Poetry In Thread: Stephanie Clark’s Embroidery Paintings

For these of us barely able to thread a needle, Salt Lake City artist Stephanie Clark’s embroidery paintings are absolutely nothing short of miraculous. “I consider myself a painter and I paint with thread. The embroidery floss is my palette and the needle is my paintbrush,” she says, and who would argue? We’re astonished by the expressive qualities—depth, tone, gradations—that Clark is able to coax from thread, of course but it’s her exacting eye for composition that draws us in, also. It’s the untouched expanses of emptiness enveloping her embroidered renderings—vast, brooding, poetic space—that speak as eloquently as the illustrations themselves, and elevate her work from skillful craft to soulful art.

Images: Stephanie Clark