Jessie Deane

Jessie Deane, has been described as a “Needlepoint Rock star”. She uses thread to hand stitch the often decaying industrial and urban landscapes of Melbourne’s West. She is particularly interested in subverting the medium of needlepoint to explore dichotomies between the heavy-duty and the hand-made; between cold, rigid industrial materials and the warm malleability of the thread; between the ‘masculine’ world of industry, and the ‘feminine’ world of craft. Paradox is important in Deane’s work. Drawn to oppositional forces and attracted to counterpoint, Deane explores the contradictions of a landscape that is beautiful and ugly, vast and intimate, urban and industrial and finds contradictions throughout Melbourne’s western suburbs. “I love living in the west but hate breathing the air. I love the urban landscape and the shapes and colours but hate the hum of traffic. I love the view from the bridge but always remember the tragedy that has befallen it”. In 2014, Deane won the Melbourne Fringe Best Visual Arts Award for her exhibition (Thr)edifice. She was a finalist in the inaugural 2015 Victorian Craft Award and shortlisted for the 2017 Footscray Art Prize.