Creative Mending with Embroidery:

In this era of abundance and internet shopping, a quiet revolution has been unfolding. Mending has become an elevated craft, embraced as a fun, cheap, and practical way to fix damaged clothing, as well as a signal of intentional re-use, up-cycling, and a rejection of "disposable" low-quality clothing. Time-honored techniques of mending and decorative stitching from various cultures can be incorporated to create attractive, durable repairs. After a short slide program, learn some stitches and methods to create patches with your creative flair. If desired, bring a pair of jeans or shirt in need of repair.

Open Studio Hours:

Meet the artist during her open studio hours every Tuesday from 2 - 4 p.m., at the 970West Studio!

Artist Statement:

"My inquiries revolve around the exploration of place, expressed with mark-making through printmaking techniques, painting, and stitching. My work is influenced by living in the Greater West in the era of the Anthropocene, bearing witness to our fraught relationships with wilderness and wildness. Through wrapping, collecting, and mapping I attempt to create tangible connections with place, embracing the perceived futility of harnessing the intangible, allowing the absurd to take a role in my work. I am curious about the overlap of systems, points of friction, adaptation, and cooperation, and seek the poetic conversations that can be found there. My practice leverages process and alchemy to imbue the work with the complexity I encounter. The resulting artifacts - which have been painted, stitched, folded, buried, neglected, rusted, and/or dyed - may be seen as maps, journals, quilts, or objects of contemplation; image and object become intertwined."

Artist Biography:

Research and process are the roots of Julia March Crocetto's artistic practice. After studying architecture, she became more interested in the possibilities of fibers, painting, and sculpture. Topography, Wilderness, and other influences of the Greater West have become infused in her work, developed over many years of living and working in national parks and across the West. Using the language of traditional quiltmaking and contemporary resources such as LandSat imagery, she investigates water and land use and her own recollections of the West.

Her first solo exhibition was in 1993. In 2004, she was invited to participate in the Holland/Alaska Cultural Exchange in the Netherlands. Since 1985, she has taught workshops in Kansas, Alaska, Arizona, and Colorado. She currently teaches art at Colorado Mesa University. Crocetto received her BFA from the University of New Mexico, summa cum laude, and her MFA from the Oregon College of Art and Craft.