MY STYLE

Amelia Dennigan shares the Irish folk tale inspiration behind Acru’s embroidery art

For New York based artist Amelia Dennigan, needle and thread isn’t just something you use to make stitches, it’s another way of telling stories. Amelia recreates ancient Irish tales through the use of colour, threads and fabrics. She gives each folk tale a fresh look, bringing an old myth into the modern day using the age-old craft of embroidery.

How does this piece represent your style?

Etain is a piece I recently finished which is very close to me. It is based on the old Irish story of the Wooing of Etain. Irish mythology is so beautiful and rich, and for a while now I’ve been exploring ways in which I can retell it through thread, in a contemporary way. The piece itself is intricate and densely stitched, with a strong use of colour and contrasted light, designed to reflect the drama that is so intrinsic to Irish storytelling.

Is it part of a series?

Yes. Etain was the first of my pieces which drew directly from Irish mythology, but I now have a number of works in progress with a similar theme. However, my style is constantly evolving so I’m looking at ways to incorporate the decorative elements of illuminated Irish manuscripts (e.g. Book of Kells) but in a pared back and modern way.

How do you choose your textures, colours and stitches as you work?

Good question! It completely depends on the composition, but I always have a large part of my colour palette chosen in advance. Often, before I start a piece, I think “what colours do I want it to be?” Or, more accurately, I’ll see a colour combination I like, and think “that will be my next piece”. As for the stitches, this will depend on the texture of the object I’m trying to represent. Mostly, I use Satin Stitch and Couching Stitch, though.

Do you plan a piece or does it come together quite organically?

It used to be organic, but for larger pieces that often doesn’t work. I found that I was doing time-consuming stitching, only to realise that I hadn’t developed a concept around what I was making. Now,

I sketch and paint, then photograph that and play around with it in Photoshop. This helps me figure out the colours and layout before stitching. Sometimes, I deviate from the plan if I discover something new during the process, which can be quite exciting.