For over two decades now, British textile artist, Emily Jo Gibbs, has established a reputation for her delicate textile work. Her rich career can be divided into three periods: handbags, vessels, and flatwork.
In a more recent portrait series, titled The Value of Making, she zooms in on various making disciplines, which are displayed through hand-stitched portraits in a collage of silk organza. According to Jo Gibbs, these portraits are an homage for the creative community at large, celebrating the skill, dexterity, and creative problem solving of the people who make things.
“I’m very excited to be working on a series of small portraits and feel this idea will translate well to other communities,” she relayed in an interview with Textile Artist. “I’m very interested in finding new audiences and telling different stories perhaps by working with distinctive groups or museum collections. I’ve found the stories I tell, although extremely personal are also universal.”
Indeed, her hand-stitched narratives seem to resonate with her audience, both online and offline. Her work can also be found in several permanent museum collections including the V&A, London and The Museum of Fine Art, Houston.
But when it comes to her creative process, it’s rather isolated and withdrawn. “I work from home, I like to sit at the kitchen table in front of French windows because the light is so good,” says Jo Gibbs. “I have a metalwork bench in the garage but I do far less metal work at the moment, my flat work has taken over.”
