Portfolio > Women in Stitches

Women artists throughout history often had to make difficult decisions and sacrifices to disregard conventional, societal expectations in order to forge professional careers as painters, sculptors and photographers. Women activists use their voices, their art, their poetry and more to help make positive changes in the world

Representing them in “stitches” is my metaphor for a laugh at the criticism they often encountered, but also ironically uses a form that is historically considered “women’s work”. For this project I was able to combine the traditional craft of embroidery with my professional experience in painting and drawing. I find, not so surprisingly, that the activities demand the same formal, compositional and observational qualities. Building an image with thread is the same as with any mark-making material.

I chose “stitches” to depict and honor a few of these extraordinary women artists and activists through what is generally considered a domestic art form—-something they eschewed in their own lives.


Edmonia Lewis
cotton thread
2 5/8"x3"
Meret Oppenheim
cotton thread
2.5"x 3"
Georgia O'Keeffe
cotton thread
3"x3.5"
Georgia O'Keeffe
cotton thread
3"x3.5"
Georgia O'Keeffe
thread
3"x3.8"
Miriam Schapiro
cotton thread
3"x3"
Hannah Hoch
cotton thread on muslin
Louise Nevelson
cotton thread on muslin
3.4"x4.2"
Grace Hartigan
cotton thread
3.5"x3.2"
Mary Cassatt
cotton thread on muslin
3"x4"
Louise Bourgeois
cotton thread on muslin
3.4"x4"
Dorothea Lange
cotton thread
3.2"x3"
Ida Kohlmeyer
cotton thread
Catherine Wiley
cotton thread on muslin
3"x3.25"
Eva Hess
cotton thread on muslin
2 3/4x3 1/2
 Elaine de Kooning
cotton thread on muslin
2.6"x3.2"
Cindy Sherman
cotton thread on muslin
3.5"x4.7"
Bessie Harvey
cotton thread on muslin
2 5/8x3 1/2
Paula Modersohn-Becker
cotton thread
4"x3.5"
Alice Neel
cotton thread on muslin
3.7"x4.6"
Elizabeth Murray
cotton thread
3"x4"
Berthe Morisot
cotton thread
3.4"x4.4"
Joan Mitchell
cotton thread
3.5"x3.1"
Ana Mendieta
cotton thread
3"x3.2"
Agnes Martin
cotton thread
3.5"x4.3"
Judith Leyster
cotton thread
2.6"x3"
Lee Krasner
cotton thread
3"x3.3"
Kathe Kollwitz
cotton thread
4"x4.4"
Frida Kahlo
cotton thread
3.8"x4.7"
Artemisia Gentileschi
cotton thread
3.2"x3.5"
Helen Frankenthaler
cotton thread
3"x3.6"
Isabel Bishop
cotton thread
3"x3.5"
Diane Arbus
cotton thread
3"x4"
Anni Albers
cotton thread
3"x2.5"
Nancy Spero
cotton thread
3"x3.8"
Suzanne Valadon
cotton thread
2.7"x3.2"
Sonia Delaunay
cotton thread
2.5"x3.2"
Mary Beth Edelson
cotton thread on muslin
2.75" x 3"
2022
 Katarina Riesing
cotton thread
2.5"x2.25"
Rosa
cotton thread
2.5"x3"
Rosa Parks
cotton thread on muslin
3"x3.25"
Gloria Steinem
cotton thread
3.25"x4.25"
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
cotton thread
2.75"x3"
Maya Angelou
cotton thread on muslin
2.5"x2.75"
Amanda Gorman
cotton thread on muslin
3"x3 1/2
Jane Goodall
cotton thread on muslin
2.75"x2.5"
Bella Abzug
cotton thread
2.75"x3.25"
Shirley Chisholm
cotton thread
2.75"x3"
Simone de Beauvoir
cotton thread on muslin
3"x3"
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
cotton thread on muslin
2.75"x3"
Malala
cotton thread
3"x3.25"
Sylvia Peters
cotton thread
3.5"x3.2"
Emma Gonzalez
cotten thread
3"x2.8"
Yoko Ono
cotton thread on muslin
2" x 2 7/8"
Michelle Obama
cotton thread
appox. 3.5"x3"
Margaret Atwood
cotton thread
3"x3.5"
Angela Davis
cotton thread
appox. 3"x3"
Greta Thunberg
cotton thread on muslin
2.5"x2.75"
Joan Baez
cotton thread
3"x3"
Stacey Abrams
cotton thread on muslin
2.5"x3"
Betty Friedan
cotton thread
2.5"x3"
Dolly Parton
cotton thread on muslin
2 7/8"x 3"
Winona LaDuke
cotton thread on muslin
2.75"x3.25"
Judy Chicago
cotton thread on muslin
2.75"x3"
Coretta Scott King
cotton thread on muslin
3"x3.25"
2021
Billie Jean King
cotton thread on muslin
2.5"x2.75"
Wilma Mankiller
cotton thread on muslin
2.75"x3"
Jane Fonda
cotton thread on muslin
3"x3"
2021
Kara Walker
cotton thread on muslin
2.8"x3"
Hillary Rodham Clinton
cotton thread on muslin
2.5 " x 3"
2022
Faith Ringgold
cotton thread on muslin
3"x3.25"
2021
Oprah Winfrey
cotton thread on muslin
3"x2.75"