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Work Samples

The Healing Three Graces, 2022

The Healing Three Graces, 2022. Freehand machine and hand embroidery on organza and cotton on decor fabric. Stretched in a vintage wooden embroidery hoop. 23" X 23" X 1.5"

Ms. Spoonbill goes to Battle , 2023

Ms. Spoonbill goes to Battle , 2023. Freehand machine embroidery with hand embroidered heads on cotton appliquéd one vintage curtain panel, stretched on a vintage 18" embroidery hoop. Created 2023

Allison Just Wants Toast, 2022

Allison Just Wants Toast, 2022. Freehand Machine stitching on organza, cotton and felt; image transfer on cotton. Framed 13.5" X 10.5"X 2"

Hanging them out to Dry Installation

Hand  Embroidered birds on vintage linen napkins
Hanging them out to Dry, 2020. Hand embroidered birds on vintage linen napkins, hanged on a clothesline in New Germany State Park.

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About Jennifer

Baltimore City

Jennifer McBrien's picture
Jennifer McBrien is a thread illustrator who uses hand and freehand machine embroidery with appliqué techniques on found, vintage, and certified organic fabrics. Her bird women first came as a reaction to the Alexander McQueen’s show: “Savage Beauty" and his incorporation of animal parts in his headdresses and dresses that could not escape her mind. She remembers  her first thought,“ If I wore that I could do anything," like a super woman. Her images begin with ink sketches that are... more

The Three Graces

The Three Graces series happened from a need to find figures to draw from, for my bird woman series. On a visit to the Baltimore Museum of Art, I discovered Dirk de Quade van Ravesteyn ’s “The Three Graces”, dated 1590-1612, and it spoke to me in numerous ways. This was the artwork that  my first piece “The Three Healing Graces” is based on.  The historical symbolism of the three graces varies from a number of positive and uplifting emotions, values and qualities that I wanted for my bird women. 

In “The Healing Three Graces” , I included the bird heads of  the Ruff, the barn owl and the Allen Hummingbird. Each bird represents a quality of joy, beauty and confidence.  “The Fighting Three Graces” uses the heads of , the California Quail , the Northern Flicker and the Eskimo Curlew. These birds represent birds that are literally fighting for their existence due to climate change. I used freehand machine embroidery for the bodies and added hand embroidery for the heads.

Bird Women Call for Action

These works feature my bird women interacting with the scenes found in decor toile fabrics. The toile scenes  reference back to man's gradual  pilfering of our the natural land.  This is where my bird warriors come to educate, watch over and fight for their future. 

With this series, I am again using freehand machine stitching with black thread for the figures on cotton or organza and then I am using hand embroidery to add color, details and form to the birds and bird heads of the figures. 

  • The Guardians, 2022

    embroidery, fiberart
    The Guardians, 2022, featured four figures that are freehand machine stitched. Three of the figures have bird heads and one gracious fish crow woman has wings. Hand embroidery has been used to emphasize the pattern from the narrative toile scene fabric to give these figures a powerful feeling of strength as well as transparency. Bird women are appliqued and reinforced stitched on decor fabric that is stretched and attached to a vintage wooden embroidery hoop measuring 23” X 23” X 1.5” . This piece was created in 2022.
  • The Guardians - detail

    detail of Mockingbird woman showing hand embroidered Tattoos that mimic the toile pattern from the decor fabric.
  • Ms. Spoonbill goes to Battle , 2023

    Ms. Spoonbill goes to Battle , 2023. Freehand machine embroidery with hand embroidered heads on cotton appliquéd one vintage curtain panel, stretched on a vintage 18" embroidery hoop. Created 2023
  • Ms. Sage Grouse and the Woodcock Try to Save the Planet, 2021

    a fiber piece that features freehand machine stitching and painting. A seated Sage Grouse woman is a freehand machine stitched on organza with hand embroidered head that is then appliqued and reinforced stitch on to Toile decor fabric that was originally a proper drape. She sits on a manhole cover created with freehand machine stitching on felt. She sits opposite of an American Woodcock, created by freehand machine painting, creating color and depth by layering color threads. He also stands on a felt manhole cover, freehand stitched on the sewing machine.
  • The Conversation, 2023 in progress

