Art Therapy major and artist, Tiffany Brzenk, currently has an exhibition of her beautiful embroidery work on display here at Marywood. Her collection can be found featured on the second floor of the Shields Center for Visual Arts, right outside the Suraci Gallery. You can read more about Tiffany’s inspiration in her artist statement featured below.

Tiffany Brzenk: I’m a 22 year old senior undergraduate Art Therapy major at Marywood University. This show was inspired by my grandmothers. My Grandma Black has a sewing brand called “Sew Nice” and taught me how to sew when I was just nine years old. My Grandma Brzenk supported me in every art adventure that I had; she taught me new skills like knitting and crocheting, while she often spoke of her memories from Germany. “Nähen Nett” is the German translation for “Sew Nice” and beautifully combines both of my grandmothers.

While these two amazing women both inspired me to become the artist that I am today, this show is also a legacy of everyone that has touched my life in some way. Tattoos from my family, friends, and classmates have been turned into embroideries. Their stories marked on their bodies by needle and ink, now mark fabric by needle and thread. The theme of borrowing art works from the past and reworking them in new ways often shows through in a lot of my work like from my tattoo enthused embroideries, to my collages inspired by vintage postcards. Another theme I enjoy playing with in my art is gender roles, and what I mean by this is taking the idea that tattoo artists are generally male and relating it to a female dominated art such as embroidery. This really makes the viewer ponder the differences between masculinity and femininity. In addition, I like to play with color and texture, inviting the viewer to move in closer to see the detail of the many works.

– Tiffany Brzenk