SciArt September 2024

I’ve been participating in SciArt September for a few years now. Glendon Mellow and Liz Butler came up with some excellent prompts yet again this year, each week on a different theme: horror, sci-fi, fantasy, folklore, and the end. I shared older work based on all the daily prompts.

A banner image promoting the online, month-long drawing challenge, Sci Art September. The image features text and a small drawing of an animal, both on a solid background. The text reads: Hashtag Sci Art September. Month-long art challenge. Year 4, September 2024. Hosted by at Liz Lagomorph. The text also includes a list of prompt words and dates, as follows: 1 Fang, 2 Weeping, 3 Grim, 4 Cursed, 5 Claws, 6 Devouring, 7 Rot, 8 Illuminated, 9 Origin, 10 Scavenger, 11 Stellar, 12 Clone, 13 Electrified, 14 Futurist, 15 Beastly, 16 Sword, 17 Glitter, 18 Knighted, 19 Royal, 20 Enchanted, 21 Destiny, 22 Hidden, 23 Orphan, 24 Mirror, 25 Underworld, 26 Lost, 27 Motherly, 28 Secret, 29 Happily Ever After, and 30 Epilogue. This year the weeks are also broken into themes. The theme word appears above each section of seven prompt words. The week one theme is horror; week two is science fiction; week three is fantasy; week four is folklore; and the final theme is the end.

Horror

Day 1: fang

An excerpt from my video poem ossa . ora (2014), featuring my son’s baby teeth and my animated haiku poetry.

Day 2: weeping

My SciArt embroidery eye poem (2016), showing the venations of the eye with a circular poem.

An embroidery of the venations of the eye stitched in blues, greens, and purples on bone coloured cloth. In a circle outlining the eye is a poem that can be read starting on any word: behind her blue green eyes were fine lace webs so she could see purple mist opening.

An embroidery on bone white linen. There is the faint outline of a hand, fingers apart. The hand is filled with thick dark blue lines intertwining and crossing over. There are finer thin lines in bone white beneath the thick blue lines. At the wrist, the thick blue lines end in strands of thick thread, hanging over the edge of the linen.

Day 3: grim

From my symptomatology series: paresthesia (hand 1) (2016). My first ME/CFS symptom was tingling/paresthesias over my entire body. This was my first attempt at depicting it in embroidery.

Day 4: cursed

The symptomatology of ME/CFS sometimes feels like a curse. For this embroidery, body map (2016), I stitched my ME/CFS symptoms freehand as I felt them over the course of a few months.

An outline of a naked woman is embroidered on linen in the same bone white colour as the linen. She stands legs together, her right hand covering her groin, her left hand, palm up, extended slightly to her side. She looks to the right. Her entire body except for her belly is covered in intricate markings representing different neurological sensations. Her face is a mask of green lines, feathery grey lines cover her shoulders and chest. There is a thick band of intricate burgundy stitching around her waist. Her forearms and hands are covered in thick blue undulant lines. Her right leg has bands of burgundy along the muscles, with small dots around them. Her inner left leg has a thick line of blue running up it, with thin branches spreading towards her outer leg.

An embroidery on deep purple linen. There is a purple outline of a feminine right hand from the side, palm up, fingers curled slightly inward. There are many tiny white French knots covering the fingertips and light blue, gold, and navy French knots on parts of the palm. There are fine filigree lines connecting many of the French knots and white strands of thread strung from each fingertip to an apex above the hand. There is a starburst floating above the palm in white and light blue.

Day 5: claws

My hands are almost always tingling, and sometimes they ache and curl into slight claws as shown in this ME/CFS symptomatology embroidery, push, pull, & tingle (2018).

Day 6: devouring

ME/CFS causes my tongue to tingle and sometimes ache. This symptomatology embroidery is paresthesia (tongue 2) (2018).

An embroidery on black linen. There is the outline of an open mouth with the tongue sticking out. The lips are outlined in a dark pink, the tongue in a paler pink, and the teeth in bone white. There are sections outlined on the tongue in thick blue lines. The tip and sides of the tongue are covered in tiny red, orange and white dots. In the center of the tongue there is an hourglass shape made of tiny pink dots. There are taut lines of thin dark blue thread stretched from the tip of the tongue to the sides, from the sides of the tongue to the lips and palate, and from the palate to the tip of the tongue.

