Best Embroiderer Podcasts (2025)

1
Barbara McCraw - Living My Dream 44:18

1h ago44:18

44:18

Today we welcome quilt artist Barbara Ann McCraw. Actually…we welcome her back as we met Barbara in person and interviewed her at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah at her exhibit Life Stories during Quilt Week in 2024. While our conversation was a component of a compilation of stories…we felt that she had so much more to share, hence she joins u…

1
Jaleh Mansoor, "Universal Prostitution and Modernist Abstraction: A Counterhistory" (Duke UP, 2025) 1:23:13

32m ago1:23:13

1:23:13

Join me for conversation with Dr. Jaleh Mansoor (Associate Professor of Art History in the Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory, University of British Columbia) about her book Universal Prostitution and Modernist Abstraction: A Counterhistory (Duke University Press, 2025). Our discussion brought us to topics like the artists’ muse, the…

1
Andrew Griebeler, "Botanical Icons: Critical Practices of Illustration in the Premodern Mediterranean" (U Chicago Press, 2024) 1:04:24

7d ago1:04:24

1:04:24

A richly illustrated account of how premodern botanical illustrations document evolving knowledge about plants and the ways they were studied in the past. Botanical Icons: Critical Practices of Illustration in the Premodern Mediterranean (U Chicago Press, 2024) traces the history of botanical illustration in the Mediterranean from antiquity to the …

1
Alison J. Miller and Eunyoung Park, "Transposed Memory: Visual Sites of National Recollection in 20th and 21st Century East Asia" (Brill, 2024) 36:13

10d ago36:13

36:13

Transposed Memory: Visual Sites of National Recollection in 20th and 21st Century East Asia (Brill, 2024) explores the visual culture of national recollection in modern and contemporary East Asia by emphasizing memories that are under the continuous process of construction, reinforcement, alteration, resistance, and contestation. Expanding the disc…

1
Pat & Walter Bravo – Art Gallery Fabrics. Partners in Every Aspect of Life 44:22

17d ago44:22

44:22

Our guests today come to us from the world of fabric design as we welcome Pat & Walter Bravo from Art Gallery Fabrics- Textile Manufacturer in Miami, Florida. Both born in Buenos Aires Argentina, Pat got the sewing bug beside her mother as she sewed…as she dreamed of painting her world with fabrics. As Pat created a gallery in their home with quilt…

1
Samuel Jay Keyser, "Play It Again, Sam: Repetition in the Arts" (MIT Press, 2025) 1:05:20

11d ago1:05:20

1:05:20

Leonard Bernstein, in his famous Norton Lectures, extolled repetition, saying that it gave poetry its musical qualities and that music theorists' refusal to take it seriously did so at their peril. In Play It Again, Sam: Repetition in the Arts (MIT Press, 2025), Samuel Jay Keyser explores in detail the way repetition works in poetry, music, and pai…

1
Andrea Pappas, "Embroidering the Landscape: Women, Art and the Environment in British North America, 1740-1770" (Lund Humphries, 2023) 48:05

15d ago48:05

48:05

Linking histories of women, relationships to the natural environment, material culture and art, in Embroidering the Landscape: Women, Art and the Environment in British North America, 1740–1770 (Lund Humphries, 2023) Dr. Andrea Pappas presents a new, multi-dimensional view of eighteenth-century American culture from a unique perspective. This book …

1
No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice 55:43

20d ago55:43

55:43

When it comes to Confederate monuments, there is no common ground. Polarizing debates over their meaning have intensified into legislative maneuvering to preserve the statues, legal battles to remove them, and rowdy crowds taking matters into their own hands. These conflicts have raged for well over a century—but they've never been as intense as th…

1
The Sisters...Sue Nickels & Pat Holly. We've Always Played Well With Each Other 49:55

1M ago49:55

49:55

In this special family-themed episode we're delighted to welcome sisters Sue Nickels and Pat Holly, renowned figures in the quilting community. Both have dedicated more than four decades to the art of quilting, earning numerous accolades and inspiring countless enthusiasts worldwide. Pat Holly was born in Lafayette, Indiana, during her father's te…

1
Eike Exner, "Comics and the Origins of Manga: A Revisionist History" (Rutgers UP, 2021) 46:34

26d ago46:34

46:34

Japanese comics, commonly known as manga, are a global sensation. Critics, scholars, and everyday readers have often viewed this artform through an Orientalist framework, treating manga as the exotic antithesis to American and European comics. In reality, the history of manga is deeply intertwined with Japan’s avid importation of Western technology…

