The in-progress canvas makes progress…

As I mentioned previously, the villages in Palestine have specific embroidery designs and stitches associated with them. The embroidery process is not simply sewing on fabric. A grid (drawn on paper marked with little “x’s” for each of the stitches is transferred to  a white net-like fabric. The embroidery occurs on the net fabric. After the design is completed, the white threads are removed (see the example of Hanan’s triangular embroidery located beneath her painting of Jerusalem). [Click on images to enlarge]:

The embroidery process

For the painting Seven Women’s House Keys, shapes are cut out of the embroidered yolks of women’s dresses and appliquéd (sewn) onto the canvas:

Palestinian embroidery dress yokes. Each traditional pattern comes from a distinct village. Top left: (black background with flowers) Al-Dawaima, Hebron; center (with brown background & flowers) Beir Maheer, Ramla; right (gold & brown) Beit Mahseer, Ramla. Bottom row: left (red) Jeruslaem; center (orange) Jerusalem. 

 

Embroidery patterns, top row: Contemporary design (no village); Center row, Jerusalem; bottom left, Jerusalem; bottom right, Hebron.

The last elements applied to the canvas are the sewn-on glass and brass beads. Creating a frame around the entire composition are the names of the Palestinian refugee camps, which are written in Arabic and beaded: 

We still have months of work to do, sewing and beading. Yet, it is slowly (but surely) coming together! …What do you think?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.