About Elaine

I began using embroidery as my medium of choice in the late 1970’s while a graduate student at Northern Illinois University. After taking an off-loom weaving class, I switched my major from painting and drawing to textiles and there was no turning back. Embroidery has been my passion ever since.

I am a Midwesterner who grew up and spent her formative years on an Illinois dairy farm. With limited access to friends other than school, I spent an abundance of time drawing, playing pretend, and roaming the bucolic setting of the family farm. We had cows, chickens, a pony, dogs, and cats. The experiences of growing up on a farm and, later in a small town, informed my embroidery themes. Additionally, as a child I was mesmerized watching my two grandmothers mend, quilt, darn, tat, knit, and crochet. By observing them, I learned and appreciated the slow, rhythmic pace of needlework and the satisfaction of constructing and realizing an object made by hand.

I am also inspired by a variety of sources, both historical and modern, including Illuminated Manuscripts, Northern Renaissance art, the gridded landscape of Illinois farmland, and early artwork of my children. Further, I recently discovered old family pictures and my interest has been piqued by the quiet faces staring back at me, including my own, now in its seventh decade. I continue to be inspired by my life’s experiences and am driven to stitch these stories. My intention is to share my 45-year stitching journey exploring the medium of embroidery. Or to just be tenacious enough to keep the needle piercing the fabric for as long as I can manage to do so…