My work has always been about the medium of fabric and thread and how far I can push those in both conventional and unconventional methods. Since the conventional use of thread and embroidery has been seen in wearables, fashion has always been a major influence in my work. In addition to fashion, music has always been a leading influence in my life and for my work. I grew up in the 1970’s and music was all about record albums. This was before the Internet, iPods, CDs, or streaming. 

I remember the way the albums used to feel, reading through the liner notes and mostly admiring the art of the album itself. Album covers themselves were my first art installations. I would display them, show my friends and change them based on my mood or something I just purchased. This was the inspiration behind this series. 

I spent months sourcing vintage record albums and created dozens of prototypes before finally designing these pieces. I hand-selected each album then set out to embroider them. To make the art, each thread must be hand-digitized using digital drawing tools on a scan of the actual album as a backdrop. Every stitch is drawn by hand, one at a time. The embroidery process itself is the most interesting and has to be seen to believe. Each album cover is embroidered directly through the actual paper sleev The albums take up to 8 hours to embroider and can contain over 200,000 stitches. The series is created and designed to be hung together so you can add to your installation wall as you discover new pieces I create. Each of the albums comes with a signed certificate and is framed in acrylic and measures 12" x 12" x 2". 

Stephen Wilson