Jo Smith
North-east Lincolnshire, UK
My lifelong relationship with stitch and cloth began with simple sewing projects as a child, evolved into fashion design in adolescence, eventually led to embroidery and is now a contemporary textile practice. It could easily morph further as I continue to grow and learn as an artist and seek out new techniques. I see textiles as something with very few boundaries and endless exciting possibilities, it melds so seamlessly with other media.
Stitch is very much at the heart of my work, using a wide range of materials with both free machine embroidery and hand embroidery to produce contemporary textile pieces that are often narrative in nature.
The work dictates the materials and the process depending on the topics or events that I am exploring and the stories that are being told. As a result, sculpture, print, collage, installation, animation, found objects, vintage materials, animal bones, clay, plaster, old photographs and even torn out windows etc. have all played a part in my work over the years.
Often work is triggered by something small and seemingly insignificant, like a mouse brought in by the cat or a house whose history I yearned to know. There is nearly always a story…
