2024 Small Works Exhibit at Sawmill River Arts

This piece, titled Effervescence, is in the Small Works exhibit February 4–26 at Sawmill River Arts in Montague, Massachusetts. There’s an opening reception Sunday, February 4, 1–4 pm. Stop by if you’re in the area! I plan to be there, probably towards the beginning of the afternoon. The gallery is located next to the Montague Bookmill, at 440 Greenfield Road.

For this daily embroidery piece that I made last year, I aimed to create a joyful, playful image by using a “chance and choice” approach. I began by selecting six colors of pearl cotton. I chose one color at random each day to stitch with. That was the “chance” element of the piece.

The “choice” elements were what stitch to use each day and how dense. The constant: the shapes were circles only.

I entered Effervescence into this show because I thought we can all use a bit of joy in dreary February. The show continues through February 26 at Sawmill River Arts, 440 Greenfield Road, Montague, Massachusetts. Gallery hours are Thursday–Monday, 11 am to 5 pm.

Easthampton City Arts Gallery Show Continues through September 30

This Saturday, September 17, I’ll be at Easthampton City Arts Gallery from 10 am to noon, working on a new piece. I’ll be happy to answer questions about my process and work, so please stop by to chat! I’ll also be bringing a “community hoop,” prethreaded needles, and an embroidery stitch handout, so you can try your hand at stitching if you’d like.

My solo show of abstract embroidery and watercolors continues through September 30 at Easthampton City Arts Gallery, 43 Main Street, Easthampton, Massachusetts. Gallery hours are Wednesdays and Fridays, noon–2 pm, and Saturday, September 17, 10 am–noon. More information

Shown here is Daily Embroidery (56 Days), a negative space embroidery that I completed in August.

Upcoming Show: Bonnie Sennott at Hosmer Gallery

Greetings! I'm so excited to share that, after a delay of two years due to the pandemic, my show at the Forbes Library's Hosmer Gallery is finally happening. The reception will be Saturday, June 4, 2 - 4 pm, and the show continues through June 29. Details below. I hope you can make it!  

Bonnie

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Bonnie Sennott: Abstract Embroidery and Watercolors

An exhibition of recent abstract embroidery work and watercolors by Amherst artist Bonnie Sennott will be held June 2–29 at the Hosmer Gallery in Northampton, Massachusetts, with an opening reception on Saturday, June 4, 2 - 4 pm. 

Among the works shown is Daily Thread, a yearlong project for which she embroidered every day using colors observed in nature, and several of her negative space embroideries exploring absence, loss, and the passing of time. She will also show abstract watercolors on the theme of "stones and water," which she is creating in 2022 as part of the "100 days of creative acts" project organized by author Suleika Jaouad and the Isolation Journals.

Sennott has shown her work locally in solo and group exhibitions at Northampton’s Center for the Arts, the Burnett Gallery/Jones Library in Amherst, Gallery A3, and #LOCAL Gallery. Her work has also been exhibited in shows at the Wistariahurst Museum, the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, and the Fitchburg Art Museum. A former member of Kingston Gallery in Boston, she holds an MFA from the University of Chicago.

Also on view during June: landscape paintings by Stephanie Vignone.

The Hosmer Gallery is located on the second floor of the Forbes Library at 20 West Street in downtown Northampton. Hours are Monday - Thursday, 10 am - 8 pm; Friday and Saturday, 10 am - 6 pm.  

Progress Report: A New Negative Space Embroidery

A few weeks ago, I began a new piece using a limited palette of Valdani threads and linen dyed with walnuts from the tree out back. I’m continuing my explorations of negative space embroidery, using a circle template.

So far, I’m employing just two stitches—the “irregular” running stitch that I absolutely love, and here and there small amounts of satin stitch. As usual, I’m improvising the composition as I go.