1
Farouk Yahya, "Magic and Divination in Malay Illustrated Manuscripts" (Brill, 2015) 32:26

1M ago32:26

32:26

Magic and Divination in Malay Illustrated Manuscripts (Brill, 2015) offers an integrated study of the texts and images of illustrated Malay manuscripts on magic and divination from private and public collections in Malaysia, the UK and Indonesia. Containing some of the rare examples of Malay painting, these manuscripts provide direct evidence for t…

1
Faith Tibble, "Crown of Thorns: Humble Gods and Humiliated Kings" (T&T Clark, 2025) 41:51

1M ago41:51

41:51

Jesus' Crown of Thorns has become one of the most ubiquitous features of Christian religious art, but was the original crown anything like the crown of popular medieval art and piety? The image conjured by art history is that of a bloodied, beaten Jesus, wearing a cruelly fashioned, woven crown made of sharp thorns. But this image is deeply mislead…

1
Jaye Early, "Confessional Video Art and Subjectivity: Private Experiences in Public Spaces" (Bloomsbury, 2025) 1:09:15

1M ago1:09:15

1:09:15

Confessional Video Art and Subjectivity Private Experiences in Public Spaces (Bloomsbury, 2025) examines the development of the confessional subject in video art and demonstrates how it can provide a vital platform for navigating the politics of self, subjectivity, and resistance in society. In doing so, it reframes video art – the most ubiquitous …

1
Beth Donaldson – The Quilt Index 40:34

1M ago40:34

40:34

Our guest today is Beth Donaldson, quiltmaker, quilt book author, and Associate Director of the Quilt Index www.quiltindex.org an online repository of quilt information housed at MATRIX: Center for Digital Humanities & Social Sciences at Michigan State University (https://matrix.msu.edu/),East Lansing, Michigan. Born and raised in suburban Detroit,…

1
Stephen J. Campbell, "Leonardo da Vinci: An Untraceable Life" (Princeton UP, 2025) 46:44

1M ago46:44

46:44

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) never signed a painting, and none of his supposed self-portraits can be securely ascribed to his hand. He revealed next to nothing about his life in his extensive writings, yet countless pages have been written about him that assign him an identity: genius, entrepreneur, celebrity artist, outsider. Addressing the ethic…

1
Rebecca Zorach, "Temporary Monuments: Art, Land, and America's Racial Enterprise" (U Chicago Press, 2024) 1:04:41

1M ago1:04:41

1:04:41

Art has long played a key role in constructing how people understand and imagine America. Starting with contemporary controversies over public monuments in the United States, in Temporary Monuments: Art, Land, and America’s Racial Enterprise (University of Chicago Press, 2024), Dr. Rebecca Zorach carefully examines the place of art in the occupatio…

1
Loretta Vandi, "Eufrasia Burlamacchi" (Getty Publications and Lund Humphries, 2025) 47:13

1M ago47:13

47:13

Eufrasia Burlamacchi (Getty Publications and Lund Humphries, 2025) by Dr. Loretta Vandi is a timely exploration of the skilful illuminated manuscripts of Sister Eufrasia Burlamacchi (1478–1548) demonstrates her artistry within this sometime neglected artistic medium. Within the convent walls of San Domenico in Lucca where she lived and worked, Burl…

1
Owen Kelly: A Creative Storyteller With Distinctive Hand Stitched Style 45:01

2M ago45:01

45:01

In this episode, host Susan Weeks sits down with Owen Kelly, a fifth-generation stitcher with over 50 years of experience. Working from his remote home on the SW coast of Ireland, and inspired by the natural beauty of the wild Atlantic coast, Owen shares his colourful creative journey—from traditional family techniques to his innovative “flow stitc…

1
Sinem Arcak Casale, "Gifts in the Age of Empire: Ottoman-Safavid Cultural Exchange, 1500–1639" (U Chicago Press, 2023) 1:11:28

2M ago1:11:28

1:11:28

When the Safavid dynasty, founded in 1501, built a state that championed Iranian identity and Twelver Shi’ism, it prompted the more established Ottoman Empire to align itself definitively with Sunni legalism. The political, religious, and military conflicts that arose have since been widely studied, but little attention has been paid to their diplo…

1
Sarah Bassett, "Style and Meaning in Late Antique Art" (Cambridge UP, 2025) 1:20:15

2M ago1:20:15

1:20:15

How do we best see and understand the art of late antiquity? One of the perceived challenges of so doing is that this is a period whose visual production has been defined as stylistically abstract and emotionally spiritual, and therefore elusive. But this is a perception which – in her path-breaking new book – Sarah Bassett boldly challenges, offer…

