Angie Hall Anderson is a textile artist specialising in the embroidery of textile hoops with materials such as fibers, felt, and colourful threads. Her patterns’ roots can be traced to Abstractionism; therefore they are representative of a world that is not real and that focuses a lot on the use of colours and shapes to create an alternative world.
We asked her to use and interpret our products and from this undertaking came two different sized material hoops but with the same colour palette. Rich in different materials and textures. They remind us of Space. Read on, however, and discover the inspiration behind the two hoops and some interesting facts about Angie.
I'm an abstract fiber artist and graphic designer living in New York City. I’ve been doing design professionally for 13 years, but it wasn’t until I started experimenting with abstract embroidery in late 2020 that I truly felt CREATIVE. I had always been solving my clients’ “problems” and it finally felt like I was making things from and for myself. I fell in love with not only the design aspect of it, but the physical feeling of stitching - I got addicted and haven't stopped since.
I usually start with a loose color scheme or inspiration image(s) and simply gather all the possible materials I might use for the piece. I love to work mostly with wool and cotton fibers, using 100% wool felt as my background fabric. A wide range of textures and contrasting sizes is important to me and as anyone can see from my Instagram feed, I am obsessed with circles! My weird talent is cutting near-perfect circles freehand. I almost never sketch or plan anything in advance - I have a rough idea in my head of what shapes and textures I want… and I just go for it. Typically a piece starts with the largest shapes or elements (like a giant circle or large area of wool felting) and ends with the tiniest details (like beads and seed stitches).
I wish I could say I am heavily influenced by nature or travel or something, but the truth is - I'm kind of indoorsy! I definitely pull colors and themes from nature, but I tend to be more inspired by things like cell biology, science fiction, 1980's culture, topography, and K-pop. If you're well-versed in that genre, you'll see a lot of nods and even direct interpretations in my pieces!
I don't approach my work with the goal of influencing or communicating anything. Should I admit that I am not addressing trauma or aiming for powerful commentary on social issues?? Every time I make something, it's because I am excited about a color scheme, a visual memory, a shape or texture, a song/performance, etc. I am pretty adamant that the experience of stitching is enjoyable (no complicated and frustrating techniques for me, thank you!) and that the inspiration is organic/self-generated. I want to channel my excitement into art that is fun and fascinating to look at. I hope I achieve that!
These two purple pieces are inspired by a song called Love Maze by BTS, the meaning of which I would sum up as: Life is a complicated mess, so let’s try it together. I’ve always loved puzzles and games, word searches and mazes - so the idea of life as a series of little challenges, made easier by friendship and love, is very precious to me! "Held together, our hands become a map".
If you liked this article maybe you would also enjoy the artistic embroidery of Wild Floss.
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