The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, 2008
crewel embroidery on linen
8″x17″

After discussing Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, I had the urge to create an embroidery about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I decided to borrow heavily (should I say mashup?) from the William Morris Woodpecker Tapestry and Cranach the Elder’s Adam and Eve.

I visited the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow in 2007 to study the colors in the Woodpecker Tapestry.

Please note: tapestry, a weaving technique, should not be confused with embroidery or needlepoint, also known as canvaswork. There are a lot of needlepoint kits that reproduce William Morris designs, but few people have the skill and patience to learn tapestry weaving. I’m a big fan of tapestry weaving but not a practitioner.

To help you sort out the different textile techniques, this link may come in handy.

Medieval Embroidery Research

I’ve been in a research frenzy the past few weeks, following my interest in medieval embroidery via the books I picked up in England last year, public libraries and the web.

I’ve just about finished my crewel piece, The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It’s a little too large for my scanner bed and I haven’t gotten it photographed yet. I also haven’t decided if the related medallions will be attached separately or stitched onto and overlapping the main panel.

I’ve discovered a number of great resources that I will pass on. I will be creating “static” web pages so that the resources will be easier to track for those doing parallel work.

Brueghel Video

Thanks, Moderato, for the video of Brueghel paintings and music of Guillaume de Machaut. I also see you have some great links that I’ll have to check out soon.

From the 16th century, and yet it always seems so vibrant and alive.

Whew! and welcome to Stabbed!

Whew! trying to set up a second blog turned out to be way hairier than I thought, but thanks WordPress, it looks like you’ve ironed out any previous problems. I’m still a little freaked by the time it took to try to get a header working on typepad, so for now, Stabbed! will have only a template design. I would like to become loyal to one blog provider, so I hope WP that will be you.

Welcome to my blog for embroiderers. The work discussed here will not be counted cross, and probably not needlepoint either, unless you create your own designs. I think it’s a terrible thing to start out a new enterprise excluding people, but there is just soooo much published about counted cross, so let’s just get that out of the way right now.

Right now I’m working on a large crewel embroidery. I’m fairly new to crewel, having spent the last ten years embroidering with cotton floss, and mostly images no larger than three inches. This is an exciting new endeavor for me, and I’d love to chat about it. In the US crewel has been out of vogue since the 70s. I got interested in it because one thing led to another:

I was researching medieval textiles and stumpwork for a new embroidery. As I moved towards the Elizabethan era I started remembering and wondering, “what happened to crewel?” The New Crewel by Katherine Shaughnessy caught my eye and although it’s a terrific book I wanted to go back and find Erica Wilson and older work, because I was looking for a medieval-feeling for the piece. I’ve been in love with a certain art style for years now. It is:

· Located in 14th to 15th century;

· primarily illuminated manuscripts;

· includes what is called the “International Style”;

· characterized by bright pigments;

· highly narrative;

· full of symbolism but portrays everyday activities in a naturalistic way

· miniature in scale and illustrates the text it accompanies

· really the first graphic novels

· includes artists like Van Eyck, Durer and the Limbourg Brothers

As you can see, I could go on and on about this period.

I didn’t want the sheen of floss and like the texture and color of Appleton crewel wool, even if the range is somewhat limited. So here I am. More soon.