Sashiko Embroidery and Mending Workshop
with Lisa Solomon
Sashiko examples
Space is limited. Please RSVP.
Free and open to the public.
Learn the basic technique of Sashiko stitching—a traditional Japanese embroidery technique—to mend something. Sashiko is an easy running stitch that allows you to move quickly through a project. In Japanese tradition, Sashiko is used not only as a decorative stitch but also as a way to perform Boro—the act of mending and patching. In this workshop, you’ll learn about the traditional tools and threads used in Sashiko and also how to incorporate more contemporary ideas or use the thread and needles you might already have at home. We’ll start out simply by practicing on a scrap of fabric with a design you develop and then we’ll move on to using Sashiko to mend something. We’ll cover 2-3 different strategies for mending. Bring a pair of jeans or a shirt or sweater that has a hole that needs repair.
Lisa Solomon resides in Oakland, California with her husband, daughter, an assortment of oddball rescue pets, a garden, a backyard studio, and a bevy of art supplies including: many, many spools of thread, quite a collection of embroidery floss, and enough watercolor to last for the next five years. She received her BA in art practice from UC Berkeley, her MFA from Mills College, and has been an Adjunct/Visiting Professor in the Bay Area for over fifteen years. Her layered mixed-media works and grand-sized installations often utilize unconventional mediums, humor, and color to explore gender, identity, and personal histories, as well as the nature of art and craft itself. She has exhibited internationally in a multitude of venues. As a Hapa (her mother is Japanese, her father Caucasian), she sees hybridity—in materials, in concept—as integral to her practice.
