In the gallery all pictures by Jessica Rankin except the first one which was painted by her father who is a successful abstract artist collected thru out the world named David Rankin.
Only one more artist to study that works with embroidery in the fine art realm.
Jessica Rankin was born in Sydney, Australia in the year 1971. The artist is reknown for her type of letterform art. She uses embroidery done on a very very thin sheet of fabric called organdy. It is known for its very sheer and traslucent qualities.
Art 21 is a great series done with the Public Broadcast System. I have rented many from my local library. This clip is from a segment done on Rankin on PBS. It is during her time in Germany with her parnter Julie Mehretu. At the end of the clip is a great scene showing both artists at work. In the clip Rankin talks about how she incorporate the use of language in her embroidery work.
Price range info: I was uanble to find pricing for her embroidery works, but watercolors and pencil drawings can be found for less than one thousand dollars.
Rankin lived overseas for one year and a half in Berlin, Germany.
Rankin reads a lot. Her mother died from breast cancer when the artist was only nine years old. Reading has been a way for the artist to relax for quite some time. Her father is a well known abstract artist known in Australia and New York named David Rankin. Below is an example of David Rankin’s abstract style.
Her partner is also an artist whom I wrote about within the past week, Julie Mehretu. The two share a studio and an apartment in New York, New York. The couple has a son named Cade. Mehretu is mainly an abstract artist but she sometimes uses large buildings in the beginning layers of her work giving it a more realistic finish.
For her collegiate art education Rankin attended Rutgers University.
Rankin also has an extensive knowledge of poetry which led her to use words as a means of expression in her artwork.
Jessica Rankin has been part of group shows in Australia, Europe, and the United States.
For her first show in London the artist showed a collection of 88 drawings and watercolors.
This artist considers her work to be a mental map of her thoughts at a given time. I found it similar to the Italian artist Boetti who on many occasions had maps embroidered by other artists that he would use in his artwork. Artists working with embroidery have all found ways to incorporate their daily lives and who they are as people into their work. I hope with the increased use of machinery the art of quilt making and embroidery can still flourish. I have never been to show celebrating fiber artists or embroidery art and am looking forward to seeing some works in person.
Get out there and try some embroidery for your next art project!
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