Rogue Embroidery by David R. Harper

Close-up of Embroidery on Her by David R. Harper

It is a rare thing to encounter an artist that takes a traditional medium and refashions it into something never seen before. David R. Harper is such an artist. By applying traditional embroidery techniques to animal hides, he creates portraits of women and men and gives the viewer pause to question the relationship between the hunter and the hunter as well as our innate desire to bring nature into our man-made environments.

Her by David R. Harper

David R. Harper was born in Toronto in 1984 and studied sculpture at the the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax. It wasn't until after he graduated that he took up embroidery in 2006. Inspired by the devotional pieces of embroidery that he had seen in the Middle East, he wanted to take embroidery beyond ornamentation and create works that shock and awe the viewer. Mostly self-taught, he considers embroidery "one of the most versatile ways to make art" and describes the fibre arts as existing "between sculpture and painting".

Using sustainable sources of animal hides, Harper uses hides to differentiate his embroidery from others. And that is why rogue embroidery is such an apt descriptor of this extraordinary work. His first embroideries were of the skeletal structures of the animal from which the hide came from (which can be seen on his website). His mother owns one of his first of this series of works, while others are in public and private collections.

Gathering by David R. Harper

Some of David's works incorporate techniques of taxidermy which he taught himself as an undergrad student. He describes taxidermy as a "form of doll-making" which describes the "collision between the natural and artificial worlds" and as representational of the "loss of the natural world". In the words of curator Sarah Quinton, these hybrid sculptures are "precious reminders of the contrasting ideals of co-existence and dominance between human and non-human animals."

Last to Win by David R. Harper

When I first saw David's work, the embroidery stitches were so dense that I assumed he must have had some machine assistance. However, in talking with David, he assured me that each stitch was done by hand and most of his pieces take about three months to complete, stitching 8-10 hours a day. Most stitches are done with the back-stitch but he also uses a unique sequence of running stitches to create a beautiful and subtle form of shading.

Close-up of Embroidery on Last to Win

At present, David is living in Chicago, where he is completing his masters degree in fibre arts at the Art Institute. He also has two shows opening in Chicago in the fall.

David R. Harper's work "Skin and Bones", which is part of the exhibition Person, Place, Thing at the Textile Museum of Canada, will be on display until October 17, 2010. To see more of his work, please visit his website here.

Photo credits: All photos by Ingrid Mida, copyright 2010, taken with permission of the artist at the Textile Museum of Canada.

What's on the Calendar in August?

I can hardly believe that it is already August. Where did the summer go? Here is a list of my summer must-see exhibitions:

Yves Saint Laurent at the Petit Palais, Musee de Beaux Arts in Paris until August 29, 2010

This retrospective of Yves Saint Laurent's work covers the period from 1962-2002 and includes over 250 garments from this master of haute couture and ready-to-wear. The exhibition also includes recreations of Saint Laurent's studio, private "dreaming" room, and a wardrobe designed for Catherine Deneuve.

While I won't actually get to see this exhibition in person, I saw a similar exhibition in Montreal in 2008, which opened just before the death of this great designer. To read more about the retrospective, please click here. I also wrote extensively about Yves Saint Laurent after his death, including a post called Lessons from Saint Laurent, which can be read here. (It seems like an interesting coincidence to write this post today as Yves Saint Laurent was born on August 1, 1936.)

Person, Place and Thing at the Textile Museum of Canada on until September 6, 2010

In this exhibition of portrait-based works by artists David R. Harper, Lia Cook and Stephen Schofield, textiles and sculpture intersect in an unexpected fashion. All three artists make large scale work that is tactile which draws the viewer into a sensory encounter with "embroidered, sewn and women narratives of nature, identity and history."  This exhibition affirms my belief that embroidery and sculpture are powerful forms of expression. (I will be taking a workshop called Rogue Embroidery with David Harper later this month and hope it will inspire me to take my textile-based artwork to a new level of development.)

American Women, Fashioning a National Identity at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on until August 15, 2010.

Eighty faceless mannequins present the history of American style from 1890 to 1940 as defined into distinct archetypes including The Hieress, The Gibson Girl, The Bohemian, The Patriot and the Suffragette, The Flapper, and The Screen Siren. Animated throughout by music, lighting and video projections, the exhibition culminates in a video montage of images reflecting the modern American woman including Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Serena Williams, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe.

While on the surface this may simply seem like another costume exhibit, at the core of it is an exploration of the  evolution of women's social, political and sexual emancipation as reflected in their clothing.  (And this is something that is a touchstone in my artwork). If you are unable to make it to the Met before the exhibition closes on August 15th, you can see a YouTube video of the exhibition here.