Joetta Maue

On my search for interesting contemporary Needlepointers and stitchers, I came across Joetta Maue. She's a young artist based out of Brooklyn who incorporates her love for photography, drawing, and stitching into fascinating and delicate works of art. Although our shop is primarily for needlepoint, I think she's relevant because she's using stitching and thinking about it in a contemporary context. It's always helpful to look at something different to refresh your own creativity, hence featuring her in our blog.

The following is a segment from her arist statement, which you can view by following the link attached to the title of this blog.

"I use my daily life as the main subject of my work with the idea of the work being honest, even painfully so, coming from my desire to be true to my emotions, insecurities, strengths, and intelligence without fear of ridicule or censure from a patriarchal society. By making work that resides within the realm of the everyday, everyday objects, and the female, I am attempting to defy and contest masculine censure. In effect, I reclaim my femininity: the quality of being feminine, without the fear of losing strength or respect. Though the autobiographical drives the work and is necessary for it to exist, ultimately it is transcended, enabling the viewers to have their own independent relationship to the work."

Her statement really helps bring a new light to her work. I think it's interesting to see how young contemporary stitchers are incorporating traditional stitching techniques into their own art to voice their own thoughts and ideas. Her work definitely contains a lot of the emotions and thoughts she says she is trying to achieve, and for that I think her work is successful.