Now that I’ve spent some time with it, I am thinking I will leave the center of this piece mostly empty. The stitching will cluster around the edges. A theme of keeping safe, staying close to the sides like a new swimmer, of holding on to things known and dear is emerging. Maybe I’m influenced by the uncertainty of life during this pandemic? I don’t know. I think we all have times when “keeping to the sides” is just what we most need. There’s a time for adventuring and a time for staying still.

Anyway, here are a few photos of the piece in progress. The purple that you see is from a disappearing ink pen. It disappears with time and also easily washes out.

I’ll post again soon about the negative space embroidery that I finished last month. I just need to stretch it and take photos. Until then, I hope you’re well and enjoying the transition between seasons.

If you’d like to see progress photos more frequently, please join me on Instagram.

Wrinkle Embroideries

Two wrinkle embroideries that I finished earlier this year are now listed in my Etsy shop. You’ll find them in the Artwork section.

Floating, by Bonnie Sennott, 2020, perle cotton on linen, 10 x 10 inches

Wrinkle embroideries are abstract pieces that I begin by purposely wrinkling linen, then stitching along the wrinkle lines with back stitch or running stitch. I then add other colors and other kinds of stitches to the resulting “map” or “armature” of wrinkle lines, gradually building up areas of greater texture and density.

Floating, detail

Floating, in progress

Flame Out, by Bonnie Sennott, 2020, perle cotton on linen, 10 x 10 inches

Flame Out, detail

Flame Out, in progress

These pieces are improvisational — I develop the compositions as I go, rather than planning them in sketches beforehand. As a result, the finished pieces are always a bit of a surprise to me.

The orientation shifts often as I work. I turn the piece around and around, studying it from all angles. That’s one reason I like to use a square format — a square lends itself to a change in orientation.

If you’re interested in purchasing a piece, you’ll find these and other abstract embroideries in the Artwork section of my Etsy shop.

Daily Thread: Piece No. 14 (Waning)

For the 14th piece in Daily Thread, my 2019 stitch journal, I chose the theme of “waning.” To start the piece, I stitched the colors of the year’s last nasturtium blooms in “V” or boomerang shapes something like the simple way children draw birds in flight.

As the piece progressed, I added intersecting, randomly curling lines in backstitch. This tangle of lines was inspired by the beautiful jumble of the nasturtium’s fading leaves and stems. In the end, I re-oriented the piece so that the “V” shapes pointed downward, to accentuate the feeling of summer ending, the time when flowers and plants begin drooping down toward the earth.

I worked on this piece from September 3, 2019 (Day 246 of this yearlong daily embroidery project) to September 24 (Day 267).

Coming up: My next Daily Thread post will be about the 15th piece, which had the theme of “sky.”

New work: While I’m furloughed from my day job due to COVID-19, I’m creating a series of furlough daily embroideries. To learn more, follow me on Instagram or follow the hashtag #furloughdailyembroidery.

Exhibition news: Two of my furlough daily embroideries are in POST PAUSE, the inaugural exhibition of the new Easthampton City Arts online gallery. Curated by Maggie Nowinski, POST PAUSE presents works created during this time of pandemic by artists in western Massachusetts. Each artist's work is accompanied by a statement about how their creative practice has been impacted by COVID-19.

If life is back to normal next spring, I will be showing the entire Daily Thread project in April 2021 at the Hosmer Gallery in Northampton’s Forbes Library. Later in the year (dates to be determined), it will also be shown at Easthampton City Arts.

LINKS

About the Daily Thread Project
@bonniesennottart on Instagram

Exhibition Announcement: POST PAUSE

Two of my furlough daily embroideries are in POST PAUSE, the inaugural exhibition of the new Easthampton City Arts online gallery. Curated by Maggie Nowinski, POST PAUSE presents works created during this time of pandemic by artists in western Massachusetts. Each artist's work is accompanied by a statement about how their creative practice has been impacted by COVID-19.

