Artist Statement
Jo Zotalis is a fiber artist working primarily with hand embroidery on wool felt. Her abstract expressionist designs are inspired by nature, finding patterns that conform to a set of rules. She seeks to find order in the chaos of quantity, merging overwhelming abundance with a balance characteristic of nature's own patterns and equilibrium. Jo's process is slow and meditative. The wool felt provides a calm space of soft texture that absorbs light that contrasts with the reflective cotton thread stitching. Together, the line work of the stitches create movement, shape, texture, and shine, contrasting the light against the soft felt plane.
Handstitching is a process that unfolds slowly, marking the progress of time, exemplifying the mundanity of daily life with each stitch. The wool slowly changes, becoming stiffer with each stitch. There are often as many as 10,000-30,000 stitches in a single piece, each stitch blending into the whole, to create something larger than itself, no longer the mundane moment, but an expression of being.