Review

"Cottage Glee," Computer-Assisted Embroidery.

Andrew Johnson

11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Brookside Art Annual, Booth 12
63rd St. at Brookside Blvd.
Kansas City, MO

Art fair ends today.

Artist's site: http://www.thestitchmaestro.com
Art Annual site: http://www.brooksidekc.org/art-fair.html

The idea of computer-assisted embroidery would have sounded incongruous a generation ago — calling to mind, perhaps, a roomful of grandmothers and maiden aunts all simultaneously working their needles and tapping away at laptops.

Even now, the phrase suggests mass-produced commerce, rather than whimsical, smile-producing art.

Andrew Johnson did get his start in commercial stitchwork, true. His creations now, though, are anything but generic. Johnson, "The Stitch Maestro," blends fun and high technology to produce small, bright works which he shows both locally and at art fairs around the country.

Today, you can catch Johnson  and his art on the final day of the Brookside Art Annual. (His booth is under the main tent, near the north end on the east side.)

Once I sketch and color an image, he explains, I import it into an Art and Stitch program. Using this program as a tool, I build the design stitch by stitch, directing the path of the sewing machine needle. With this technique I can create texture with density, layers and stitch direction. I like to think of this process as painting with stitches. Once complete, I then transfer the design to my sewing machine, which sews it according to where I placed the stitches.

Those designs, sewn onto acrylic-painted fabrics and placed into frames Johnson builds himself from distressed wood, run along light lines: pets, flowers, trees, fanciful houses (like those in Cottage Glee, pictured above) and women with their eyes fixed on something up and to the right of the frame. The frames themselves are integral parts of the pieces, adding a sense of heirloom and history.

The prevailing feeling one gets from Johnson's work, though, is one of pure fun. That's not to say that it doesn't challenge the viewer ... but in this case, it's a different sort of challenge. Each piece offers a wordless dare: C'mon. Just try not to smile.

Go ahead. Give in. Grin. You won't even need computer assistance.

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