Embroidering Red Wing: stories of home told with needle and thread | Jan 12 – Feb 24, 2024
The Wandering House
The artworks featured in this show function as portals into the Red Wing community and beyond. Embroidering Red Wing is the culmination of a sustained collaboration with multiple organizations and individuals in the Red Wing area. This collaboration started with Cecilia Cornejo’s artist residency at the Anderson Center in October 2022, when she connected with community members to invite them to record their thoughts on home and their concerns and hopes for the future. Thanks to partnerships with Red Wing Arts, Hispanic Outreach of Goodhue County, Downtown Plaza, Red Wing Farmer’s Market, and two of the local high schools, Cornejo recorded audio testimonials with 163 people ranging in age from 6 to 86 years old. The recordings took place in The Wandering House, a former ice-fishing house that was converted into a mobile audio recording studio for the purpose of gathering these stories.
The Embroidery Project Workshop
After combing through nearly 30 hours of audio, in the summer of 2023 Cornejo launched The Embroidery Project and invited community members to embroider phrases from the audio recorded the year prior. Working in close collaboration with Red Wing Arts, we enlisted the support of experienced, amateur, and first-time embroiderers who enthusiastically created visual renditions of the 60 phrases selected. With support from a Creative Individuals Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Cornejo was able to supply materials and organize three free workshops to assist participants through the process. Led by the multi-talented local artist, Dawn Zero Erickson, these meetings helped participants come up with a design, learn basic and advanced stitches, and try their hand at appliqué techniques. The workshops were also a great way to enjoy each other’s company, share ideas, and keep up the momentum.
With most of the pieces completed, the task of arranging them into the Red Wing Community Quilt was taken up by five extraordinary and fearless local quilters: Linda Bang, Lynda Kern, Maureen Nelson, Lorrie Sonnek, and Linda Thielbar. Their roles have been shared all along and include design, whole cloth quilting, detail quilting and piecing, plus handwork and painting.
Embroidering Red Wing also features an interactive touchscreen, that allows the public to listen to the original, anonymous recordings made in 2022, on which the embroidered work is based. This digital replica of the Red Wing Community Quilt also features statements written by the embroiderer reflecting on their experience participating in this project. A special thanks to collaborator, Valentina Guerrero Chala, who designed the program’s interface.
Lastly, the exhibition also includes The Wandering House - Sonic Archive, a repository of testimonials and ambient sounds designed as an exploration of home from a rural perspective. The archive is comprised of testimonials Cornejo has been recording since 2019 with community members in Northfield, Lanesboro, and now Red Wing. The Sonic Archive is a collaboration with Hüseyin Kuşcu, founder of Kakare Interactive, a London-based firm that specializes in the creation of interactive archives and novel platforms.
In the Depot Gallery visitors are welcome to try embroidering with materials provided or take a Storytelling Embroidery Kit home. Storytelling Embroidery Kits are made possible in part by a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council.
Cecilia Cornejo is a fiscal year 2023 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.