The Pacific Northwest College of Art Continuing Education course, “Drawing With Embroidery,” merges traditional and experimental methods of embroidery with contemporary drawing techniques. Rozsika Parker’s 1984/2010 text, The Subversive Stitch, has been a seminal informant for “Drawing With Embroidery” for instructor Tyler Mackie. Her original and revised text each point to embroidery’s history as a medieval guild practice, its subsequent function as a tool of conventional feminity, and its recent relationships with both feminism and studio arts.

The Spring 2015 class was made up of artists, designers, and those with a developed enthusiasm and curiosity for the fiber arts. Students learned to master a number of basic embroidery techniques, and became acquainted with a variety of embroidery tools and materials. There were three course assignments: a still life of a special object, an abstract composition that incorporated experimental mark-making methods and materials, and a final project that focused on a figurative subject. In-class exercises, review of contemporary artists using embroidery, and discussions encouraged each student to explore, fail, succeed, and delight in the creative ingenuity of their fellow classmates.

Featured students of “Drawing With Embroidery” include Meredith Beau, Virginia Flynn, Rachel Inman, Lois MacKenzie, Adelyn Naragon, Deborah Rossi, Anna Slade, and Althee Smith.