Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020

Back to Basics program / JULY 2023
Fenella Clarke
New Zealand
clarkefenella.cargo.site
About
Growing up in a small town at the bottom of the world,
Fenella Clarke spent her childhood learning to sew,
embroider and cross-stitch. Clarke then moved to Wellington
in order to study fashion design and gain more knowledge
of the textile arts, through Massey university. Inspired by
the act of creating just as much as the final product, Clarke
orchestrated a community weaving project that included
students from various majors. After graduating with a
bachelor's degree in design with honours and a certificate of
business, Clarke moved again down to Wanaka. She started
working in a local art gallery, while experimenting with multi
media textile design. She also continued to further her skills
in cross stitching by creating abstract self-portraits and
expressionist work that aims to push the discipline of craft
art. She is mainly interested in exploring how humans can
hide and contradict integral parts of themselves when faced
with social expectations of the community they live within.
Hand embroidery
While at this residency I took the time to focus all my attention
on my largest scale project yet, a hand embroidered self
portrait consisting of 24,768 cross-stitches. One of my goals
going in was to see how much I could get done if I focused
on my art full time, something I have never had the chance to
do before this. It didn't feel integral to finish the piece just to
get as much done, while still having time to enjoy the places
and people around me. I am happy with the progress I made
on the work and am excited to get stuck in in the next couple
of months to finish it off.