. Inspiration gained from studying art books, along with classes at regional craft schools, honed my skills as I sought new ways to combine color and imagery. The result is the embroidered work you now see.
Laura Gaskin