HELLAstitchy by Caitlin

Visual Art – San Jose

A self-taught embroiderer/stitcher/sewist, I am the box wine of the art world. Like, I\'m fucking Franzia. But I\'m totally okay with it. Embroidery is something I honestly love to do and when I do it my intention is always to create something meaningful (even if that meaning is \"ugly\" or \"perverted\"), so I can\'t really find anything wrong in that. I like to joke that I\'m 29 going on 70. Like, really, though. I\'d rather spend my days cross stitching or hand embroidering flowers, hearts, and bilingual profanities (because why offend people in one language when you can do it in two?!) than go to the bars or... I don\'t know, whatever else kids my age do, I guess. I embrace opposites and, being a person of many contradictions, I have always been drawn to juxtaposition. I love it in my \"art\" and live it in my life. Both, I think, are better for it. So, that\'s basically what I try to do with my stitches. The wholesome, quaint, traditional appearance of needlecraft meets a crude, lewd, tattooed bitch who can\'t keep her thoughts to herself. And voila! The stitches are born! I want you to see them, think \"I want to show this to my grandma!\" and then realize you can\'t because she\'d hate it. That ability to either shock and appall or entertain and amuse is why I make the stuff I do.