While some people might think that a needle and thread are only useful for patching up the holes in your jeans, award-winning textile artist, Sarah Gwyer, takes this medium to a-whole-nother level!
Using textiles has been around for centuries, but the ambitious Gwyer is interested in defining a new purpose for it. “The thread itself first attracted me to textile art…I love its heritage and feel passionately that textile art is too often overlooked in the art world. I wanted to play a small part in changing that,” she shared during her interview with TextileArtist.org. But arts & crafts have been in her genes for decades, too!
Ever since Gwyer was little, she knew she wanted to be an artist. “I grew up around lots of crafting. My maternal Grandfather was a wood carver; I used to love spending time in his workshop and this is where I first learned how to work in three dimensions,” Gwyer explained. Her passions as a child lead her to follow a career path in 2008. And along the way, she’s picked up her own unique style of art to share with the world.
Gwyer’s artwork is based on combining vibrant and colorful threading with beautiful beads and charms, in order to recreate images of people or famous artwork, in her own style.
Her process isn’t necessarily complex, but there’s no doubt that a heavy helping of patience is needed. Even though she sketches her designs on canvas in advanced, her secret to her beautiful work is to always start with the eyes, in order to keep the proportion accurate throughout the design.
To view more of her magnificent artwork, check out her personal website here, or her Instagram sarahgwyer.