    Freehand machine stitching on organza and cotton, appliquéd onto toile decor fabric. Birds and mockingbird woman head will be hand embroidered . This is a work in progress. Started in January 2023. Dimensions : 23" W X 18" H x 1"D
  • Strategy Meeting, 2023, work in progress

    Freehand machine stitched bird women on organza, appliquéd on toile decor fabric. The three bird woman will have hand embroidered heads rendering each bird : American woodcock. song sparrow and belted kingfisher. Dimension: 23" X 23" X 1"

Watch Children 2022

This series is based on contour line drawings I did of my high school students when I taught  art at a Baltimore County High School over the 30 years. These were part of a series of Paintings that I created back in 2005, and were the last series of paintings that I did before transitioning into a fiber artist. “Watch Children” are my current renditions of these paintings. These teens are bored and tired of having to take over their new task of watching over important environmental specimens . I have played with a variety of bird heads, pattern backgrounds, props and the precious seeds and pollinators needed for our Eco system to continue and for their bird lives to thrive. Each piece features freehand machine stitching ,to imitate my ink drawings, a variety of fabrics for texture , overlay and pattern

  • Allison Just Wants Toast, 2022

    Allison Just Wants Toast, 2022. Freehand Machine stitching on organza, cotton and felt; image transfer on cotton. Framed 13.5" X 10.5"X 2"
  • Michael and Jeffrey Globe Dreaming

    This piece is titled "Michael and Jeffrey Globe Dreaming " features all freehand machine stitching on Michael the Curlew head and Jeffrey the Woodcock headed figures ,stitched on organza , cotton fabric for her clothes is then appliquéd and then the entire figure is appliquéd and reinforced stitched onto the decor cotton fabric. The pussy willow seed pod is also freehand machine stitched on cotton fabric that is then appliquéd and reinforced stitched on.
  • Alison Still Wants Her Toast, 2022

    Freehand Machine stitching on organza, cotton and felt; image transfer on cotton. Framed 13.5" X 10.5"X 2"
  • Stephen Takes A Walk through the Woods

    Freehand Machine stitching on organza, cotton and felt on cotton. Framed 13.5" X 10.5"X 2"
  • Brian Having a Hard Watching Over His Seeds and Nuts

    Freehand Machine stitching on organza, cotton and felt on cotton. Framed 13.5" X 10.5"X 2"
  • Kevin

    Freehand machine stitching on organza, cotton and felt, image transfer on cotton.
  • Brian and The Wren

    Freehand Machine stitching on organza and cotton appliqué on cotton. Framed 9.5" X9.5"X 2"
  • Ruby

    This piece is titled "Ruby” that is based off of my painting contour line drawings of my student Ruby. Ruby has a Green tail Towhee head with a teenager body and is freehand machine stitched on organza and appliqué and stitched on legal paper pattern fabric. The walnuts that she is watching are freehand machine stitched on high quality felt. The diagram of plant transition is freehand machine stitched on the fabric directly. This final piece is stretched on a wooden painting panel and then framed with a pine wood. The dimensions of this framed work is 11.5" X 9.5" X 2"

The Emergence of the Bird Women

My bird women first came as a reaction to the Alexander McQueen’s show : “Savage Beauty”, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the summer of 2011. This show did not affect me right away. I had to go see the show again at the Victoria and Albert in London in 2015. Still not emerging in my work. Not even in my sketches, but that duck wing dress, I could not forget. The incorporation of animal parts in his headdresses and dresses could not escape my mind. I remember my first thought , “ If I wore that I could do anything," like a super woman, a fighter.

Then 2016 happened along with the Trump administration and my world got rocked with constant news blast  and mistrust of my government. Watching the rights of my fellow human beings getting stomped on while environmental protections were snuffed out! I needed strength to fight this evil power, and the bird woman emerged from that vision of Alexander McQueen. I kept seeing myself with an added uniform of wings and helmet at the end of my yoga routines when I would envision my younger self staring back at me. These are the pieces that  grew from this period of rage.  My new characters and plants play and interact within the scenes of the toile and decor fabrics. I’ve used a variety of materials to stitch on, depending of its opaqueness and color. Fabrics range from vintage barkcloth to organic cotton to felt. 

