The second hand stiching I created was a replica of a postage stamp that I put on an envelope, and mailed it to myself. It was delivered to me within my ordinary pile of mail!
This turned into a nice sideline as I charged two hundred dollars to embroider a stamp, put it on an envelope, and mail it to a collector with no refunds if it didn’t arrive. Luckily all but one stamp were delivered and then I got a notice from the United States Postal Service requesting I cease and desist mailing bogus stamps and to reimburse them 15 cents postage.
In that exhibit I hand-stitched the words “Illusion With Thread” on white linen under a magnifying glass to look like type on a paper card. I placed the ½” x 3” card on the gallery entry wall as the title of the exhibit.
Everyone who read the card began looking for the artwork, BUT upon closer inspection, they realized the title card was an artwork!
I continued exhibiting my fine hand stitching in the form of everyday objects- and later on images of people - that asked viewers to take a closer look.
My medium is thread and it represents a lifetime of fascination with cloth, from my earliest memories of peeking through a window at a woolen mill in Rhode Island watching my grandmother working a weaving machine. I was mesmerized by the lines of yarn woven through machines transforming into colorful yards of fabric.
In the 1980's I began combing the streets of old SOHO on West Broadway in NYC looking for a gallery to to exhibit my work. In summertime the streets smelled of turpentine from open windows of artists painting in abandoned factories. Andy Warhol was a familiar sight walking the streets hanging onto his blond wig in the wind. And Ivan Karp could be found chopping on a cigar in his office awaiting the next young artists work chomping on a cigar at the OK Harris Gallery.
He gave me my first show!
click on thumbnails to enlarge
EARLY WORK
 | ||||
| ||||