Catalog of Stitches Made by an Embroiderist with Wiry Silver Hair
Catalog of Stitches Made by an Embroiderist with Wiry Silver Hair
A Found Embroidery Stop-Motion Animation
2’30”, in horizontal and vertical formats
Animated October-November 2025, Post-Production April-June 2026
Animation and Titles by Charlie C Wilcox
Score by Todd Umhoefer
Embroidery by Unknown
I found this piece of textile art at an occasional sale in my hometown of Lindstrom, Minnesota, and purchased it for ten dollars. I was immediately struck by traits in this piece that often draw me into embroidery works: a consistency of figures and stitches matched to the subtle aberrations caused by the smallest alterations in one’s handiwork as one makes a series of stitches. There was no provenance to the piece when I found it, but my (admittedly inexpert) research into textile traditions would indicate that this is a form of huipil from Guatemala or Mexico (but I welcome being corrected on this!)
As Jodie Mack’s work with textile filmmaking emphasizes, all accounts of fabric are accounts of global exchange and economies, and one can imagine how this piece made its way from Guatemala or Mexico to rural Minnesota, only to be resold for an exceedingly low sum by folks that know little about it to someone who knows barely more.
I brought this piece with me to my residency at PLAYA Summer Lake last fall, unsure if I would interact with it beyond just appreciating it in my studio space. As I studied it, though, I found that I wanted to see it through my own lens of animation, to catalog and compare the rows of seemingly identical stitches and discover what deeper vivacities and vibrations exist in the fabric, imbued by the work of an embroiderist I would never know. As I was doing this, seeing the stitches in greater detail through the camera lens than I did from looking at it across the room, I discovered those traces of the artist who made the piece, embedded into the fabric: long strands of wiry, silver hair, tucked in with the embroidery floss, occasionally releasing themselves as I fed the textile through the camera’s visual sewing needle. Ultimately, this project is an appreciation for that wiry-haired embroiderist, giving every single stitch they put into this piece a moment, a frame, to be appreciated.
I also want to send my appreciation to Todd Umhoefer, for collaborating with me on the score and being a great friend to talk to about various artistic and musical ideas.
