Embroidering Medicine Workshop

This four-week workshop explores The New York Academy of Medicine Library’s historical collections, examining relationships between medicine, needlework, and gender. We will focus on the areas of the collection invoking the ideals of femininity and domesticity, as well as needlework (in the form of ligatures, sutures, and stitching of the body). Participants will learn hands-on embroidery skills and basic stitches, selecting and transferring images to make embroidered pieces inspired by images in the collection. Materials will be provided.

About the Instructor

Through graphic narratives, teaching, and needlework, Academy Library artist-in-residence Kriota Willberg explores the intersection between body sciences and creative practice. Her comics are seen on online sites such as Intima, Broken Pencil, 4 PANEL, and in the anthologies Sub Cultures, Awesome ‘Possum, and the upcoming Graphic Canon. Willberg transposes medical imagery of herself and friends into needlework as a form of portraiture. She teaches anatomy for artists at a variety of institutions including the New York Academy of Medicine Library, the Center for Cartoon Studies, and the Society of Illustrators. You can see more of her work at http://kriotawelt.blogspot.com/.