▲ Poster
On April 28, 2019, Horizontal Crossings: International Exchange Exhibition of Contemporary Weaving and Embroidery Art officially opened at Hanshan Art Museum in Suzhou. Curated by Assadour Markarov, Professor of the Fiber Art Department at the School of Sculpture and Public Art of the China Academy of Art, the exhibition involved graduate students from the Fiber Art Department. In conjunction with the exhibition, Alice Kettle, a weaving and embroidery artist from Manchester, UK, and Pauline Nijenhuis, a weaving and embroidery artist from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, held lectures and shared their ideas with local artists and college students. They also conducted embroidery workshops.
▲ Exhition Opening
The project "Horizontal Crossings" explores how a single "thread" can connect people and how this simple element, along with the technique of stitching, can be transformed into both embroidery and fine art. The exhibition showcases the diverse and complex ways in which participating artists have worked with "thread," illustrated through two key workshops by artists specializing in contemporary embroidery, such as Alice Kettle and Pauline Nijenhuis. The exhibition also features the works of Zou Yingzi, an artist known for presenting the rich embroidery culture of Suzhou, which has a heritage spanning over 2,200 years. The participating artists expand on the theme of "one thread" and "the stitch," presenting objects, installations, and video essays within the exhibition space. These works explore the unique qualities, use, context, and history of these fundamental elements.
The exhibition of “Horizontal crossings” will be an exhibition about art vision and practices in the art of embroidery, a contemporary visual art, a dialogue between cultures, past and present, material and immaterial object, visible and invisible.
▲ Artist Pauline Nijenhuis’s workshop
▲ Artist Alice Kettle’s workshop
About Artworks
The exhibition showcased several embroidery pieces by Alice and Pauline, showing people different embroidery styles under the theme of "Parallel Crossing". Chinese artist Zou Yingzi displayed her embroidery artworks and studio scenes in the center of the exhibition hall in a way that restored her own creative state.
▲ Artworks of Alice Kettle
▲ Artworks of Pauline Nijenhuis
▲ Artworks and space of Zou Yingzi
Special Unit
▲ “Tie a knot” - Left your trace
Please take one thread and tie or make a knot and place on this artwork.
400*500cm, silk thread, bamboo sticks, 2019
Collaboration project between China Academy of Art and Suzhou Art & Design Technology Institute
▲ “Draw a line, draw a thread”
Please use the attached pencil and draw a line on the wall, left your trace on the wall.
400*500cm, yarn, pencil, 2019
Collaboration project between China Academy of Art and Suzhou Art & Design Technology Institute
▲ “Gift” Art Project
Come and guess what the gift inside the flower cloth is?
People’s satisfaction with surprises is often from the mystery of gifts. We magnify this feeling to give visitors three sensory interactions.
Variable size, daily necessities, cloth, thread, bell
Collaboration project between China Academy of Art and Suzhou Art & Design Technology Institute
▲ “Draw a tree for Alice” Art Project
Please draw a tree on the paper and stick on the fabric.
After the exhibition period your drawing will be collected and sent to the artist Alice Ketlle from Manchester,UK and she will stitch and embroider on the fabric where you place your drawing.
250*800cm, cotton cloth, sticky notes
▲ Artworks by the Embroidery Design and Production Department of Suzhou Art & Design Technology Institute
▲ “Skin Series”, Sheng Yini, PVA synthetic towel, 120*35*10cm, 2018
▲“Medicine”, Chen Jingwen, gauze, needle, cotton thread, variable
▲ "Time Buttons", Zhu Zhixian, 60×100cm, suit jacket, buttons, cotton thread
▲ "Traction", Zhang Wanying, video, duration: 2'36''
▲ "Outside and Inside", Yan Yizhou, coat, cotton cloth, cotton, 75*50*15cm
