To Keep On Embroidering

Noëlle Cuppens is a versatile artist who makes the articulation of line the essence of her art. Her work is based on her archive of photographs of varied subjects. These include a collection of photographs of locations such as an empty coach stop, a smoking chimney or a sun-drenched terrace; an archive of past temporary projects, like her workshop in a vacant school building; and her extensive archive of trees and landscape.

These images are then transformed into intuitive play with needle and thread as she creates drawings on felt with the sewing machine. One moment she acts with furious gesticulation, wild loops and elegant threads; the next moment it’s careful articulation to steer the created chaos in the right direction. She scratches and ploughs, weighs and deliberates; a drawer with needle and thread who looks for the balance between control and coincidence.

Cuppens works in cyclic movements: images appear repeatedly in other guises. First as installations, than as ‘thread-drawings’ on felt, and finally transformed into wallpaintings. With time the image feeds itself, completes itself, and gives itself back to the space. That’s when the circle is round.