  • Queenfisher Dips Her Toes , 2020

    fiberart, thread drawing, figure, kingfisher, woodcock, freehand machine stitched
    "Queenfisher Dips Her Toes", 2020, 24" X 24" X 1" Freehand machine-stiched bird-women, swimming pool and tree. The Diving board and Ladder are also freehand machined drawn on felt.
  • Ruff Gal's Army , 2021

    fiberart, thread drawing, figure, bird headed women, ruff, birds
    "Ruff Gal's Army , 2021, is a fiber piece that features freehand machine stitching and painting. The Ruff women and the Queenfisher are freehand machine stitched on organza that is then appliquéd and reinforced stitch on to vintage barkcloth fabric. The barn owl and grackle are also freehand machine-stiched with color threads ( along with the queenfisher head) on organic cotton that is also appliquéd and reinforced stitched onto the barkcloth. Two Ginko leaves are stitched on felt and stitched onto the barkcloth.
  • Ruff Gal, 2021

    fiberart, thread drawing, figure, bird headed women, ruff, birds
    "Ruff Gal" is part of a series of hoop pieces that feature collaborative birds, women, and plants interacting amongst vintage decor fabrics. All subjects have been freehand machine stitch on fabrics ranging from organic cotton to organza to felt. All pieces in this section are one of a kind. Ruff gal is a freehand machine stitched on organza that is appliqued and stitched onto vintage decor toile fabric. Flowers surround her are stitched on high-quality wool blend felt.
  • A Nap in the Garden , 2021

    fiberart, thread drawing, figure, bird headed women, birds
    "A Nap in the Garden" is a fiber piece that includes freehand machine stitching with some hand embroidered french knots!. A bird-headed figure is a freehand machine stitched drawn on organza that is then appliqued and reinforced stitch on to vintage barkcloth. A Plantain English plant is also a freehand machine stitched for the outlines and for the color filling with hand embroidered french knots.
  • The Monkey Dance, 2020

    "The Monkey Dance" 2020. 18" X 18" X 1" Freehand machine-stitched crow headed figure, brown pelican and heather on fabric, felt blindfold. Stretched and frame in a vintage wooden embroidery hoop.
  • Dance of the Woodcock, 2019

    fiberart, thread drawing, figure, bird headed women, woodcock. birds
    "Dance of the Woodcock" 2020. 18" X 18" X 1" Freehand machine-stitched bird-headed figure, woodcock and plant on fabric. Stretch ed and frame in a vintage wooden embroidery hoop.

Figures in Thread

Figures in thread have been a focal point for my work since my first piece “Girl with Bird” in 2014. I was doing figure drawing during an open studio session at Maryland Institute ,College of Art to keep my drawing skills up to snuff. I have always enjoyed drawing the figure and using the female figure as my vehicle of communication.  It was only natural for me to challenge myself with stitching the figure on my sewing machine. 

“Lost in Collaboration” is the first piece that felt like home to me. It captured the layers that I used when I painted.  Having the figures and birds collaborate with the pattern background revived my painter past of painting wallpaper backgrounds as my ground, adding layers of line work with color shaping in and out with playful levels of opaqueness of paint , now translate in fabric and felt. 

The two studies of woman based on Works by Richard Deibenkorn are my first works that incorporate felt into the background for color. 

