Louise Riley Embroidery Artist

Biography

born: Detroit, may 1981
bred: London

I got into embroidery when my teacher, on my birthday took me to see an Alice Kettle talk at the V&A. I was utterly in awe, I had just turned 17.
It was a complete turning point for me.
Embroidery, to me, is my medium, I am a literal artist, I don't play with irony, I fell in love with it because of it's texture, I pursued it because of it's meditation and it's creation of time and now it has been a decade and it's simply how I think.
Moving back into sculpture has been a great turning point as my other love was way working with clay. Now I feel I am getting the full fix. It is beginning to add new materials into my work, this is technically and conceptually a very exciting time, I feel like I am in the middle of an explosion of ideas, opportunity and possibility.
I never made it in art school, I tried a few times but, although I had an incredible thirst to create, I felt quite imprisoned by collage. I am happy to keep evolving in my own way. I am always moving forward, even if it is by making mistakes. Having a daughter has defiantly made me challenge myself more.

Artist Statement
I am interested in life's quest. The force that draws us through our thorny path's. I find it fascinating how predictable and startling humans are at the same time. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by how amazing people are, how beautifully designed, something I thought a lot about while breast feeding my daughter, who so neatly fit into the curve of my body- inside and out. These thoughts give me virtigo and I have to convince myself it is all ordinary to get my balance again.
At the moment my work is exploring relationships. It started from a piece I made called "Joined at the Hip and Bent Over Backwards". It was inspired through my conversations (my main inspiration) with some friends, a couple. Through this regular communication fine details and structures are revealed, their dynamic. I imagined them being connected by strings, some connections causing joy and others causing pain and struggle as they seemed to be so balanced. From this I have moved on to an interest not only in couples, but families and from families to communities and from communities to society. Exploring unity, disconnection and their effects.
I have been using the mattress as a part of my work for the obvious reason of its textile, therefore tactileness. The tradition of embroidery on household furnishings cannot be ignored, neither the 3 dimensional presence, they give my figures body, substance, they have a skin as well as insides, it has added an exciting sculptural element to my ideas. The main reason is its universal presence in our lives. Filtered thorough its padding is a history of ourselves much like a tree on mattresses, we spend more than a third of our lives on them and they support us in our death. They have our DNA, they have our blood, sweat and tears. They are a literal infinite memory. A raw portrait.