Stitching Now into Then: Embroidering on Photos

What does it mean to take an ordinary photograph and transform it into something layered, meditative, and new? In this online workshop, Montana-based artist Jane Waggoner Deschner shares her practice of embroidering onto found photographs, a medium she has worked with since 2001 and now developed through stitching.

Everyday photographs of weddings, birthdays, family gatherings, and countless other moments carry the universality of human experience. We don’t need to know the people in a photo to feel a connection. As Susan Sontag observed, “Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation, and fantasy.” This immense visual archive, already numbering in the trillions, becomes an extraordinary resource for artistic expression when approached with needle and thread.

Jane’s practice reclaims and reimagines photographs by adding new layers of meaning through embroidery, while also embracing the contemplative pleasure of hand stitching. In this workshop, she guides you through the process of treating photographs as both image and surface, blending memory, material, and mark-making.

Over four sessions, you explore the work of artists who embroider on photographs and consider how their practices inspire your own. You assemble a kit of tools and materials, make patterns, and prepare photographs for stitching. Three simple embroidery stitches are introduced and practiced, giving you time to build confidence with each session. Homework assignments encourage experimentation and reflection between meetings, while image reviews invite feedback and conversation. The program culminates in sharing and discussing your own stitched photo pieces, highlighting how embroidery transforms everyday images into layered, expressive works.