Threading the Lines of Storytelling, Memory and Hand Stitching
with Patricia Howard
January 14 – February 11, 2027
Course Description
What can a photograph hold that a memory cannot? And what happens when you begin to stitch into a photograph, adding new layers of meaning and uncovering a story that isn’t immediately visible?
In this new online workshop, photographer and educator Patricia Howard explores the space between photography, memory, and personal history, with hand stitching on photographs at the heart of the process. As embroidery experiences a revival in contemporary art, artists are finding new ways to use thread, pattern, color, and texture to transform photographs. Patricia’s own work often considers home and family, drawing from both traditional photographic processes and contemporary digital methods. Here, she invites you to look closely at your own memories and experiences and consider how they might become the foundation for a photographic story.
A photograph can hold more than what appears within its frame. It can hint at what happened, bring forgotten details back into focus, or leave room for the stories that were never captured. Patricia shares a variety of embroidered photographs and photographic projects by contemporary artists that approach personal history in unexpected ways, inviting you to consider how your own images might open the door to memory and storytelling. You can work with your own photographs, family pictures, or found and vintage imagery as starting points for this process.
Across the five sessions, you bring photographs into the process, sharing your work at different stages and receiving feedback from the group. Patricia introduces a selection of embroidery stitches and guides you through hand stitching on photographs, showing how needle and thread can physically alter an image and reveal new layers of meaning.
The goal is to find the photographs, materials, and visual connections that allow a story to unfold. By the end of the workshop, you have a deeper understanding of how photography, memory, and hand stitching can come together in a personal and meaningful way.
Additional Information
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
What You Should Know:
No prior embroidery experience is required. You will need access to a printer or local printing service, such as Walmart, Walgreens, or a photo lab, and photographs printed at 8 × 10 inches or larger. Nation Photo Lab is a good option for online photo printing.
Basic Photoshop skills can be helpful for cleaning up large scans, but they are not required. You can work with found photographs or bring your own. A complete materials list is provided a couple of weeks before the workshop begins.
Special Notes:
Class will meet 9:30 – 11:30 am (Mountain Time) on Thursdays starting January 14 and ending February 11 (five online group sessions). Enrollment is limited to 12 participants.
Zoom Video Conferencing software (available for no charge from Zoom.com) will be used to facilitate the class sessions. Further details will be emailed to registrants.
These live online sessions take place in the standard Zoom meeting format. Students can use their microphone and camera, see and hear the instructor and other students, and participate in live discussion and interaction throughout the sessions.
Santa Fe Workshops always aims to produce a high-quality experience for our online attendees. That said, variables including regional and local internet provider speeds, traffic on Zoom's servers, and your own computing hardware can contribute to a less-than-ideal streaming event. While we do our best to minimize the impact of these variables, they are outside the control of Santa Fe Workshops.
Policies:
View Cancellation and Transfer Policies for online programs.
Recording class sessions using personal devices or third-party tools is not permitted. Session recordings are provided by Santa Fe Workshops and are available to enrolled students for two months after the class. This policy helps protect the intellectual property and privacy of both instructors and students.
about
Patricia Howard is a photographer based in Colorado. She works with alternative photographic processes where her work often focuses on the concepts of family, home, and memory. She has pieces in the permanent collection of Juniata College Museum of Art, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, and others. In 2025, her work was in the top 200 of Critical Mass, a finalist with LensCulture, and she was juried into Review: Santa Fe. Her solo exhibit House to House at Photoworks at Glen Echo National Park was deemed one of “The Ten Best DC Photography Exhibits and Photographic Images of 2019” by Louis Jacobson of the Washington City Paper. She has been awarded residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, the Burren College of Art, Cowhouse Studios, Cill Rialaig, and in France at the Photographers’ Master Retreat. Her work has been featured on the Lenscratch, LensCulture Analog Forever, and Don’t Take Pictures platforms and exhibited at the Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Redline Arts Center, the Torpedo Factory, Ireland’s Rathfarnum Castle, Soho Photo Gallery, and others. Patricia received an MFA in photography from Penn State University.
Website: howardpatricia.com
Instagram: @patriciahoward154
