Red Work: The Emperor of Atlantis

Red Work: The Emperor of Atlantis camouflages embroideries of war, injustice, and resistance in a patchwork of antique redwork embroideries. Patriotic imagery, homey domestic scenes and fairy tale characters are juxtaposed with embroideries of traumatic events.

Artist Catherine Heard invites the public to contribute an embroidered motif to this large-scale installation artwork. Participants may choose a traditional design; or may select from the groups of patterns created for this work, including: Ukraine, The War on Terror, The Vietnam War, The Iranian Revolution, Abu Ghraib Prison, Monuments and others.

Following the conventions established in traditional redwork community quilting projects, contributors' initials or signatures are sewn into their embroideries, making their patch individually identifiable in the finished artwork.

The Story of Making Redwork: The Emperor of Atlantis: Hamilton Arts and Letters Magazine, Issue 15.2

Press

CBC News, August 15, 2023 – New redwork installation stitches provoking stories of war and injustice

Redwork Embroidery Patterns

Click on the red squares to view each series of patterns.

Guest Artists

Traditional Patterns