James Hsieh was born in the United States but grew up in Taiwan. He now resides in New York after gaining his Masters in Fine Arts at Parsons New School for Design. His vibrant embroideries and his hand sewn textile sculptures have been exhibited around the world including the White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney and the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei. “My works are windows into an imaginary world, one populated by the unique and provocative juxtaposition of childlike wonderments with adult thoughts and emotions.”

Firstly where did you grow up and where do you live now? 

I was born in the United States but grew up in Taoyuan, Taiwan. I went to the US to pursue my Master degree in Fine Arts at Parsons the New School for Design in 2015 and after finishing school, I stayed in NYC to start my career as an artist.

What is your background in textiles?

I did my undergrad in Art & Design in Taiwan, then I went to Parsons for Master in Fine Arts. I started to work with textiles earlier in my Junior year at college when I was experimenting with different materials on a school project. I was working with felt and was immediately drawn to the vibrant and saturated colours. My sister taught me to sew the fabrics together as well as doing some simple embroidery with threads. I fell in love and became obsessed with sewing and started to create art with textiles. During my Masters, I was able to further develop my skills and transform my works into three dimensional large-scale soft sculptures. I decided to create an immersive installation with my soft sculptures and mural painting. 

What is it about using textiles that appeals to you? 

I love the vibrant and saturated colours of the felt as well as the threads. The repetition of sewing is like a meditation for me, it allows me to think and rethink. It’s a very intimate moment when I communicate with my mind and myself. Additionally, I like the texture and the flexibility of the felt that it can be both hard and soft. For instance, in my soft sculpture, I stuff the Polyfill into my sculptures firmly. The texture immediately suggests the softness and then the sculpture is actually very firm when you touch it. It also triggers people’s curiosity that makes them want to touch it. The felt also reminds me of childhood memories with stuffed animals and toys, which suggests a feeling of being secure and safe. 

How do you describe your work?

A lot of inspiration is from my dreams, which is full of imagination and childhood memories. I grew up on my grandparents’ farm surrounded by nature. I enjoy exploring mother nature everyday and never get tired of it. Those memories influenced my works and you can find many references to nature in my work. After moving to NYC, I missed nature which made me nostalgic for my hometown and the childhood memories in the farmland. Thus I started to having dreams about being in an alternative nature with imaginary creatures.

When I was a kid, I used to spend a lot of time playing in the temple and enjoyed the colourful and almost neon colours all over the figures on the temple. I like to hear the stories about those figures (gods and monsters) from my grandpa. There was a time I visited the temple everyday, sitting watching those figure and imagined my own version of the story. Those figures were animating inside my mind and I’d also create new characters to start a new story of my own.

Those colours have a great influence on my works and really inspired me. Those imaginary creatures have lived inside my mind and my dreams ever since. My works are windows into an imaginary world, one populated by the unique and provocative juxtaposition of childlike wonderments with adult thoughts and emotions.

I am currently working with embroidery and I really enjoy painting with threads instead of brushes. I like to shift between 2D and 3D works back and forth. Due to the limit colours of the felt I had, embroidery allows me to explore and expand my colour palate. Those vibrant colours are again often inspired by the nature. In my embroidery work, it allows me to give more content and narratives to the background of this imaginary world I created.    

I know it’s a hard question but roughly how long does one of your sculptures take to make from start to finish? 

It is very time consuming to create each one of my sculptures because I insist on making it all by hand without using a machine. Hand sewing is just more flexible and allows me to explore more different and sometimes even complex patterns that could be difficult to execute with a machine. I personally enjoy the repetition of the sewing gesture when others might find it tedious. It’s like a meditation for me, it makes me feel calm and sometimes relaxed.

The first soft sculpture took me a very long time to think through how to make it and how to create the structure inside it. It takes time for me to find the right colour of the fabric even the right kind of the fabric. But after a myriad of practices, now I can sew faster and sometimes without planning. The approximate time for execute a sculpture is at least one month sometimes two, since I can only make it after work or in my free time. 

Finding inspiration takes time as well. To make sure to make the best use of my time, I search for inspiration in my daily life, then keep these ideas in my sketchbook or snapshots with my phone.  I also keep a dream diary to save some funny and wired imagination and inspiration.

Do you have any advice for aspiring textile artists?

It took me some time to find the right material that suits me and my work after experimenting with different kinds of materials and fabrics but it is completely worth it. I personally believe that the right materials will give your work character and make it unique.

Constancy is also a key to further develop your skills and the knowledge of the materials (textiles) that you’re working with. Although that doesn’t mean to discourage to explore and experiment. 

Finally, don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because you can learn a lot from them. Although in my case, a mistake will increase the efforts of making a sculpture, I often find some interesting patterns and stitches from the mistake that I’d probably apply to a future project.  

What are your future art plans? 

Ideally, I want to further develop my embroidery as well as continue my soft sculptures. Hopefully I can manage a way to combine them both to create a new form. But due to the limited space I have in my small apartment in NYC, it is hard and not likely to create more soft sculptures for now. So I’m planning to push myself to create a larger scale of embroidery instead (just wonder where will it lead me to).

https://jameshsieh.com

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