Swedish textile artist Annelie Krantz combines paint and hand stitch. Her beautiful pieces hint at some kind of memory and reminiscence. They evolve through an ”organic process, which grows in different directions, falls apart, decomposes and grows again.”

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

I grew up in a small village outside Ockelbo, on the east coast of Sweden and I’m still living there. After moving away to study for a few years, my husband and I moved back and found an old church and it is both my home and studio.

What is your background in textiles?  

At first I had no thoughts about working with textiles. I went to a prepatory art school for three years and during my third year I started experimenting with patterns and printing.

One thing led to another, as I easily gets obsessed with things I suddenly found myself screenprinting textiles on our kitchen table.

I bought an old loom, learned how to weave and then I was accepted to Konstfack, University of arts, crafts and design in Stockholm.

I discovered embroidery and took a bachelor in Textile design, 2001.

Since then I have been working for many years in my studio, experimenting with different materials and techniqes; painting, printing, feltmaking, now mostly painting and embroidery.

What is it about textile as an art form that appeals to you?

I have always been fascinated by different textures and surfaces, how they feel and how they behave… Maybe that’s one part of what makes me love textiles; the tactile feeling, the different expressions of the material.

The constant challenge in experimenting with paint and stitches. Some kind of resistance in the material, I’m not always in charge, the thread and the fabric have a will of their own.

What techniques do you use?

At the moment it is all about hand stitching; the hand and needle, the thread and my thoughts. I also mix stitching with paint, often trying to challenge and suprise both myself and the piece I’m working on.

How do you create a piece?

I’m fascinated by the pendulum between the very slow process of stitching and the fast, flowing process in adding paint.  I don´t do a lot of sketching, but I often make small notes and quick sketches on just about everything; the back of receipts, envelopes and other scraps of paper. They are often forgotten, then I suddenly find them and put them together. I’m always working with some kind of image in my head, a direction, a path, a theme that I want to discover. I do a lot of reading and writing. 

Usually I end up working on something much bigger then I expected. I enjoy the process of not knowing where the work is going when I start, the unexpected process. Making mistakes are part of the process, I try to use them, and am forced into new decitions as the work develops.

How do you describe your work?

I think I would describe my work as an organic process, it grows in different directions, falls apart, decomposes, grows again… Some kind of memories, a reminiscence.

My inspiration comes mostly from nature and science; space, time, memory…

I like to read both poetry and non-fiction, and I also get a lot of inspiration from the material itself, the rythm of the stitching, how the material feels, different qualities of the fabric and thread.

How long does a bigger piece take?

Embroidery takes a long time, but I usually work on several pieces at the same time.

A small piece can be finished quite quickly, but the large ones often take months. I usually stop and start with different pieces and process them in my mind for a long time. I can work with the same theme for years and the work creates some kind of layers in my mind, a memory bank to go back to. I seldom get bored while stitching, even if it’s a long process. I put on an audio book and then the hours just fly by.

Do you have any advice for aspiring textile artists?

Maybe to not be afraid to make mistakes, to go in a different direction than you thought you would and read a lot of books.

https://www.instagram.com/anneliekrantz/