Elizabeth Barrow

I began my journey as a fiber artist before I started kindergarten, stitching at my mother’s knee or crouched underneath her sewing machine. My mother and grandmothers taught me to sew, embroider, knit, quilt, crochet and needlepoint. For decades, I kept my hands busy with these pursuits, all the while thinking “art” was photography, painting and sculpture. I honed my skills, learning to sew my own clothes. I developed my vision, working in landscape design and constantly refining the appearance of my own home.

In my work, I focus on hand-sewing and embellishment. I find inspiration in the everyday work of women past and present. I highlight the thread that unites us with each other, and with those that have gone before us. I return again and again to the idea of finding beauty in the quotidian, the tedious, the unsung.