Meg Pierce Statement

"...a delicate, meditative and peaceful art"


Hand stitching has become the substance and form of my daily life. My hours are spent creating peaceful and complex expressions of interior life in thread. It is solitary and I believe redemptive.


I often stitch on traditionally feminine found vintage linens such as handkerchiefs and tablecloths. They are often worn and frayed by time as we are. The art they inspire celebrates  peace, nuance and delicacy.

My focus has become more intimate as I aged. Early watercolor paintings were inspired by NASA mosaic photos from space. My complex mandala collages using photos and maps are archetypal forms. But recently I use the more personal vintage lace and fabrics, sewing notions, and stitching along with paint on canvas. Three-dimensional expressions have followed.


Beyond a nostalgic appeal of historic fiber, I aesthetically respond to the delicate variations of color and line of embroidery and lace. I do not use these resources ironically. I have come to own this delicacy and its floral femininity as formal qualities. I find inspiration in the complex patterns of vintage lace, its feminine aura and textural richness. I honor the work of the anonymous women who have left us an art of subtlety and quietude. Other influences are the richly decorated Indian “palampore” bed covers of the 18th century. All complex curvilinear floral botanical themes delight me.

However, the grids and muted colors I use form counterpoints to floral arabesques. The repetitive grid and a limited palette reveal a contemporary viewpoint and represent my reverence for Agnes Martin, a personal hero.

This body of work creates a complex visual experience. But on another level the stitching, fabric, lace, string, pins and layers of paint are also my metaphors for interior life. Our spirit is constructed year by year with levels of experience and feeling. They become woven together and defend our center. The intricacy of this web often remains hidden, discovered only upon careful reflection.

I feel that in this later work I have found a way to align a contemporary aesthetic with a deep personal expression of my history and self: a delicate, meditative and peaceful art.


“Fabric is a special category to people- tender, damageable, weak at its edges, and yet life sustaining. In these distinctive features, cloth begins to sound like this singular planet we call home. Cloth operates as as a convincing analogue for the regenerative and degenerative processes of life, and as a great connector, binding humans not only to each other but to the ancestors of their past and the progeny of their future.”

Ann Hamilton