Grafting Propriety showcases the work of American artist Danica Maier, whose artwork follows the domestic object and drawing, which involves a particular interest in stitch, textiles, and the decorative.
Using embroidery as starting point, Maier creates intricate drawings. By mimicking the line of stitch these works are not what they first seem. These new works investigate historical stitched objects by repeating and redrawing from their original patterns, depicting the mark of stitch and imagery found within them.
Sidestepping the common ideas related to embroidery and stitch—often seen as part of the domestic realm—Maier investigates alternative ideas hidden within the history of stitch. In Maier’s work the heartfelt, funny and titillating side of textile history comes into focus.
The book explores how textile methodology can be recreated in drawing, the drawn stitched line and how textile agendas can be addressed without the use of the material. Using a recent textile research residency and solo exhibition titled Stitch and Peacock, at The Collection Museum, Lincoln, as the starting point to focus on a particular thread of Maier’s work related to drawing.
The publication also looks at other recent works created from an international residency held within the abandoned Spode factory; research projects involving the use of digital embroidery combined with the drawn line; and works using historical, popular surface pattern.
The book includes photographs of the archival pieces and new artworks, earlier works as well as essays written by leading experts. It accompanies the Stitch and Peacock exhibition and acts as a resource and documentation for the overall project, in which Maier has taken a rarely seen embroidered Jacobean bedspread as a starting point to create a series of new works which are rooted within the Lincolnshire textile collection, and history of embroidery. |