Online talk on Monday 11th November 2024
Sophie Levi-Kallin - Sew the Scene
It was a great pleasure to host machine-embroidery textile artist Sophie Levi-Kallin at our Zoom meeting talk and to hear the stories behind the development of her “Sew the Scene” work.
Sophie comes from a talented artistic family who exhibit their diverse work together and with other artists in venues including the Bakery Art Gallery, just off Camden Passage. The work on display at the Bakery Art Gallery is on a rolling exhibition, curated and managed by the artists involved, with at least one of them stewarding during their opening hours from Thursday to Sunday. Sophie has recently taken one of her sewing machines to the gallery so visitors can see the processes involved in creating one of her lovely pieces out of scraps of fabric from old clothes or offcuts.
Sophie’s work is often based on urban London scenes, captured on her camera, initially inspired by “Lockdown” walks around her home and since that time on her walks to work with TfL. She also works on landscapes in other parts of the country, usually familiar to her from holidays, or by way of commission. When Sophie’s three young children started school, she was able to devote more time to her art, with the aim of completing a piece a week!
As a starting point, Sophie aims to capture the feeling of an area in photographs. She focusses on interesting architecture, paying particular attention to the angle of the view (not straight on) and the juxtaposition of one building to another. Sophie also likes to include an element of nature within her urban London landscapes. She often selects elements of several photos in the design of a piece of her textile work, rarely featuring people and cars.
Sophie works from her studio at home; a well organised loft space housing her fabrics, threads and sewing machine. When selecting fabrics, she considers their suitability for elements of her design, e.g., using wool for buildings, corduroy for fencing, shiny fabric for water, and stretchy fabrics for blending colours. Sophie likes to draw the viewer’s eye to a piece, in terms of its perspective and by creating accents of colour, often red.
Sophie explained the process of her work, once designed, from cutting out materials to framing. She often cuts out all the basic pieces of materials, approximately by eye, collaging and layering them for perspective and texture. Sophie will then free machine-stitch the pieces into place with a narrow zigzag, a stretch-stitch or straight stitch, according to the effects she wants to create, using top threads similar in colour to the fabrics she is working on. For some time, Sophie has used a single colour thread in her bobbin, but is now experimenting with a few different colours, drawing attention to the back as well as to the front of a piece of work.
Sophie uses a range of frames for different effects and pricing. She uses simple hand-painted wooden box frames with no glass as well as conventional frames with glass. Sophie is now developing methods of presenting her work between two pieces of glass so that it can be seen from both sides.
As well as exhibiting her work at the Baker Gallery, Sophie has shown her work in group shows and markets and fairs. She has exhibited twice with family members at Burgh House, a Grade 1 listed building in Hampstead, and will be doing this again in 2026. Sophie is very pleased to have had two pieces of her work accepted for the Broderers’ Exhibition 2025; The Art of Embroidery at the Bankside Gallery between 25th February and 2nd March 2025. We will undoubtedly be looking out for Sophie’s work.
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Words © Sue Robinson/CETG 2024
Photos © Sophie Levi-Kallin
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