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Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
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Page 1 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
3/27/2011http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2010/09/artist-hadar-sobols-edgy-embroidery_05.ht...
Hadar Sobol at her Studio in Salina, TX
A stitch just in time...embroidery is not an art usually associated with gritty self
expression, but artist Hadar Sobol's embroideries on vintage linens and on paper are full
of jagged emotion. From a few feet away, it's easy to mistake them for pen and ink sketches.
Up close, there's no doubt about it, Israeli-born Sobol has command of her needle and
thread as if her life might depend on it.
Because in a way, it does.
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Page 2 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
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I started following Sobol's work a little more than year ago, after being invited to visit her home
in Plano and later her studio in Salina, TX, where she had been working to prepare for her first
one-person show at Valley House Gallery. Her show, Kairos (the Supreme Moment),
opened on Saturday and runs through October 2.
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Page 3 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
3/27/2011http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2010/09/artist-hadar-sobols-edgy-embroidery_05.ht...
Sobol, who is from Tel Aviv, moved to Plano almost 10 years ago with her husband
who was transferred with his job. Pregnant with her first child (she now has two)
and struggling with the English language, Sobol became increasingly isolated. Art
became the way out and the way to survive, and she started expressing herself
through a medium she was most familiar and comfortable with -- embroidery.
Those simple black stitches pack a lot of power.
The themes in her work focus on the burdens women carry throughout life -- from
bearing children to obsessions with body image, especially as we age.
"My work draws its inspiration from the narrative of a woman's inner voyage,"
Sobol says in a statement that accompanies her work. "During this voyage, as she
confronts the changes in her life, she finds that in addition to experiencing pain
she is provided with the opportunity to recreate herself."
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I D C O L L E C T I O N
Page 4 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
3/27/2011http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2010/09/artist-hadar-sobols-edgy-embroidery_05.ht...
Embroidery on vintage cloth by Hadar Sobol
At left, the moving book by Ukranian-born Israeli writer Alona Kimhi that
helped inspire Sobol's first forays into art. Weeping Susannah is the story of a
woman's struggle to learn to express herself, to live, and to love. Sobol has her
own story, and it's expressed in her art. At right, the tiny farmhouse in Salina that
Sobol converted into her studio.
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Page 5 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
3/27/2011http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2010/09/artist-hadar-sobols-edgy-embroidery_05.ht...
"These images are transformed by the use of the reverse side of the embroidered
cloth, digital manipulations and moving between different techniques, drawing,
embroidery, etching, digital processing, and computerized embroidery," Sobol
says.
The works above and below were created by digitally reproducing the reversed,
unfinished side of the embroidered cloth onto paper, then washing it with ink and
water.
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Houses Gardens People is a blog
about Dallas interiors,
architecture, gardens, design
Page 6 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
3/27/2011http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2010/09/artist-hadar-sobols-edgy-embroidery_05.ht...
Sobol sometimes embroiders onto the paper itself.
This is a collage of photos I took from Sobol's house and also her studio, months
before her show. She displayed her work for visitors by setting up a half dozen or
showrooms, stores, and the
talented people behind the
scenes. Written by award-
winning design writer Rebecca
Sherman.
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Page 7 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
3/27/2011http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2010/09/artist-hadar-sobols-edgy-embroidery_05.ht...
so ironing boards, which she liked for their flat surfaces. It was an expedient
choice, she said, but so full of unintended irony -- what better way to show
embroidery on linen, especially when the subject matter has to do with women's
work?
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Page 8 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
3/27/2011http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2010/09/artist-hadar-sobols-edgy-embroidery_05.ht...
The painting on the floor at left is an early work Sobol did of her grandfather.
At left, Valley House Gallery owner Cheryl Vogel, who made regular
pilgrimages to Sobol's house and studio during the past year as the artist prepared
for her show. I was privileged to tag along on two of these trips, and impressed by
the way Cheryl and husband Kevin Vogel nurture their artists' careers. Kevin's
father Donald Vogel founded Valley House Gallery in the late 1950s.
"Some artists come to us with their whole body of work already completed and all
we have to do is build a show around it," Cheryl says. "Others, like Hadar, we have
more of a chance to work with and follow along. It's really a wonderful
opportunity to get to be with them from the beginning." Pictured at right in the
white coat is Liliana Bloch, director of the McKinney Avenue
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Page 9 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
3/27/2011http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2010/09/artist-hadar-sobols-edgy-embroidery_05.ht...
Sobol also produces original videos to accompany certain pieces, which she plays
via a digital picture frame underneath embroidered vintage linens.
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Page 10 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
3/27/2011http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2010/09/artist-hadar-sobols-edgy-embroidery_05.ht...
Page 11 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
3/27/2011http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2010/09/artist-hadar-sobols-edgy-embroidery_05.ht...
The videos are beautiful works of art, blurred and mysterious depictions of nude
women who are obsessively fussing over their lumpy, misshapen bodies. Sobol's
models were wearing panty hose, which they stuffed with wads of cloth until their
hips, bottoms, and stomachs, looked huge. It's all shot and viewed as if behind a
veil, maybe as if we are peeking from behind a curtain, as the models attempt to
arrange and rearrange their bodies, their burdens.
Sobol gives an artist's talk on Saturday, September 11 at 11:00 a.m at the gallery.
Page 12 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
3/27/2011http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2010/09/artist-hadar-sobols-edgy-embroidery_05.ht...
POSTED BY REBECCA SH ERMAN AT 1 : 39 PM
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6 C O M M E N T S :
Sally@DivineDistractions said...
Wow! I fancy myself as a pretty good needleworker, but these are incredible!
She has totally pushed the envelope for her art, and the results are amazing.
Can't wait to go see her show. Thanks for introducing us to this new art form
and brilliant artist.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 05, 2010
amanda said...
Sobol's work has a haunting movement...it reminds me of a sculptor I
covered in St. Louis who works in wire... But, they aren't sad depictions...not
at all. They stick with you. They tell stories. They are elegant and grand, but
have a humble, even earthy quality. I absolutely love needlework and
textiles...to see a modern take such as Sobol's is excellent!
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 05, 2010
JoAnn Locktov said...
This work is incredible,unlike anything I've ever seen before. Thank you so
much for sharing it with us Rebecca.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 05, 2010
smallrooms said...
Oh my GOSH! Her work is so unbelievably exquisite! I am fascinated with
how traditional female crafts have evolved into contemporary art. Taking
antique tactile goodness to a new level. Ten years ago, it seemed that all the
new contemporary art involved electronic media--usually videos. And that
any work involving textiles, embroidery, knitting, antique knick-knacks were
held in huge disdain. Rebecca, thanks for bringing Hadar Sobol to our
attention.
Patsy Ann Bell
TUESDAY, SEPTEMB ER 07, 2010
Houses Gardens People said...
Sally and Patsy Ann --
Thank you for taking the time to comment. You're so right about how
traditionally female crafts have for so long been held in disdain. Hadar's art
seems to be changing some of that perception....
Page 13 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMB ER 07, 2010
amanda said...
I have a frequent debate with my husband on art vs. craft. He dismisses my
efforts as mere craft (he has a degree in art...what do I know?). As an avid
sewing enthusiast, this is ART. Big "A" art. Sobol's work pushes the very
barriers of needlecraft, and is a blessing to behold.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMB ER 09, 2010
Page 14 of 14Houses Gardens People: Artist Hadar Sobol's Edgy Embroidery
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