© Alex BlumhoffThere was a man, he was a jerk and left her with these four everlasting words – “Tak for lort bitch”. Which roughly translates to “Thanks for all your shit bitch”.
Fuelled with anger and emotion these few harsh words became the thing in which all creative and not so creative energies were channelled into. This reaction out of hurt and retaliation became an incredible process of curiosity, obsession, learning and self discipline and simply just rolling with the punches. Four little words that resonated in her ended up being the best gift ever.
After countless type treatments and explorations of the words, she wanted to push things further. It was Julie Jackson’s Subversive Cross Stitch that inspired her to explore lost craft (and very time consuming) techniques such as crochet, knitting, beading, and various forms of embroidery.
There was something very empowering, interesting and wicked about marrying these crafts with such unmannerly content.
The first piece saw her crochet “Tak for lort bitch” (having never crocheted before) in cotton yarn measuring up to almost half a metre in size. The piece would put seasoned pros to shame. And she felt good. Really good. Good about beginning to let things go and good about taking on people’s encouragements to do an exhibition. And so, Be My Valentine, Bitch! was born.
Julie K. Andersen
Countless metres of yarn and paper, a few wooden tangrams, 18,000 plus beads, 203,244 pierced pinholes, 17 shredded pairs of jeans, many a blue dust sneeze and a few hiccups later, she had pieces to show. These stats do not capture in the slightest the incredible effort, work and willpower it took to produce the pieces. A self confessed sickly perfectionist, each piece is meticulously handcrafted with the utmost skill, consideration and beauty.
This talk more than showcased Julie’s extraordinary craftsmanship, but was wonderfully personal and insightful. Her’s is a story about what can happen if you turn the negative in life to positive.
When life gives you lemons, ask for salt and tequila., Danke, bitch, you are brilliant.
Maggie Tang
