Emily Barletta

Emily Barletta is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Through hand embroidery on paper she strives to keep a record of time and the human experience, through the simple act of mark-making and the stitch. She has a BFA from the Maryland Institute College, 2003. Emily received a New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship in 2009 and Pollock-Krasner Grant in 2011.

Artist Statement: I make art because making art makes me happy. I hand sew on paper the way some people write in a journal, it gives me reprieve from the everyday mundane experiences of being a human. Each stitch is an imperfect mark made by my hand. The repetitive act of making these marks creates an intimate and meditative space, and the stitches are the record of it. I am drawn to color, bright bodily reds and flesh tones, as well as colors found in nature. Before this, I crocheted sculptures. When completed, I photographed close up detail shots of the sculptures, which I found more interesting than the sculptures themselves. When I began sewing on paper, I tried to recreate the visual idea of these photographs from memory. Now everything I make is an extreme close up.