Recently a female embroiderer from Suzhou’s Zhenhu Town has gone viral on microblogging platform Weibo -- her “Celestial Wonders” serial works have vividly and splendidly presented various nebulae and constellations through innovative stitches. Let’s take a look!
The internet celebrity is Chen Yinghua, an artist of Suzhou Embroidery. She was born in Zhenhu, the hometown of Suzhou Embroidery, and many of her ancestors were famous embroiderers.
Since she started working in the embroidery industry, Chen has dedicated to developing new stitches and combining the art of embroidery with Chinese and western paintings and photographs. In doing this, she has gradually created a unique style of embroidery and successively won such titles as National-level Senior Artist and Craftsman, Suzhou Master of Arts and Handicrafts and Famous Embroidery Artist.
Back in 2006, Chen was deeply attracted by a set of nebula and galaxy photographs and then she tried to reproduce these patterns with innovative stitches. She employed roughly ten kinds of stitches and spent six to seven months until Crab Nebula, the first of the series, eventually came into being.
It required a lot of effort to embroider the brightly colored nebulae. Chen had to try out different stitches, pattern sketches and silk threads and started over time and again if she was dissatisfied with anything.
Chen Yinghua’s “Celestial Wonders” were exhibited at the IAU 28th General Assembly in 2012, when the participants from NASA visited Chen many times wanting to purchase her works.
Currently, Chen’s Starry Sky serial embroideries are on display at Chen Yinghua Embroidery Art Museum, Xiuguan Street, Zhenhu Subdistrict, Suzhou New District.
To see the exhibition, you can take SND Tram Line 1 to Xiupinjiebei Station (绣品街北站).
