American Presidents

December 8, 2016

This series started with an embroidered portrait of John F. Kennedy found at a local flea market. While taking it out of its frame to clean the glass, I noticed the backside with all the loose threads and knots and was intrigued by this unintentional beauty.  I found that the back was much more interesting than the front.  It was more expressionistic, but beyond that, it seemed to reveal a fundamental truth about people, particularly those in the public eye.  We are presented with the practiced face, a façade hidden behind the tangle of their real lives – the mistakes, embarrassments, weaknesses, and problems that affect us all.

For the other presidents I enlisted friends and family, and even taught myself to use needle and thread.  The one stipulation was that the front was to be made as perfectly as possible, without regard to the backside.