An exhibition of my recent abstract embroidery work opens Saturday, March 2, 2–4 pm, at the Hosmer Gallery in Northampton, Massachusetts. The gallery is located on the second floor of the Forbes Library at 20 West Street in downtown Northampton. Hours are Monday and Wednesday, 9 am - 9 pm; Tuesday and Thursday, 1 - 5 pm; Friday and Saturday, 9 am - 5 pm.
Bonnie Sennott, A Year in Thread: June (left) and A Year in Thread: November (right), pearl cotton and linen, each 12” x 12” (2016)
Among the works shown will be my 2016 daily stitch journal, A Year in Thread. In her book Slow Stitch, Claire Wellesley Smith describes her stitch journal practice as “a mixture of seasonal observation and thinking space.” Inspired by her thoughtful, quiet work, I decided to begin a yearlong daily stitch journal. From January 1 through December 31, 2016, I stitched each day on linen with a color observed in nature in my backyard. I posted an image each day on Instagram of the day’s work and the element of nature that guided my color choice.
A Year in Thread consists of 12 separate pieces; each was begun on the first day of the month and ended on the last day. The compositions were improvised and grew by accretion, influenced by the colors, sounds, and activity I witnessed in nature each day. This daily morning stitching became a treasured part of each day, a form of meditation that could be practiced even on the busiest of days. For this project, I used Valdani pearl cotton embroidery threads, natural-colored linen, and white linen that I dyed using walnuts from a tree in the backyard.
The show will also include examples of my other abstract embroidery work, including wrinkle embroideries (improvisational pieces that I begin by purposely wrinkling the fabric, then stitching along the wrinkle lines), as well as the first two pieces of a new daily stitch journal that I began on January 1, 2019.
Works by Lou Peugh and Emily Tareila will also be on view at the Hosmer Gallery, March 2–29, 2019.
Bonnie Sennott, A Year in Thread: March, pearl cotton, walnut-dyed linen, and linen, 12” x 12” (2016)