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Meet the Seattle Embroidery Artist Who Has 65,000 Instagram Followers
A Seattle artist is taking needlepoint into the 21st century
This article originally appeared in the October 2018 issue of Seattle magazine.
This article appears in print in the October 2018 issue. Click here to subscribe.
First, it was knitting. Then came cross-stitch. Now, the latest handicraft to come back in style is embroidery. But where Grandma monogrammed pillowcases, Greenwood resident and self-taught fiber artist Lauren Holton is seducing her 65,000 Instagram followers with the vibrant images in her designs—some abstract, some inspired by nature—in contemporary color palettes.
“What I love about embroidery is that it’s connecting you to all these generations of women who have been doing this,” Holton says.
You can watch Holton’s tutorials online or purchase patterns through her Etsy shop, and she’s also teamed up with local entrepreneur Amy Vallejo to offer beginners’ classes through Vallejo’s Social Creative Workshops (next class, October 28; $95).
That business presents public and private workshops at locations around town designed to bring women together over creative outlets such as pie baking and cooking, hand lettering and embroidery.
Grandma would be proud.
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SENSORIUM Takes on Our Screen Addiction
Dance, drag, and immersive art collide in an eight-week exploration of our phone-obsessed lives, with a few surprises along the way.
What do drag queens, smartphone addiction, art installations, and an old luggage shop have in common? According to longtime Seattle choreographer Alana O’Farrell Rogers, a lot. “There’s no dead time anymore,” says Rogers, explaining how the proliferation of smartphones fills the empty spaces that once served as time for rest or connection. Where we snuggled…
Salt-N-Pepa on Breaking Barriers and Staying Power
Ahead of their performance at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture gala, the hip-hop pioneers talk about creative ownership, connecting with new generations, and the songs that still resonate.
The Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP) will host its annual ICONS of Pop Culture Gala in Seattle on October 22, honoring five artists and institutions whose work has helped shape entertainment and culture. This year’s honorees are martial arts and film legend Bruce Lee, fashion designer Jeremy Scott, the video game franchise Halo, hip-hop pioneers…
Studio Sessions: Christopher Paul Jordan
Drawing on childhood memories, neighborhood history, and salvaged materials, Christopher Paul Jordan’s latest show at Cornish’s Behnke Family Gallery explores how the past stays with us.
Start in the middle. It’s good advice for telling a story, and a way into Christopher Paul Jordan’s paintings. By the time you encounter them, their materials have already been something else, and who knows what they might move on to become. The Tacoma interdisciplinary artist works with salvaged objects, including screens, picture frames, canvas,…
Rearview Mirror: Wedding Bells, A Furniture Launch, and the Symphony’s New Look
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
WEDDING BELLS I’ve been a bit absent from this column lately, but I think I have a pretty good excuse: I got married! It’s already been three weeks since my September 19 wedding, but I’m still reflecting on the magic of the day. My fiancé, well husband now (I can’t get used to saying it!),…