1
Harvey Fierstein - Life Only Changes When You're Brave Enough to Say Yes 53:52

2M ago53:52

53:52

Today we have a very special guest. From the stages of off-Broadway to the bright lights of Broadway, from his unmistakable voice to his performances in 30+ movies, Harvey Fierstein has spent a lifetime telling stories that matter. With four Tony Awards to his name—two for writing, two for acting—his work in Torch Song Trilogy, La Cage aux Folles, …

1
"Micaiah Carter: What's My Name" (Prestel, 2023) 39:14

2M ago39:14

39:14

Over the past decade Micaiah Carter has established himself as one of the most exciting and admired young photographers working in the field of portraiture and fashion. With a vision all his own, Carter's images are preternaturally sophisticated. His lighting is intentional but not attention-seeking, and his subjects always seem fully themselves, w…

1
Rahul Rao, "The Psychic Lives of Statues: Reckoning with the Rubble of Empire" (Pluto Press, 2025) 1:00:48

2M ago1:00:48

1:00:48

From Cape Town to Bristol and Richmond, statues have become sites of resistance and contestation of our imperial past and postcolonial present. The Psychic Lives of Statues by Rahul Rao offers an insightful exploration of these global controversies, demonstrating that beneath their surface lie deeper struggles over race, caste, and the politics of …

1
Matt Lodder, "Tattoos: The Untold History of a Modern Art" (Yale UP, 2024) 1:09:31

2M ago1:09:31

1:09:31

There is a pervasive stereotype of tattoo culture as relating to an underworld of scoundrels, sailors, and ne’er-do-wells, yet it has existed in the West as a professionalized art practice for centuries. Drawing on extensive new research and unprecedented access to largely unpublished private archives of photographs, art, and ephemera, in Tattoos: …

1
Maggie M. Cao, "Painting US Empire: Nineteenth-Century Art and Its Legacies" (U Chicago Press, 2025) 42:53

2M ago42:53

42:53

Painting US Empire: Nineteenth-Century Art and Its Legacies (University of Chicago Press, 2025) by Dr. Maggie Cao is the first book to offer a synthetic account of art and US imperialism around the globe in the nineteenth century. In this work, art historian Dr. Cao crafts a nuanced portrait of nineteenth-century US painters’ complicity with and re…

1
Inside BERNINA’s Annual Dealer retreat: A Gathering of Passion, Creativity and Community 1:06:25

2M ago1:06:25

1:06:25

Just about 40 miles west of Chicago, nestled in a quiet office and industrial park, you'll find the headquarters of BERNINA of America. In one building, the heart and soul of the business hums—sales, marketing, operations, and so much more—where a dedicated team works passionately every day to bring BERNINA’s incredible sewing machines to dealers a…

1
Michael J. Hatch, "Networks of Touch: A Tactile History of Chinese Art, 1790-1840" (Penn State UP, 2023) 1:36:04

2M ago1:36:04

1:36:04

In early nineteenth-century China, a remarkable transformation took place in the art world: artists among China's educated elites began to use touch to forge a more authentic relationship to the past, to challenge stagnant artistic canons, and to foster deeper human connections. Networks of Touch is an engaging exploration of this sensory turn. In …

1
Harriet Atkinson, "Showing Resistance: Propaganda and Modernist Exhibitions in Britain, 1933-53" (Manchester UP, 2024) 37:45

2M ago37:45

37:45

How did exhibitions become a vital tool for public communication in early twentieth century Britain? Showing resistance reveals how exhibitions were taken up by activists and politicians from 1933 to 1953, becoming manifestos, weapons of war and a means of signalling political solidarities. Drawing on dozens of examples mounted in empty shops, work…

1
Jamie Jelinski, "Needle Work: A History of Commercial Tattooing in Canada" (McGill-Queen’s UP, 2024) 54:36

2M ago54:36

54:36

In 1891 J. Murakami travelled from Japan, via San Francisco, to Vancouver Island and began working in and around Victoria. His occupation: creating permanent images on the skin of paying clients. From this early example of tattooing as work, in Needle Work: A History of Commercial Tattooing in Canada (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024) Dr. Jami…

1
Kirsten L. Scheid, "Fantasmic Objects: Art and Sociality from Lebanon, 1920–1950" (Indiana UP, 2022) 1:31:42

2M ago1:31:42

1:31:42

In Fantasmic Objects: Art and Sociality from Lebanon, 1920–1950 (Indiana UP, 2022), Kirsten L. Scheid offers a striking study of both modern art in Lebanon and modern Lebanon through art. By focusing on the careers of Moustapha Farrouk and Omar Onsi, forefathers of an iconic national repertoire, and their rebellious student Saloua Raouda Choucair, …

