Diary of a Smart Chick

Various writings from a curious mind

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  • we shall overcome by Ellen Schinderman
    Art,  Fiber Art,  Interviews

    Interview with Thread Artist Ellen Schinderman

    September 7, 2018

    Ellen Schinderman is a self-taught thread artist based in Hollywood, California. She doesn’t focus on the labels of being a “feminist artist” or a “fiber artist”, preferring to just be an artist, working with thread as her medium. Nevertheless, her work offers powerful messages to and about women. Her work recontextualizes images of women, including images that may be considered pornographic. She works to remind us that women are not objects. Instead, we are thinking, feeling, amazing beings. She wants us to love who we are the way we are. Furthermore, she wants to support other women in doing the same. Those are messages she shares in her work as…

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    How COVID Has Inspired Digital Performance Art and Where It Might Go

    May 14, 2020
    Michelle Anais Beaulieu-Morgan embroidery

    Interview with Embroidery Artist Michelle Anais Beaulieu-Morgan

    September 4, 2018
    Maryanne Moodie weaving

    Interview with Weaving Artist Maryanne Moodie

    September 4, 2018
  • Needle felting artist weijue wang
    Art,  Fiber Art,  Interviews

    Interview with Needle Felting Artist Weijue Wang

    September 7, 2018

    Needle felting artist Weijue Wang is an emerging Chinese feminist artist. She was born an only female child to a family in China. Now she lives in San Francisco. Weijue is navigating different identities and bringing her personal experience into her work. She works to approach difficult topics through humor and cuteness. Her art is in done in several mediums, particularly incorporating needle felting. This choice is a direct result of her own personal experience with cosmetic surgery, a practice her work regularly comments upon. We learn more from this interview. What are your earliest memories of becoming an artist? Before I was born, my dad’s best friend bought a…

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    screenplay readers

    How to Become a Reader for Screenplays (A Class I Just Took Online)

    August 15, 2020
    we shall overcome by Ellen Schinderman

    Interview with Thread Artist Ellen Schinderman

    September 7, 2018

    Interview with Sumi Ink and Honey Watercolor Artist Ms. Muse

    September 7, 2018
  • Threadwinners artist team
    Fiber Art,  Interviews

    Interview With Crochet Artists Alyssa and Liz of Threadwinners

    September 4, 2018

    This interview was first published by Fempotential in early 2017. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to work with these great women in a number of ways. I’m thrilled to re-share this original article here. Threadwinners is a collaborative crochet art team based in Southern California. It’s made up of two awesome women: Alyssa Arney and Liz Flynn. They each took their own journeys to identifying as artists. They found their way to fiber art on their own. However, their visions really came to life when they joined up as a team. Together they: work to fight against patriarchy and the status quo by using art forms traditionally considered “interior /…

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    embroidery of mountains

    Interview with Feminist Embroidery Artist Maria Arseniuk

    September 4, 2018
    Michelle Anais Beaulieu-Morgan embroidery

    Interview with Embroidery Artist Michelle Anais Beaulieu-Morgan

    September 4, 2018
    we shall overcome by Ellen Schinderman

    Interview with Thread Artist Ellen Schinderman

    September 7, 2018
  • Michelle Anais Beaulieu-Morgan embroidery
    Art,  Fiber Art

    Interview with Embroidery Artist Michelle Anais Beaulieu-Morgan

    September 4, 2018

    Michelle Anais Beaulieu-Morgan is a queer embroidery artist whose graduate studies emphasize visual and material culture. She is a mother in New Haven, Connecticut. In this beautiful interview she shares in her own words about: how art intersects with feminism and activism her stitch-a-day project that is a personal effort to embrace the feeling of “too muchness” she’s been accused of us a queer woman insight into the long-lasting potential of material objects as cultural symbols. About Crafting When and how did you learn embroidery? For Christmas 2014, my ex-girlfriend put a tiny “subversive cross stitch” kit in my stocking. I made the piece that January (2015), and was immediately…

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    creative duo Orange Barrel Industries

    Creative Duo Interview: Orange Barrel Industries

    August 20, 2019

    Interview with Weaver Meghan Bogden Shimek

    September 4, 2018
    Needle felting artist weijue wang

    Interview with Needle Felting Artist Weijue Wang

    September 7, 2018
  • artist miss marley with embroidery
    Fiber Art

    Interview with Artist Miss Marley

    September 4, 2018

    Marley Myles, better known as Miss Marley, is a self-taught artist from New South Wales, Australia. Her work is inspired by fairy tales, mythology, and symbolism. She works across different mediums including hand embroidery and ink drawing. She’s always bringing a combination of whimsy and humanity to each piece she creates. In this interview, she shares: how tattoos played a role in her development as an artist what she has learned from her son and how activism and art intersect for her. On a Creative Childhood As a self-taught artist, have you ever taken art classes? I was lucky to grow up in a childhood home that was essentially a…

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    Related Posts

    Michelle Anais Beaulieu-Morgan embroidery

    Interview with Embroidery Artist Michelle Anais Beaulieu-Morgan

    September 4, 2018
    Needle felting artist weijue wang

    Interview with Needle Felting Artist Weijue Wang

    September 7, 2018
    embroidery of mountains

    Interview with Feminist Embroidery Artist Maria Arseniuk

    September 4, 2018
  • embroidery of mountains
    Fiber Art,  Interviews

    Interview with Feminist Embroidery Artist Maria Arseniuk

    September 4, 2018

    Maria Arseniuk is a Canadian artist who works at the intersection of feminism and fiber art. She sells her work under the name Femmebroidery. Maria was a Women’s Studies major. She began exploring embroidery as a hands-on distraction from the intellectual demands of grad school. Upon graduation, she began working in craft full-time. She started incorporating mixed media into her art, working in collaboration with her partner. In this interview, she shares the pros and cons of expanding her art beyond feminism/craftivism while still holding that perspective at the core of what she does. On Embroidery and Crafting When and how did you learn embroidery? I began embroidery when I…

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    Related Posts

    Threadwinners artist team

    Interview With Crochet Artists Alyssa and Liz of Threadwinners

    September 4, 2018
    we shall overcome by Ellen Schinderman

    Interview with Thread Artist Ellen Schinderman

    September 7, 2018
    Needle felting artist weijue wang

    Interview with Needle Felting Artist Weijue Wang

    September 7, 2018

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