  • Lost in Collaboration, 2018

    fiberart, thread drawing, figure
    "Lost in Collaboration" 2018, 18" X 18" X 1" Freehand machine-stiched drawn figure, trees, and bird on toile fabric and canvas stretched in an 18" embroidery hoop.
  • Lost in Collaboration, detail , 2018

    fiberart, thread drawing, figure
    Freehand machine stitched line work on fabric, felt applique.
  • Dream , 2018

    Dream, freehand machine stitched figure, on  vintage barkcloth
    "Dream" 2020, 20" X 12" X .5" Freehand machine-stitched figure and dandelion on cotton fabric, freehand machine flower on felt, appliqued and reinforced sewn on vintage barkcloth. Stretched and framed in a vintage wooden embroidery hoop.
  • The Sign of the BlueBird, 2018

    fiberart, thread drawing, figure
    "The Sign of the BlueBird", 2020. 27" x 18" x 1" Freehand machine-stiched figure, bluebird, and coneflower plant on fabric, flower diagrams freehand machine stitched on felt, all applique on toile fabric. Stretched and frame in the vintage wooden embroidery hoop.
  • Jenny the Wren , 2019

    fiberart, thread drawing, figure , bird
    "Jenny the Wren " 2020. 16" X 16" X 1" Freehand machine-stitched figure, wren, hibiscus outline, and dandelion plant. Hand Embroidered flowers, on toile fabric. Stretched and frame in a vintage embroidered hoop.
  • Sleeping Seasons , 2014

    fiberart, thread drawing, figure
    "Sleeping Seasons ", 2014 Freehand machine stitching on canvas and vintage barkcloth 15" x 10"
  • After Deibenkorn Girl with Flower Background, 2019

    fiberart , thread drawing, figures, freehand machine stitched
    Freehand machine stitching on canvas and felt. Based on Richard Diebenkorn's "Girl with Flower Background" 8" X 10" , 2019
  • After Deibenkorn, Seated Woman No. 44, 2019

    freehand machine stitching, thread drawing, figure, Deibenkorn
    "After Deibenkorn, Seated Woman No. 44", 2019 . Freehand machine stitching on canvas and felt 8" X 6" x 1.5"

Plant Drawing and Stitching

A series drawings of  plants found in native and planned gardens in the UK as well as the US.  These are my ink drawings from observations that I use for my freehand machine stitched drawings on felt. I started to use these as part of my bird women pieces and pillows, decor pillows, wall pieces and accessories. I am currently working on a new series of accessories ( zipper and eye glass cases) that feature medicinal and symbolic plants and herbs that are beneficial to our planet as well as ourselves. 

Hanging them Out to Dry , 2019-2020

“Hanging Them Out to Dry” is about man’s  influenced on climate change through everyday life activities. The embroidered birds represent a wide range of birds that are on the sliding scale of endangerment: the Piping plover  to the Boat-tail grackle,  the American Woodcock to the Mourning Warbler, the Brown Pelican to the Upland Sandpiper. Stitching them all from hand was done as a  dedication as well as an act of preservation. The vintage napkins, as well as the clothesline, were selected for their function and history. We have traded in the health of our earth for our convenience.  

This is the first work of art that exclusively features my hand embroidery.  Thanks to a course at Penland School of Craft  titled "Stitching as Drawing", I had been updated beyond my pre-teen experience of stitching embroidery kits on long road trips. I was amazed that I did remember most of the stitches.  Now the "kit" is of my own design, with the mission of rendering  living birds. I had to go back to my painting knowledge and color theory to figure out the art of blending colors with thread. Stitching is definitely a three dimensional act and a color thread stitched with or next to each other can blend and make new colors.

To photograph this piece, I took them out to New Germany State park, to find a place that I could install  to bring it to life. I really have to admit there is something amazing about seeing them in this beautiful environment that truly brings them  to life. I plan on adding more birds, with a kingfisher in progress , as well as find new places to install them. 

"Hanging them out to Dry", was originally created for the show : "Unnatural Causes, an Exhibition  about Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss" that was to be at the Charles Mansion in Baltimore, MD,  for the spring of 2020. It has been postpone indefinitely due to the COVID-19 crisis.  Hopefully it will happen at the Peale Center some time in the near future. 

"The Genealogy of My Imaginary Family"..Birdland and the Anthropocene and Beyond, 2017- 2020

In 2017, I turned my little 3” hoop bird portraits into a larger family that became my ancestors in my piece “The Genealogy of My Imaginary Family”. This piece was to fill a case that was in the Peale Museum for the “Birdland and Anthropocene” exhibit.  My family tree was made up of 13 freehand machine-stitched bird portraits, ranging in sizes from 3” to 14,"  canvas stretched circular hooped birds portraits resembling a genealogy tree of human personalities. 