1
Anna Lise Seastrand, "Body, History, Myth: Early Modern Murals in South India" (Princeton UP, 2024) 44:07

2M ago44:07

44:07

An astonishing variety of murals greet visitors to the temples and palaces of southern India. Beautiful in execution and extensive in scope, murals painted on walls and ceilings adorn the most important spaces of early modern religious and political performance. Scene by scene, histories of holy sites, portraits that incorporate historical figures …

1
Hallie Franks, "Ancient Sculpture and Twentieth-Century American Womanhood: Venus Envy" (Bloomsbury, 2025) 59:41

3M ago59:41

59:41

Ancient Sculpture and Twentieth-Century American Womanhood: Venus Envy (Bloomsbury, 2025) by Dr. Hallie Franks examines the reception of Graeco-Roman sculptures of Venus and their role in the construction of the body aesthetics of the “fit” American woman in the decades around the turn of the 20th century. In this historical moment, 19th-century an…

1
Adam Brand – A Legacy in Bloom: The Story of M&S Schmalberg Flowers 1:01:21

3M ago1:01:21

1:01:21

In this episode, we take a fascinating journey behind the scenes with Adam Brand, the fourth-generation owner of M&S Schmalberg Flowers, the last artificial flower factory of its kind in America. Since 1916, this family-owned business has been handcrafting exquisite fabric flowers that have adorned high fashion, Broadway, Hollywood, and some of the…

1
Christina Kiaer, "Collective Body: Aleksandr Deineka at the Limit of Socialist Realism" (U Chicago Press, 2024) 1:48:43

3M ago1:48:43

1:48:43

Dislodging the avant-garde from its central position in the narrative of Soviet art, Collective Body: Aleksandr Deineka at the Limit of Socialist Realism (U Chicago Press, 2024) presents painter Aleksandr Deineka’s haptic and corporeal version of Socialist Realist figuration as an alternate experimental aesthetic that, at its best, activates and or…

1
Linda Z’s First-Ever Fall Festival of Sewing, Embroidery, and Quilting: Behind the Seams 26:31

3M ago26:31

26:31

Join us as we uncover how this one-of-a-kind event came to life and why it’s already a must-attend gathering for sewing, embroidery, and quilting enthusiasts. Episode Highlights: (1:18) Meet Linda Z – Hear from Linda herself as she shares how the idea for Fall Fest was born and what it took to make it happen. (4:20) Family Legacy – Linda talks abou…

1
Jaqueline Berndt, "The Cambridge Companion to Manga and Anime" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 44:00

3M ago44:00

44:00

In recent years, manga and anime have attracted increasing scholarly interest beyond the realm of Japanese studies. This Companion takes a unique approach, committed to exploring both the similarities and differences between these two distinct but interrelated media forms. Firmly based in Japanese sources, The Cambridge Companion to Manga and Anime…

1
David Graves, "New Realism in Contemporary Israeli Painting" (Austin Macauley, 2023) 49:56

3M ago49:56

49:56

Dr. David Graves is a philosopher, artist, musician and author. He helped found the Academic College of Tel Aviv, where he is Senior Lecturer in Art and Philosophy. In this exciting interview, he talks about his recent book New Realism in Contemporary Israeli Painting (Austin Macauley, 2023), and shares insight on what is true and real about the wo…

1
Hildegard Westerkamp: A Life in Soundscape Composition 44:12

3M ago44:12

44:12

Today we speak to Hildegard Westerkamp, the pioneering composer, radio artist and sound ecologist. The centerpiece of all of her work is a close attention to the sonic environment and its relation to culture. We will listen to excerpts of six soundscape compositions made between 1975 and 2005, all of which reward the close listener–conceptually and…

1
Magdalena Buchczyk, "Weaving Europe, Crafting the Museum: Textiles, History and Ethnography at the Museum of European Cultures, Berlin" (Bloomsbury, 2023) 53:48

3M ago53:48

53:48

Weaving Europe, Crafting the Museum: Textiles, history and ethnography at the Museum of European Cultures, Berlin (Bloomsbury, 2023) by Dr. Magdalena Buchczyk delves into the history and the changing material culture in Europe through the stories of a basket, a carpet, a waistcoat, a uniform, and a dress. The focus on the objects from the collectio…

1
Astrid J. Smith, "Transmediation and the Archive: Decoding Objects in the Digital Age" (Arc Humanities Press, 2024) 42:34

3M ago42:34

42:34

Building on the field of modern archival practice, Transmediation and the Archive: Decoding Objects in the Digital Age (ARC Humanities Press, 2024) explores the possibilities of archival objects. Investigating material as diverse as early modern printed books, death masks, a spirit photograph, and a manuscript choir book, Astrid J. Smith interrogat…

