Visual Artist
Joyce Ann Mallare
Joyce is an embroidery artist who was born in Baguio and a resident of the city where she established her own business called “Smorgasbord Needleworks”. Her art focuses on embroidery pieces and accessories. Embroidery uses strands of threads or wool to create an image. It expresses and shows oral traditions which are mostly made by women. It enhances and beautifies textile to manifest a symbol, word or image. It may also be used to tell a story about the culture and traditions of one place. Although embroidery has its traditional roots, Joyce incorporates a modern approach while demonstrating in her own way the cordillera’s cultural practices.
Joyce was introduced to embroidery while doing a class project at the age of thirteen. Unfortunately she stopped in order to concentrate on her studies. After she graduated from college and worked part time corporate jobs, she slowed down as she aspired to expand her knowledge in hand embroidery and pursue her passion being an artist at the age of thirty one. She taught herself to improve from what she learned from her elementary school days then developed her own style and technique in embroidery for more than a decade.
The stipulation regarding the materials that Joyce uses made her resourceful due to how she upcycles flour sacks which she acquires from bakeries as her canvas. In embroidery, having different colors of thread is a must with the occasional use of buttons in par on her own artistic methods in embroidery. She buys and orders her threads and buttons together with her tools from craft shops and online retailers. Regarding her tools, it consists of the average needles, embroidery hoops, scissors, pins, cutter and a ruler. As for patterns, she prefers to sketch on paper her visualized desired design with the guide of photo references then paints it using watercolors in order for her to grasp a full understanding on what colors of thread she’ll use.
Joyce’s Works
Once Joyce settles on her sketched and colored design, she starts off by preparing her flour sack canvas installed within the embroidery hoop. The excess outside the hoop is neatly trimmed. She sketches with a pencil on the canvas based on her earlier painted sketched concepts. She darkens the pencil lead lines on the canvas with a fine pen marker acting as her clear guide before sewing the said lines with a black thread. She then fills parts of her design with colored thread using different techniques of stitching such as backstitch, short stitch, long stitch, and running stitch. She repeatedly stitches until the cloth within the embroidery hoop is filled and completely distinct to its original watercolor prototype. Small embroidery projects that are 6 inches in diameter take a week to accomplish while larger projects can last up to six months.
Joyce has an unorthodox style in stitching as she describes it as a “freestyle” approach. Her stitches are spontaneously free flowing. She pertains to her craft as “illustration embroidery” for she doesn’t use patterns and traced designs as she is mostly associated with contemporary embroidery. There are a lot of artists that do the same craft and style in embroidery like hers in the country but there is a small population of embroidery artists in Baguio that is why it’s important for her to continue the tradition of embroidery in the city since embroidery was introduced to the Philippines during the colonial era and practiced since throughout the generations.
Joyce did multiple workshops from elementary students to adults who are interested in the artistry of embroidery. Sharing the knowledge of embroidery to interested individuals may be beneficial for them as it is also a good way to express their inner feelings, emotions and creativity.
The process of Embroidery might get tedious at some point resulting in mental burnouts and exhaustion but with proper rest, the proficiency of an artist improves. As the famous saying goes, “slow and steady wins the race”, Joyce always has her own discipline in pacing herself doing her craft. As long as what she visualizes reaches completion regardless of imperfections, she still considers it a well done project in par with her standards. There will be similarities with what other artists do in embroidery. It has been practiced since ancient times varying from different embroiderers yet Joyce’s unconstrained approach in embroidery developed within her a principle of simple satisfaction, as she sees the beauty in art. It wasn’t the destination but the journey. She enjoys the process of her craft as it is a therapeutic way to express herself. A carefree mindset on the outcome and her fondness for free flowing technique perfectly describes her nature as an artist.
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Joyce Ann Mallare
Location:
Hapi Kullaaw Craft Shop, Ili-likha Artists’ Watering hole, Baguio City