 

I selected a variety of native birds that range from the familiar to the extirpated breeds in Maryland. I wanted them to feel like family portraits, arranged to create a narrative of subtle expressive reactions and silent dialogue. Each portrait is created freehand on the sewing machine. Drawing each mark, value and detail by manipulating the canvas under the moving needle. Each has a final result of a line drawing but with a more labor intensive method that I chose as a dedication towards their preservation.   

I've continued to add more to my "family" throughout the year. My portraits evolve from shape and  size, ruff to helmeted guineafowl, profiles to full body, black thread to color.

My bird portraits have become quite popular with a number of bird lovers who are now purchasing and collecting them. You can see all of my bird portraits here on my online shop
Check out the show  here for the Birdland and the Anthropocene catalogue 
  

  • gallery view

    Gallery view of the Installation in the Peale Centre . Piece was arranged and installed in the white case. Photo by Joe Hyde.
  • the genealogy of my imaginary family

    Freehand machine stitched bird portraits on canvas, ranging in sizes 14" to 3", stretched in embroidery hoops. Arranged to represent or mock a human family ancestor tree. 2017
  • Freehand Machine Drawing of European Starling

    Freehand Machine Drawing of European Starling on my long arm quilting machine, 2019
  • Bird Portraits Hanging to Dry

    I use a fabric marker to draw my bird portraits on the canvas to guide me as I redraw them on my long arm sewing machine.
  • Burrow Owl

    "Burrow Owl" , 10" Embroidery Hoop, Freehand Machine Embroidery
  • Starling

    "Starling" , 12" Embroidery Hoop, Freehand Machine Embroidery
  • Ruff

    "Ruff" , 14" Embroidery Hoop, Freehand Machine Embroidery
  • Eurasian Kestral

    "Eurasian Kestral" , 12" Embroidery Hoop, Freehand Machine Embroidery
  • Green Kingfisher , 2021

    fiberart, freehand machine stitched, embroidery, thread painting, endangered birds, climate change, environmental art
    This Green kingfisher is one of the newest and the first full-color bird portraits of my bird portrait series. This one is more than a portrait that emphasizes his full and brave body! !This drawing is based on a photograph from a bird app. on my iPad. This bird is created completely with thread, layering colors to create the form of the bird. This bird portrait has been created by freehand stitching on a sewing machine! Otherwise, I draw with my sewing machine. There is absolutely No programing involved.
  • Broad Billed Hummingbird , 2020

    fiberart, freehand machine stitched, embroidery, thread painting, endangered birds, climate change, environmental art
    This Broad-billed Hummingbird is one of the newest and the first full-color bird portraits of my bird portrait series. This one is more than a portrait that emphasizes his full and brave body! !This drawing is based on a photograph from a bird app. on my iPad. This bird is created completely with thread, layering colors to create the form of the bird. This bird portrait has been created by freehand stitching on a sewing machine! Otherwise, I draw with my sewing machine. There is absolutely no programming involved.

Covid 19 Mask Project

Covid 19 Mask Project

A series of images that illustrate moments during the height of the Coronavirus. Images are transferred onto cotton then manipulated with hand embroidery.  Each of these have been converted into a mask, which just seems to be the best symbol to represent COVID- 19 in America where the Mask has become as politicized and controversial to our continual divide under the Trump administration.  Since I am talking about social and political current events I have used photographs from various news publications to manipulate. 

Looking through the Lines

My exploration of overlaying lines began in the early nineties. I loved how David Salle made us look through images to discover a new dialoged. I also was highly influenced by his use of juxtaposition. In these early paintings, I was doing a lot of soul searching and reaching out for my vocabulary.  Borrowing most images from childhood textbooks and found imagery. I would project and play with textures, overlaying images and color. I loved painting the projected line. I found it to be quite meditative even when labor intensive. I used this technique through most of my painting career. Finding many similarities in my fiber work. Drawing the traced line, overlaying the lines over the pattern and color shapes of fabric and felt. 

More paintings can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jennyjen42/albums/72157603807985083