Photographer and hand-embroidery artist Christy Scott Arbogast is currently featured in our Artist Spotlight. Come see these beautiful mixed media pieces in person!
ARTIST STATEMENT + BIOGRAPHY
Throughout my childhood my parents faced many adversities, though no matter what challenges my mother faced, whether it be trying to live low income, addictions of loved ones, children, sickness, or how things changed, one thing was constant – her love for doing hand-embroidery. A sense of peace, individuality, and accomplishment would wash over my mom (and believe me, my mom was not the “peaceful type”) when she would sit chain-smoking, doing her hand embroidery. She would search for different patterns in any craft section that she could find, and that was before the internet. Due to lack of above, she’d make up her own patterns/projects. She’d say, “sadly, embroidery is a dying art.” If only she was alive today, she’d be absolutely amazed at the comeback it’s made.
I only knew embroidery though watching my mom, but never really did it all that often, maybe a stitch here or there but nothing I was really into. Once my mom passed away and I became a mom, I somehow became really pulled to it. I did photography, my first love; however, I wanted something more in my photographs. I wanted to convey the scene, the emotion – make the memory real somehow. I still wanted to do photography but create something with my own two hands. I wanted to do something that not many others were doing, especially with the competition there is in the photography world. One day while going through my linen closet, I found some of my mother’s embroidery pieces. I was nearly speechless and shocked as I’d cleaned out her home after she’d passed and I hadn’t ever seen these before, nor did I know how they came to be in my own linen closet, but she had a style of her own so I knew immediately they were hers. They were beautiful. I stood there in tears, missing my mom so much, yet feeling like this was her way of letting me know she was with me.
I started putting her pieces throughout my home. I’d run my fingers over the carefully stitched flowers and really appreciate the texture and life it brought to an old tablecloth. Now I got it – it was her art – it was her way of creating a sense of peace in a loud life, in a worried mind, and beauty in the dark spaces. All of a sudden, I had the idea of what would it be like to do that to one of my photographs. As they say, “she thought she could, SEW she did,” and that’s how my medium, my art, my passion, my comfort, and my story began.
My son was still in the infant/toddler stage, I was still in the grasps of postpartum depression and anxiety, still trying to figure out the new normal of big life changes, all good ones but not easy. Stitch by stitch, that peace washed over me – that same that I’d see in my mom’s face – it replaced the idle hands, the worried mind, the racing thoughts, the loneliness that new mothers experience. It gave me something to strive for, to look forward to, to express myself, and peace. It continues to be my best friend, my therapist, my excitement, and my story.
MY PROCESS
I fuse my passion for photography and hand-embroidery to create the divide between reality and surrealism. Using both of these mediums, I try to convey a depth of feeling through texture and drama. I take my photography, glue it to a canvas, and using embroidery floss, I stitch in layers of either a surreal scene or layer the original scene. Sometimes I don’t use a photograph at all, just all hand-embroidery to canvas. I like viewers to feel like they are being pulled into the piece through the layers.
WHEN DID YOU BEGIN MAKING ART?
Around 5 years old I started drawing and from there, continued to do art in various forms since basically for me it’s been like breathing. I have to!
WHAT DOES YOUR WORK AIM TO SAY?
To look outside the box, to value nature, the cosmos. As people we tend to think we are three separate units when really WE are nature WE are stars – nature in the human form and stars in human form. We are walking talking wildflowers and stars. Ever notice how moods shift by moon phases, like a full moon? Well there is proof that what they call “cosmic dust” floats around, we breathe it, it sticks to us, it’s all around us. In other words, we are made up of star dust. Walking wildflowers full of star dust. Embrace the beautiful cosmic being that is you!
WHO ARE YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCES?
Frida Kahlo, Nan Goldin , Van Gogh, Shepard Feiry, Emma McKee aka The Stitch Gawd out of Chicago , Tobias Studios out of Ft. Wayne, Kristen Nunez (photography stitcher our of the Bronx), Chicago tattoo artist Jennifer Trok, and Namaste Embroidery out of NW.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Nature, Surrealism, current events, counter culture, Women’s History, the moon, stars, astronomy, earth based spirituality, Eastern spiritual philosophy, activism, and lastly my 5-year-old son who has ADHD/SPD. I used to worry about how the world would see him, then I realized it didn’t matter, what mattered was how he saw the world. He inspired me to make art that people could physically feel, could get lost in and to not worry about others views but to follow what I see.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF ARTWORK THAT YOU’VE CREATED?
“The Farmer’s Wife, 1945” (No. 1 of Time Traveler Series).
HOW DO YOU WORK? WHEN DO YOU FEEL MOST CREATIVE?
Um 24/7 ha ha! I usually work every single night after everyone is in bed. It’s my meditation, my contentment.
WHAT IS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT ARTIST TOOL? IS THERE SOMETHING YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IN YOUR STUDIO?
Honestly so many tools – from photography, embroidery, embroidery needle, glue, canvas, to inspiration, my mind, fresh perspective, my hands, my passion – they all go hand in hand and each is as valuable as the other and work interchangeably into one “tool”.
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN A WORK IS FINISHED?
When I’m done all that’s needed it speaks to me.
WHAT’S YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT?
Gosh so many ha ha. On a serious note I think over the past couple years I entered my work for couple different open calls like big ones receiving those rejection letters were awful, I felt so embarrassed knowing that a room full of people had my stuff up on a screen openly rejecting it, I didn’t know whom they were but they knew whom I was I felt like as I’m sure other artists can relate that embarrassment of “why did I think I was good enough to apply” kinda feeling, it can cut deep, I’m in a different mind set now whereas I do my art regardless of what others think, not everyone is gonna like your aesthetic, not everyone is gonna “get it” but it doesn’t mean you should stop or try to fit into someone else’s box, ya gotta pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep doing you!
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO AN ARTIST JUST STARTING OUT?
A quote I read in the last year continues to keep me grounded: “The flower growing in the garden doesn’t compete with the flower next to it – it just blooms”. Don’t get caught up in competition! Support other local artists via encourage, share their work, let yourself be a fan. I’m a fan of soooo many local artists I get down right giddiness. Take advantage of local art workshops there are some very affordable ones – even if it’s not your medium or ascetic you can always learn something new, get inspired! And lastly don’t value money more than your art – if that makes sense. In other words, don’t focus so much on “is my art gonna make me money, pay my bills” that’s what a day job is for ha ha – because that mind set will only stall your artistic progress. Your art is your freedom!
Thanks, Christy! Come check out her art, currently on display.
We are open Friday 5PM – 8PM, Saturday 4PM – 7PM, and Sunday 1PM – 4PM.
Interested in being in our Artist Spotlight? Send us your work!
We are looking for 2D and 3D artists to feature a selection of their work on a 3-month rotation.
Check out previous Artists here!