An embroidery of a uterus stitched in black thread on white linen with texture like a woodcut. Inside the uterus, the edges of the endometrium are stitched in bright red thread with long and short stitch in a textured leaf pattern. The centre endometrium is filled with the same texture but in burgundy with thinner thread. The edges between the burgundy and the bright red are filled with single strand satin stitch with curlicue edges. There is an apple-sized half circle fibroid on the left upper area of the uterus and a strawberry sized one on the middle right side. In the centre of the endometrium are some dark burgundy and red beads representing a cancerous polyp.

Day 7: rot

Cancer is a kind of rot. Here is a close up of the uterine polyp that was diagnosed as stage IA endometrial cancer while I stitched this piece a couple years ago. A hysterectomy removed all the cancer and my checkups have been cancer-free since. Bleeding Vessel (2022).

Science Fiction

The upper chest area of a vagus nerve stitched in blue chain stitch on green cotton. An anatomical heart is stitched in two and one strand red whipped back stitch. Around it a bright golden yellow halo in a vesica piscis shape is stitched in single strand thread. From behind the heart emanate bright green/yellow stem stitch curved lines.

Day 8: illuminated

This heart detail from my recent vagus nerve embroidery shows the glow I feel around my heart while meditating. From the wandering ghost (2024).

Day 9: origin

This is my original mitosis embroidery sampler. I recently did a seasonal set of four of these and am writing a pattern for this piece. mitosis sampler (2016).

An embroidered image of a cell dividing into two cells. The colours are muted pastels and each aspect of the cell is done in a different stitch.

A plaster model of a spine and pelvis sites on a shelf in the corner of a white room. The left side of the pelvis is held on with a loose string. A card of an anatomical heart in a jar with seashells sits beside the model.

Day 10: scavenger

My studio is full of all sorts of anatomy-related things. My friend James scavenged this plaster spine and pelvis from a dumpster beside a recently closed chiropractor’s office.

Day 11: stellar

This symptomatology embroidery, stars within, stars without (2017), shows the tingling/paresthesias I currently feel on and around my upper body.

An embroidery on ochre linen, there is the outline of a head and outstretched arms. Tiny blue filigree decorates the face and hands and there are light coloured stars on the chest area and around the neck.

Day 12: clone

My autumn themed mitosis embroidery sampler (2024), for which I’m writing a pattern.

Day 13: electrified

My symptomatology embroidery, she was tributaries (2016), showing the electrical storm I feel in my brain from ME/CFS.

An embroidery on bone white linen. There are many coral-like neurons in the vague shape of a brain embroidered in shades of blue. The bottom section is navy blue and transitions to a lighter blue at the top. The text at the bottom reads: she was tributaries, all electric.

Two reproductive cells dividing embroidered on white linen. The edges of the dividing egg cells and the nucleus membranes are in bluish mossy green split stitch. A circle of light green stem stitch is the cell membrane. The corona radiata is pastel pink zig zag chain stitch. The nucleolus of each cell is in pastel pink bullion stitch. The polar bodies are stitched in mauve single strand back stitch. The cytoplasm is stitched in variegated pink to green thread in a mix of seed stitch and French knots. Lia’s initials are stitched in white whipped back stitch.

Day 14: futurist

Now that it’s autumn, spring feels very far in the future. Here’s my spring mitosis embroidery sampler (2024).

Fantasy

A red & purple organza liver basted onto grey linen. The biliary system with all its branches between the two layers of organza is filled with bilious green. There are small yellow beads on the biliary system inside the smaller lobe. There are white beads sewn on the narrow end of the top organza liver. An arched T shape filled with tight crisscrossing stitches in thick off-white thread separates the large & small lobes of the liver and curves over the top. There are various blocks of text stitched in light grey single strand thread around the image. Some of them are cut off in this photo. They read: roots grow in us. through our landscapes. plexuses. fleshy beasts tethered. By fluid and ligaments. Such a gentle embrace. Beneath our skin. Here is the thing. Laid open. The spells it. A language. Between. this golden ingot. This tailed beast. And its viscous song. What a miracle these spaces. Are what make us whole.