1
Edward Simon, "The Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Heavenly Virtues: A Visual History" (Cernunnos, 2024) 46:32

3M ago46:32

46:32

A companion piece to Pandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology and Elysium: A Visual History of Angelology, Seven Sins and Seven Virtues (Abrams, 2024) by Dr. Ed Simon completes this moral trilogy and finally considers God’s most enigmatic of creations: None of the conundrums of metaphysics are as baroque as the motivations of the human soul. Unl…

1
William Gallois, "Qayrawan: The Amuletic City" (Penn State UP, 2024) 44:51

4M ago44:51

44:51

William Gallois joins the podcast to discuss his latest book, Qayrawān: The Amuletic City, published by The Pennsylvania State University Press in 2024. Qayrawān: The Amuletic City investigates the fascinating history of the Tunisian city of Qayrawān, which in the last years of the nineteenth century found itself covered in murals. Concentrated on …

1
Sally McCollin: Inspiring Creativity Through Textiles, Teaching and Online Embroidery Courses 36:48

4M ago36:48

36:48

In this Stitchery Stories episode, host Susan Weeks chats with Sally McCollin, a textile artist, designer, and educator with a fascinating career spanning publishing, design, and teaching. From early beginnings knitting mohair jumpers for pocket money to working with major craft companies like Patons & Baldwins (now Coats Crafts), Sally has had an …

1
Jean Strouse, "Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers" (FSG, 2024) 36:55

4M ago36:55

36:55

At the height of his career, Sargent painted twelve portraits of the Wertheimer family, commissioned by Asher Wertheimer, a German-Jewish London art dealer who became his greatest private patron and close friend. Their portraits, later gifted to the National Gallery, stirred both admiration and controversy, challenging societal norms. In Family Rom…

1
Vickie Coleman & Allison Rainboth – Quilt Appraisers. For What It’s Worth! 58:25

4M ago58:25

58:25

Meet Our Guests Allison Rainboth grew up in Glendale, CA, just 10 minutes from the Rose Bowl (where she learned to drive in the parking lot!). She pursued graduate studies in biology at UCLA before moving to Wisconsin in 1992. Today, she and her husband are passionate about maintaining their historic home, and she shares her space with three belove…

1
Elizabeth Campbell, "Museum Worthy: Nazi Art Plunder in Postwar Western Europe" (Oxford UP, 2024) 58:41

4M ago58:41

58:41

Art looting is commonly recognized as a central feature of Nazi expropriation, in both the Third Reich and occupied territories. After the war, the famed Monuments Men (and women) recovered several hundred thousand pieces from the Germans' makeshift repositories in churches, castles, and salt mines. Well publicized restitution cases, such as that o…

1
Petya Andreeva, "Fantastic Fauna from China to Crimea: Image-Making in Eurasian Nomadic Societies, 700 BCE-500 CE" (Edinburgh UP, 2024) 1:20:54

4M ago1:20:54

1:20:54

Across Iron Age Central Eurasia, non-sedentary people created, viewed, and considered animal-style imagery, creating designs replete with feline bodies with horse hooves, deer-birds, animals in combat, and other fantastic creatures. Fantastic Fauna from China to Crimea: Image-Making in Eurasian Nomadic Societies, 700 BCE-500 CE (Edinburgh Universit…

1
Elizabeth King and W. David Todd, "Miracles and Machines: A Sixteenth-Century Automaton and Its Legend" (Getty, 2023) 50:56

4M ago50:56

50:56

Miracles and Machines: A Sixteenth-Century Automaton and Its Legend (Getty Publications, 2023) tells the singular story of an uncanny, rare object at the cusp of art and science: a 450-year-old automaton known as “the monk.” The walking, gesticulating figure of a friar, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American …

1
Michelle Renee Hiatt – American Quilter’s Society. Trust the Process 42:01

4M ago42:01

42:01

Our guest today is Michelle Renee Hiatt, Executive Show Director at the American Quilter’s Society. Michelle story is a remarkable blend of professional achievements and creative passion. Raised in South Jersey by her single mom and grandmother, Michelle is one of five siblings. After earning her bachelor’s degree in accounting and marketing, follo…

1
(Re)Making Radio with the Shortwave Collective 56:49

4M ago56:49

56:49

The Shortwave Collective describe themselves as “an international feminist group using the radio spectrum as artistic material.” I was first intrigued by their piece Receive-Transmit-Receive, an exquisite corpse of audio, in which members each contributed their own recordings of sounds from across the radio spectrum. But what really affected me was…

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