By: Beth Maiden
[PICS: Some of Penny’s embroidery art.]
Penny Tristram is an embroidery artist. This means she creates pictures by sewing with a needle and thread, like the ones shown above.
Last year Penny made an embroidered version of a famous Van Gogh painting called ‘Wheat Field with Cypresses’. People really liked it!
Now she is making a series of ten embroideries of old paintings, funded by Arts Council of Wales. The project is called ‘Old Mistress’.
This project will give Penny a chance to improve her embroidery skills.
Most famous classical paintings are by white men. Penny is choosing some paintings by women and black artists, to show that they were great artists too.
[PIC: The Westwood Children, painted by Joshua Johnson.]
For example, Joshua Johnson was a slave in the United States 200 years ago. He didn’t have money for materials or education, but he still became a successful artist after he was freed from slavery.
Berthe Morisot was a rich French woman who studied art and became a well-known painter. But even though she was successful, she still faced unfair treatment because she was a woman.
[PIC: Woman at her Toilette, painted by Berthe Morisot.]
Penny hopes that her embroideries will help us learn about these artists. They remind us that great art can be made by all kinds of people.
In the past, poor people made beautiful and useful objects using things they could get cheaply or for free. Penny uses materials like old bedsheets or plastic litter from the beach. This shows that you don’t need expensive things to make art. Art is for everyone!
Penny is disabled. This makes it harder to earn money for creative work. Sitting at a desk for a long time is painful, but Penny can do her embroidery lying down. The funding for this project means she can work slowly and still get paid.
[PICS: Penny’s studio. Penny Tristram at home.]
The Old Mistress project will have ten embroideries by different artists. Penny will make five of them this year (2022).
At the moment, she is busy reading about the artists and planning the project. She has also started work on the embroidery.
You can see more pictures and videos on Penny’s Instagram page @pennytristram and on TikTok @pennytristram.