Day 15: beastly

In the poetry for my liver embroidery, tethered by fluid & ligaments (2023), I imagine my liver as a fleshy, tailed beast.

Day 16: sword

A scalpel is like a tiny sword. Here is the cut edge of the mesometrium of the uterus in my embroidery Bleeding Vessel (2022).

A detail of an embroidery of a Fallopian tube & ovary, in black thread on white linen textured like a woodcut. A cyst on the ovary is in clear, purple, & red beads. The cut edge of the mesometrium can be seen clearly.

Day 17: glitter

I wove gold thread through the recurrent laryngeal nerve of my vagus nerve embroidery since it feels bright when I am in a ventral vagal state. Detail from the wandering ghost (2024).

Day 18: knighted

In the 17th to 19th centuries, an embroiderer might be called “a knight of the needle”. Here’s my current embroidery in progress as of 18 September 2024: an iliac vein.

A pelvis, lumbar vertebrae, and part of the iliac vein are sketched in blue marker on white linen. Most of the iliac vein is outlined in grey-green stem stitch. A section on the left branch has been left blank. Some intricate turbulence is being stitched in single strand dark aquamarine backstitch within the iliac vein. An hourglass shaped needle minder reading, “this is taking forever” holds the needle.

An embroidery of a uterus stitched in black thread on white linen with texture like a woodcut. The detail is on the top part of the piece. Inside the uterus, the edges of the endometrium are stitched in bright red thread with long and short stitch in a textured leaf pattern. The centre endometrium is filled with the same texture but in burgundy with thinner thread. The edges between the burgundy and the bright red are filled with single strand satin stitch with curlicue edges. There is an apple-sized half circle fibroid on the left upper area of the uterus. In the centre of the endometrium are some dark burgundy and red beads representing a cancerous polyp.

Day 19: royal

In my imaging, my uterus was crowned in a huge fibroid so I used shiny beads to give it some glamour. Detail from Bleeding Vessel (2022).

Day 20: enchanted

I stitched some asemic writing on this needle-felted finger bone (2020), making it look like an enchanted object.

A life-sized needle felted finger bone in bone coloured wool with rose brown freehand stitching in curves and French knots.

One of Lia's studio shelves. A black plaster anatomical heart vase sits on the left, with a burgundy velvet skeletal hand sticking out of it. There's also a delicate filigree skull on the shelf in front of a tiny curio box with various small items in it. Some science fiction books are also visible.

Day 21: destiny

Some of the anatomical decorations in my studio serve as memento mori. It may seem macabre to point out that every one of us is destined to die, but it’s also a fact that we must all accept eventually.

Folklore

An embroidery on bone-coloured linen. There is a pale outline of an open mouth with a tongue sticking out. The tongue is decorated with slightly darker French knots with curved lines between them. There are long threads extending from the tip of the tongue to lower down on the piece where they cross.

Day 22: hidden

Our tongues are usually hidden in our mouths, and tingling is an invisible symptom. I’ve made both visible in this embroidery, paresthesia (tongue 1) (2016).

Day 23: orphan

The etymology of orphan is from the Greek “orphos” (bereft). When I could no longer sing because of air hunger & fatigue I was bereft. This is she breathed (2018), in which I explore ease of breath.

On a pale natural linen, there is a bone white diagram of a vocal apparatus, trachea, and bronchi/lungs. In between the branches of the bronchioles are small words embroidered in cursive in thin burgundy thread. They read: she breathed. Inhaled. exhaled. she knew. that breathing. was beauty. was the way. inside. to outside. when her breath. tightened. she found. ways. to soften. be still. to allow that. in. of the out. breath. to be. the. way through. she found the throughline. somehow. it. also found her. still. and breathing. deeply. each day was. new. each breath. a. different. path. always. through her. and. throughout her. such a. simple. thing, breath. such a journey. through. trees. and. branches. how the body knows. to still. itself. if we learn how. to. listen deeply.

