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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > November > 27 > Entry
‘Over & Under’
Austin artist Jenny Hart shook up the DIY crafting world several years ago when she introduced her “Sublime Stitching” line of embroidery patterns and stitching kits for a new generation. Exercising her love of mid-century graphic arts and illustration, Hart compiled and published intriguing new embroidery patterns for a new generation of crafters to take the domestic art of stitching to a new retro-cool level.
Now, Hart uses her sharp curatorial judgment to gather a sampling of new work made by artists like herself who are pushing the edges of the needlework. The exhibit “Over & Under” brings the work of more than a dozen international artists to Yard Dog Art Gallery.
There’s plenty of boundary-blurring going on in “Over & Under.” Especially the blurring of the difference between art and craft. What’s on view in Hart’s show is craft that’s been transformed into art without ever leaving behind the beauty of the craft of stitchery itself.
These are drawings and paintings made with thread that are all evocative of the trends and concerns of contemporary illustration and art. Strange and quirky riffs on comic book art, decorative mod designs, ironic visual narratives — the zeitgeist of “Over & Under” is very now.
And yet, with their careful tiny stitches, these small-scale works carry an unmistakable nostalgia. It’s a handmade and heartfelt quality that’s hard to resist — and it’s made all the more interesting through sometimes edgy, sometimes odd imagery.
‘Over & Under’
Yard Dog Art Gallery, 1510 S. Congress Ave.
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.
Exhibit continues through Sunday.
www.yarddog.com
Images: ‘Cake for John,’ (upper) Jennifer Porter; ‘Taretentokaku’ (lower), Takashi Iwasaki. Courtesy Yard Dog Art Gallery
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