Stitchcraft envisions matriarchal futures through “women’s crafts” of oral narratives, textiles, herbalism, earth- and plant-based care.
Participants wore handmade costumes and textiles, slowly strolling the interior and exterior of Washington Park, pausing to share plant (hi)stories and details about our handmade wearable art.
Myths of Plants and Women. 2023. Embroidery and crochet on fabric dyed and printed with avocado, rose petals, indigo, purple leaf sandcherry tree leaves, woad seeds. 43 x 30 x 2 inches
Stitchcraft envisions a future where women and people with wombs, plants and the natural world are honored rather than politically weaponized. By reviving and centering “women’s” traditional textile handcrafts, oral narratives and plant-based knowledge, we can create self and community advocacy and care.
#fetalposition. 2023. Embroidery, beading, plant
mono-print and appliqué on fabric.
Select threads dyed with indigo,
avocado, cochineal, rust,
41 x 20 x 1 inches.
Stitchcraft includes:
• 2022-23 community embroidery and craft circles and oral narrative networks;
• cultivation of plants with intercultural food, dye and medicinal histories;
• ongoing study of local plants and their ecosystem benefits and/or concerns;
• public garden plant, dye, medicine tours with herbalists and farmers, emphasizing intercultural traditions;
• creation of hand-embroidered, dyed, printed paintings, sculptures and artists’ books encapsulating herbalism research;
• public participatory performances;
• artist talks and exhibition of Stitchcraft artworks.
In spring 2023, Stitchcraft launched a reproductive health garden at Old Stone House (OSH) & Washington Park, Brooklyn in consultation with herbalist Danielle Moore and Director of Gardens Sam Lewis. The garden includes Vitex agnus-castus (chaste tree), Cimicifuga racemosa (black cohosh), and Verbena hastata (blue vervain), all with histories of aiding hormonal cycles to restore balance and alleviate menstrual discomfort. These herbs have histories and current uses of helping womb-bearers at all stages of life, including peri-menopause and menopause. Please note that plants are available for viewing only. We do not recommend self-dosing with these or any other herbs. Anyone interested in trying herbalism should consult a trained herbalist and their medical provider.
Plant Food, Dye, Medicine Journal. 2023. Embroidery; appliqué; heavyweight, fusible interfacing; plant mono-prints and dyes with Isatis tinctoria (woad), Rudbeckia hirta (Black eyed Susan), Solidago graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod), Aronia melanocarpa (chokeberry), Ipoema purpurea (common morning glory). 7 x 4.5 x 1 inches.
Embroidery on fabric. 7.5 x 7.25 inches. B&W pattern inspired by Polish folk art.
Stitchcraft also includes artists’ books, made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature through a 2024 grant.
Was Aphrodite an Herbalist? 2024. Artists’ book with embroidery on fabric.
22.5 x 20 x 2 inches.
Was Aphrodite an Herbalist? 2024. Detail of Verbena hastata or blue vervain, a native plant with reproductive health capacities.
Was Aphrodite an Herbalist? Detail of text under Verbena hastata embroidery.
Indigo Seed Story. 2024. Silk and cotton fabrics dyed, printed and stamped with isatis tinctoria, Eurasian indigo, leaves and seeds. 4.5 x 8 x 5 inches.
Indigo Futures. 2024. Hand-woven silk and cotton yarns printed and painted with Isatis tinctoria (medieval indigo) leaves and polygonum tinctorium (Japanese indigo), hibiscus and pomegranate peel inks and pigments; appliqué; stitching. 18 x 8.5 x 1 inches
Herbs to Make You Bleed, front and back pages. 2024. Wearable artists’ book with silk and cotton fabrics and threads dyed, painted and printed with avocado, onion skin, indigo, rust, Verbena hastata (blue vervain), Aronia melanocarpa (black chokeberry), and other plants. 12.5 x 11 x 1 inches.
Did Great Grandma Sonja Know Indigo? 2024. Embroidered diptych. 10.5 x 12.25 inches. Speculative ancestral portrait.
Embroidered text (left): Great Grandma Sonja: What secrets did Sonja hide in her locks, in her bones? In her hair down to her ankles, did she carry the seeds of my generation, of medicinal herbs? Did Sonja whisper herbal remedies to neighbors, to grandma in the womb?”
Right: “Did Great Grandma Sonja know Eurasian indigo (woad)? Did it salve her wounds, soothe her colds? Is growing indigo ancestral longing embedded in my bones?”
Calendula, hibiscus, pomegranate. 2024. Artists’ book and box with silk and cotton fabric and cotton rag paper dyed, printed, stamped and painted with calendula flowers; indigo, hibiscus and pomegranate peel ink; onion and avocado skins; heavyweight interfacing; embroidery; button. Book: 3.5 x 7.5 x 3.75 inches;
Box: 7.5 x 9 x 4.5 inches.
