Show Notes
In this episode of NeedleXChange I interview Katarina Orolinov. Katarina is a Slovakian contemporary embroidery and textile art artist known for laser-cut perspex panels built from lace and geometric pattern logic. Katarina shares early making (drawing, sewing, textiles clubs) and a schooling route that builds serious technical range (embroidery, bobbin lace, weaving). We dig into heritage vs experimentation, studio life, what plays in the background while stitching, and the closing line: the dream upgrade is a laser cutting machine. Timestamps: 00:00:00 – The origin story: drawing, sewing, and deciding on art early 00:01:25 – Learning the fundamentals: embroidery, lace, weaving (the whole toolbox) 00:03:50 – Choosing your path young: how the Slovak system works 00:09:00 – Getting into art university: tests, live models, and creative tasks 00:13:00 – Heritage, but make it future: what belongs in the work (and what doesn’t) 00:19:00 – Studio life: making for work, making for fun 00:20:10 – What’s on in the background while stitching 00:27:50 – Books and blackwork (Jane Goodwin) 00:32:20 – A personal note: summers with Katarina’s grandmother in a foster-care community 00:35:25 – The closer: “I don’t want that ring. I want a laser cutting machine.” Links: Instagram: katarina_orolinova_art Intro music is Below Horizon by Luwaks via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Support on Patreon Join the Green Room for weekly aftershows, monthly Q&As, and searchable transcripts. Become an Executive Producer to join quarterly roundtables and shape the show's future. patreon.com/c/xstitch/membership Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNews mrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com Social: Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube | LinkedIn
More from NeedleXChange
In this episode of NeedleXChange I interview Haf Weighton, a Wales-based contemporary embroidery and textile artist known for turning place, memory and identity into stitch. This is part two, where we turn to Wales, starting with Arts Council support and moving into language, cultural identity and what it means to be an artist who happens to be Welsh. Haf reflects on bilingualism, creativity and belonging, then we get into the practical side of her work: painting on recycled fabric, hand and machine stitch, and a fine-art-led approach to making, before finishing with books, music, films and an unexpected David Bowie story. Links Instagram: Hafweightonartist Website: hafweighton.art Intro music is New Car Smell by Baegel via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNewsmrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com
In this episode of NeedleXChange I interview Haf Weighton, a Wales-based contemporary embroidery and textile artist whose work is rooted in places, journeys and the details we usually walk past. We talk about the story behind her High Street exhibition, from Arts Council support to a last-minute route to New Zealand and Australia, and the way travel, memory and architecture feed into her work. Along the way we get into sketchbooks, unfinished work, borders, looking at familiar places through other people's eyes, and the part artists can play in bringing new energy to overlooked town centres. Links Instagram: Hafweightonartist Website: hafweighton.art Intro music is New Car Smell by Baegel via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNewsmrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com
In this episode of NeedleXChange, I interview Prisma Andrade, a Chicago-based fiber and textile artist and recent School of the Art Institute of Chicago graduate whose work turns her family's archive into material and asks what makes something sacred. Prisma builds her pieces from spinning, jacquard weaving, dye painting and quilting, treating process as a way to make everyday objects sacred. In Part 2 we trace her path from an arts-magnet high school in Dallas to SAIC, her move from painting into fiber, digital jacquard weaving with laser-cut dyed frames, dye painting and quilting that reads like stained glass, her earlier bodily work, and a quickfire on Sing Street and Magdalena Bay. Links: Instagram: prismacolorhell Intro music is New Car Smell by Baegel via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNewsmrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com
In this episode of NeedleXChange, I interview Prisma Andrade, a Chicago-based fiber and textile artist and recent School of the Art Institute of Chicago graduate whose work turns her family's archive into material and asks what makes something sacred. Prisma recreates artworks and photographs from her family, past and present, using weaving, quilting and dye to disrupt the border between painting and textile. In Part 1 we get into sanctity and what becomes sacred, how framing tells us to pay attention, her family's migration between Honduras, Spain and the United States, nostalgia and inherited memory, the gender hierarchy inside the family archive, and why textiles are the things that survive the chopping block. Links: Instagram: prismacolorhell Intro music is New Car Smell by Baegel via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNewsmrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com
This is Part 2 of my conversation with mixed-media artist Margot Peer. We open with her breakout piece, "Cross Stitch of Me Crying in My Bathroom When I Was 16," scaled up to a three-foot-by-four-foot, full-body stitching experience in yarn, and the accidental "glitch" of cascading threads that became part of her style. Margot talks candidly about what it means to sit and stitch your own crying face, the difference between documenting a real cry and performing one, and the low-resolution "loophole" that let a nude piece slip past Instagram. We also cover animating cross stitch (a six-month stitched video), glow-in-the-dark experiments, needlework's fraught status as fine art at RISD, and a quickfire run through Bladee, Jamie XX, Empire of AI and Where the Wild Things Are. Links: Website: margotpeer.com Instagram: margot.peer Intro music is New Car Smell by Baegel via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNews mrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com