Embroidery Design c. 20th century

This embroidery design, now at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, was made with thread on cloth by an anonymous artist. I love how the hand-stitched holly shifts and emerges through trial, error, and intuition. Imagine sitting with this artwork, a needle in hand. What might the artist have been thinking when they made it? Each stitch carefully placed, building up a pattern, a rhythm. The texture of the thread, the way it catches the light, the small imperfections that reveal the maker's touch. Look at how the simple, dark red berries communicate so much feeling. It is a conversation across time, inspiring creativity, where artists are always in an ongoing exchange of ideas. Embroidery is its own form of embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings over fixed or definitive readings.