Pattern Seeking
Exploring patterns in nature

This work is inspired by the small, easy to miss moments of everyday life. The landscapes that I see everyday; the brilliant gold ginkgo leaves I walk across every fall, the blackberry brambles in our back yard, water lilies on our family canoe trips. Each moment offers a small meditation on nature, shape and color. I enjoy exploring the line between the art of oil painting and the craft of embroidery and how the two interact with each other. The paintings explore how nature inspires patterns. I use the language of Japanese embroidery to respond to painted imagery within the same composition, with the embroidery introducing or emphasizing repeating patterns inspired by the painted images.

About Japanese embroidery:
Japanese embroidery frequently uses an embroidered ground with designs worked on top of the ground, giving the embroidery an almost three-dimensional presence. All the threads are twisted by hand to suit the needs of the work, each design can have multiple layers of silk stitched upon silk, and the techniques themselves are taught in a careful step by step progression taking years to master. I began studying Japanese embroidery in 2012 under the guidance of Judy Jeroy, a certified instructor from the Japanese Embroidery Center in Atlanta GA and am currently working on my Phase IX piece.

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This show will display in our Lombardo Gallery from October 9th - November 6th. 

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the artist.

Winona Salesky is a mixed media artist whose work focuses on the interplay between nature and design, paint and embroidery. She received her BFA from Alfred University in 1999, MLIS from Rutgers University, and is currently working on Phase IV of X in her study of Japanese embroidery with the Japanese Embroidery Center in Georgia. She resides in Northeastern Pennsylvania with her family and a fluctuating number of foster kittens.