Artist Spotlight: Ellie Zdancewic (11-2)
Helena Saven (12-4)
What mediums of art do you use to create your artwork? What are your favorite mediums?
My favorite medium is embroidery, which is a kind of fiber art. I do other fiber arts, including cross stitch and crochet. Outside of that I do a bit of watercolor, drawing, and graphic design. But mostly embroidery.
When was the first time you found your passion in art?
I got into embroidery three years ago, it was December 2018 and I was in 8th grade. I was trying to come up with a homemade birthday present for my grandma because I didn’t have any money, and I knew they would always appreciate whatever I drew them. I saw an Instagram post of someone embroidering and I thought it didn’t look too hard. I found an old cross-stitch kit that was gifted to me but I never used, because I didn’t like the dolphin pattern it had. I flipped over the paper and made my own pattern, which said “I <3 Gma” because I couldn’t spell out “grandma” since the hoop was too small. It wasn’t that hard to actually stitch out something that I liked and had envisioned in my mind. With that, I was hooked and I kept stitching and embroidering anything I liked.
Who/What are your artistic inspirations?
My favorite artist is Alphonse Mucha, an art nouveau artist from the Czech Republic who makes these really gorgeous paintings, scenes of women and flowers. I get a lot of inspiration for embroidery from social media. I really like the work of Henri Pernell, a German embroidery and crochet artist. Charles Henry does these super gorgeous architectural embroideries and his starry night pattern inspired the piece on my backpack. Shannon Downy is a craftivist (artist/activist) who I followed for a while. I get a lot of inspiration from her. We became friends when I joined her virtual embroidery club two years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic. It was super awesome to meet a lot of new people, most of whom are way older than me, and talk about stitching with them. Through this connection to Shannon, my art was exhibited at the National Liberty Museum in Philly. The exhibition's name is craftivism (activism through crafts) and at the opening night I was able to give a talk about my art and how I began embroidering. The art that’s in the exhibition is called “A Herstory Project” which is a communal art project started by Shannon that encourages women and gender minorities to create a foot-by-foot piece of fabric to tell their story.
As an artist, what is your favorite school subject, and why?
It depends more on the teacher for what my favorite class or subject is, but I’m a big fan of French, math, and English. Those are my top.
What do you enjoy most about embroidering?
I like how it gives me a creative outlet that I don’t find in other mediums, mostly because you can create this gorgeous texture and play with colors and you’re limited to only the colors you have in thread. You can semi-trace existing art because you print out a pattern, trace it, then stitch it. It’s allowing yourself to be inspired by other pieces of art that already exist. Embroidery is really therapeutic because you have literally a sharp little object that you stab into things a bunch of times and you have to concentrate on it. You can’t jump ahead to the end of the line or else it will look bad. You have to do tiny, very precise stitches and little by little it will make this very pretty picture. It’s almost meditative. I also like how I can do it and multitask, I can watch a show or attend a Zoom call and stitch. It’s something to do with my hands, something to decorate my walls, it’s very versatile and lots of fun. I recommend it to everybody.
What helps you focus when you embroider?
90% of the time when I’m embroidering I’m doing something else, like watching a show with my family, talking to my friends on a Zoom call, or listening to a podcast. Very rarely do I ever just sit in silence because once I already have the pattern drawn out, I don’t need to think too much about what I’m doing next. I like to think about multitasking where I have something to do with my mind, my hands and my ears. If I’m watching a show, I’m using my mind and ears. Because the pattern is already drawn out, I just follow the line and stitch around it. It would honestly be a little boring if I didn't have anything else to distract me.
Do you have any music recommendations?
My favorite band is Lovejoy, they’re a British indie-rock band with some really good horns in the background. I’ve been listening to a lot of that; it’s going to be the entirety of my Spotify Wrapped. I also like Janelle Monae and Taylor Swift. I like the Studio Ghibli soundtrack when I’m working, Wallows, and Coin. A lot of indie bands.
What’s your favorite classroom in Masterman?
104, Madame Heimann’s room, because I get to sit in French class and hear Dr. Shapiro and his class singing and people practicing down in the band room. I get a little snippet of music and that’s fun. It’s also convenient to leave the building because I have French at the end of the day almost every day.
Have you ever been trampled by a 5th grader?
No, honestly. I see them sprinting to the lunchroom and I usually get out of the way.
What is your opinion on beans?
I’m a fan of beans. I like refried beans and black beans and baked beans and lima beans. I don’t have lima beans all that often but I’m pro-beans.
NLM_Talk_Ellie_Z.MOVEllie speaking on her art exhibition at The National Liberty Museum, courtesy of Ellie Zdancewic (11-2)