November 7, 2018
Other Art that Inspires Needlework: My Favorites
If you ever cruise around social media – especially Instagram and Pinterest – you’ll often come across embroidery or other needlework that’s based on or inspired by other works of art from the past.
Van Gogh’s Starry Night shows up in surface embroidery quite a bit! Or the girl with the pearl earring – did Vermeer know that his tronie would show up in cross stitch, in surface embroidery, even in goldwork 350 years later?
We would be a dried up and dead world, completely disconnected from our roots, if we did not draw inspirations from previous centuries for any of our artistic pursuits. Just as ideas build on previous ideas, just as inventions morph from previous inventions, art builds on art. That’s the nature of the development of human endeavor.
Today, by way of introduction, I’m going to babble a bit about some of my favorite pieces of art that have been on my mind and in my needlework plans for a long, long while. And, for all you art, history, and textile enthusiasts, you’ll find an interesting lecture about these works of art at the end of today’s article.