Two reproductive cells dividing embroidered on white linen. The edges of the dividing egg cells and the nucleus membranes are in light grey split stitch. A circle of light purple stem stitch is the cell membrane. The corona radiata is in dark navy zig zag chain stitch. The nucleolus of each cell is in navy bullion stitch. The polar bodies are stitched in burgundy single strand back stitch. The cytoplasm is stitched in variegated blue/purple thread in a mix of seed stitch and French knots. Lia’s initials are stitched in white whipped back stitch.

Day 24: mirror

Mitosis/cell division is a kind of mirroring. This is the winter version of my mitosis embroidery sampler (2024).

Day 25: underworld

When I have post-exertional malaise (PEM), the hallmark symptom of ME/CFS, I feel like I am sinking down to the underworld. neuraesthenia (2017).

An embroidery on a pale natural linen, there is the pale outline of a woman’s lower legs and feet, heels together, toes apart. From the soles of the feet, thick red/orange lines coil beneath. From the big toes moving upwards, thick blue and off-white lines rise up through the inner calves and branch off at the knees. These lines coil and intertwine in a brain-like shape, and then move back down in wavy lines like a wide skirt around the ankles.

An embroidery of many cells dividing on off-white linen in a bamboo hoop. The colours are mostly deep purples and pinks. The imagery is very detailed.

Day 26: lost

This embroidery of cell division was ruined because the thread I used didn’t have the dye set. Here it is before I washed it and then gave it to my sister-in-law to integrate into her quilting. cell division (2016).

Day 27: motherly

The uterus is the most motherly of organs. Bleeding Vessel (2022).

An embroidery of a uterus stitched in black thread on white linen with texture like a woodcut. The mesometrium spreads like wings, the ovaries are ovals on the mesometrium, and the fimbriae on the ends of the fallopian tubes look like sea anemones. Inside the uterus, the edges of the endometrium are stitched in bright red thread with long and short stitch in a textured leaf pattern. The centre endometrium is filled with the same texture but in burgundy with thinner thread. The edges between the burgundy and the bright red are filled with single strand satin stitch with curlicue edges. There is an apple-sized half circle fibroid on the left upper area of the uterus and a strawberry sized one on the right lower side. Both fibroids are made of red, pink, and cream beads of various sizes. Another strawberry sized section of clear, purple, and red beads is a cyst over the right ovary, and a small section of dark red and purple beads are a polyp inside the endometrium. There are long burgundy strings hanging from the bottom of the endometrium with medium and large red beads on them that extended past the vaginal opening. The initials L. P. are stitched in white on the right side of the image.

An embroidery of an inner ear done in bone white thread on dark purple linen. The centre of the spiral is labeled “nave of vibration”, the body of the inner ear is labeled “plumes of sound”, and the tubes are labeled “windows open.”

Day 28: secret

There is a secret shell inside our heads, listening to secrets whispered to us. This cochlea/inner ear is titled nave of vibration (2017).

The End

An image of an old engraving of a vagus nerve is embroidered on green cotton. The gut is in a large bamboo embroidery hoop. The embroidery of the main nerve lines is done in blue chain stitch in perlé cotton. The brain and some of the face is stitched in the same thread in backstitch. Details in the face are stitched in single strand floss. A bright red anatomical heart is stitched in red whipped back stitch. Around it a bright golden yellow halo in a vesica piscis shape is stitched in single strand thread. Three sets of ribs have are stitched in bright green/yellow stem stitch. There are some tiny details in different colours along some of the nerves. Burgundy roiling with sparse tiny black French knots are stitched in the gut area. The nerve endings in the diaphragm area are lengthened with one and two strand whipped back stitch. Lia’s initials are stitched in green thread in the bottom right.

Day 29: happily ever after

This vagus nerve embroidery explores polyvagal theory (PVT) sensations. PVT has helped reduce some of my ME/CFS symptoms which gives me hope for the future. the wandering ghost (2024).

Day 30: epilogue

My current embroidery in progress as of 30 September 2024: an iliac vein with a stent based on the imagery from my venogram earlier this year.

Thank you for coming on this year’s SciArt September journey with me! Forthcoming is a long post about my process for the Day 29 embroidery above, the wandering ghost.