Bonnie Sennott, Daily Embroidery (19 Days), 2020, perle cotton on natural linen, 8 x 8 inches

Bonnie Sennott, Daily Embroidery (24 Days), 2020, perle cotton on linen dyed with oak galls, 8 x 8 inches

These abstract embroideries employ the technique of negative space embroidery. The unstitched spaces speak of all that’s disappeared from my life this year — I’ve had two shows canceled when the galleries closed. I’ve lost income due to being furloughed from my job. I’ve lost my sister Jackie, who passed away due to cancer. Daily embroidery has been a way to create something positive out of the loss and fragmentation of 2020.

I hope you’ll have a chance to visit the new Easthampton City Arts online gallery and see the exhibition. So far as I can tell, it’s not searchable, so here’s a direct link to my work.

Daily Thread: Piece No. 10 (Night)

Begun on June 27 and completed on July 10, 2019, Daily Thread No. 10 (Night) had its origin in a night of insomnia. After tossing restlessly for hours one summer night, I went out onto my deck to watch the fireflies. Their yellow lights blinking on and off, a sky full of stars, the deep indigo shapes of the trees, a cooling breeze — all of these impressions improved my mood instantly. And I’d found the inspiration for my next stitch journal piece.

With a “palette” of yellow, white, and blue threads, I employed columns of running stitch, cross stitches, and seed stitches to gradually build up a composition based on my memory of that night. This was the first and only piece in my 2019 stitch journal project in which I stitched colors observed at night.

Here a few photos of Piece No. 10 in progress and of the “stitch log.” When I started work each day, I stitched a bit of that day’s color on a square of drawing paper, below the number of the day of the year. Each piece in Daily Thread has its own stitch log, which I plan to exhibit alongside the embroideries.

Coming up: My next post will be about the eleventh and twelfth pieces, which both returned to the theme of “verdant.”

New work: This summer, while I’m furloughed from my day job, I’m creating a series of Furlough Daily Embroideries. To learn more, follow me on Instagram or follow the hashtag #furloughdailyembroidery.

Exhibition news: Unfortunately, my exhibition scheduled for September at Easthampton City Arts has been canceled because the gallery will remain closed through the end of the year due to the coronavirus. The show will be rescheduled for sometime in 2021. I will be showing the entire Daily Thread project in April 2021 at the Hosmer Gallery in Northampton’s Forbes Library.

LINKS

About the Daily Thread Project
@bonniesennottart on Instagram

Billow

This piece, titled Billow, is one of my abstract embroideries in “Fiber and Fashion,” a show featuring 16 artists working in a variety of textile media at #LOCAL Gallery in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

Billow is one of my wrinkle embroideries — works that I begin by purposely wrinkling linen, then stitching along the wrinkle lines with back stitch or running stitch. I then add other colors and other kinds of stitches to the resulting “map” or “armature” of wrinkle lines, gradually building up areas of greater texture and density. The stitching proceeds slowly and meditatively, until the composition attains a sense of balance and completeness.

“Fiber and Fashion” continues through July 7 at #LOCAL Gallery, 40 Cottage Street in Easthampton. Gallery hours are Thursday–Saturday, 12:00–7:00 pm and Sunday 12:00–5:00 pm.

Bonnie Sennott: Abstract Embroidery Closes March 29

Stitch Journal 2019, No. 1 (Earth), by Bonnie Sennott

“Bonnie Sennott: Abstract Embroidery,” at the Hosmer Gallery in Northampton, Massachusetts, closes this Friday, March 29. Included in the show are the first two pieces in my current yearlong daily art project, Stitch Journal 2019.

The gallery is located on the second floor of the Forbes Library at 20 West Street in downtown Northampton. Hours are Monday and Wednesday, 9 am - 9 pm; Tuesday and Thursday, 1 - 5 pm; Friday and Saturday, 9 am - 5 pm.

Works by Lou Peugh and Emily Tareila are also on view.