Victoria Martini is based in Munich, Germany and it was while studying fine art that embroidery became her medium of choice. The fabric is as important as her stitching giving her thought-provoking pieces a sense of balance and calmness.

What is your background in textiles?

I have no background in textiles. I discovered embroidery while studying at Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, Germany. I started my studies as a painter and left the Academy as an embroiderer. As students we prepared our painting surfaces on our own and so I discovered the material Nettle. I fell in love with this material so it started to get more and more space in my painted pictures, as I used it as an element where the colour could disappear and the background material had an equal quality in my work. One day I decided to stop painting and use the fabric no longer as background. At that point embroidery seemed for me the best way to let the background and the surface flow into each other.

What is it about textiles that appeals to you?

I love to feel the material in my hands and the meditative process embroidery has. For me it is a process where time gets a real meaning, where I can feel time besides the routine of daily life. I can focus myself and it gives me a feeling of calmness and of course confidence to see a picture growing. 

How do you describe your work?

I have had many changes in the last 20 years since I started embroidery. For a long time comics and Pop Art had been an inspiration for me. For the last few years people are absent in my pictures and nature has become a major part of my work. I mostly use themes that have an ambivalent meaning. On the one hand there is the old-fashioned and dusty image of embroidery, and on the other a rather strong potential to provoke.

It has the potential to put into question art history’s categorisations, as well as the adverse gender classifications in middle-class society.

Where do you work?

I have a very charming studio close to the center of town in Munich.  I am very happy here, but I don’t need a certain place to embroider. I love to do it while travelling in the train for example.

How do you work?

First of all I need my computer. My ideas come mostly from the World Wide Web. The daily news is a major area for me to find ideas for my pictures, I also collect pictures I find on the Internet. The second step is to create collages of these pictures in Photoshop and to bring the collected pieces into another context. The third step is to transfer the idea on the material and start the embroidery. I always find it very interesting that through the working process an idea that starts on the computer finishes as something completely different. The embroidery and material help to create a unique image at the end.

I know it’s a hard question but how long does a piece generally take from start to finish?

Usually I need about a months work for a picture.

What inspires you? 

To observe things is always an inspiration for me. Watching people, reading books and see exhibitions and of course all the available information in the internet. Ideas pop up and when I get used to them coming I get into a certain flow where nearly everything is inspiring and useful for my artwork.

What is you most proud of so far with your work?

I am really proud that I can look back at doing embroidery for 20 years. I have learned so many things about this material and there is always something new for me to discover. And of course I am (mostly) always proud of the last picture I have finished.

Do you have any advice for aspiring textile artists?

Try to stay focused on your work and work continuously . Every picture, every art work you create is a necessary part of your development. Try things out and experiment with the materials you have around. Play around and try to be open for the impulses.  

www.victoriamartini.net

https://www.instagram.com/vickystickt