Sampler 1935 - 1942

This sampler was carefully stitched by Balina Vanhorne, aged 14 years, in 1837. Can you imagine the hours, the days, maybe even months, spent carefully placing each stitch? The colours are muted, soft greens, pinks, blues. You can almost feel the texture of the fabric, the tiny, precise movements of the needle. And that checkered vase! It's like a little abstract painting in itself, nestled among the floral motifs and lettering. What was Balina thinking as she worked? Was she dreaming of the future, contemplating the poem she was stitching into the cloth? There’s a real conversation happening here, not just between the artist and her materials, but across time, a little like the conversations painters have with each other through their work. Each generation building on the ideas of those who came before. It reminds us that art is never created in a vacuum, but always in dialogue with what has come before.