Stitching Anew

Join Prairie Hatchard-McGill in crafting a fabric collage, inspired by Louise Bourgeois’s work with textiles and her efforts to process difficult emotions through the act of stitching. Participants first select a fabric panel, cut from materials awaiting new life. Onto this base, fibre scraps, buttons, and other sewn details will be arranged and stitched on. Explore unique combinations of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional textures, patterns, and forms to produce a wall-hanging to take home. 

Bourgeois and Hatchard-McGill favour preloved materials, whether their own or those belonging to others. Worn clothing and domestic textiles are pre-charged with human experience, providing invisible yet vital depth to a work.

Materials will be provided, but you’re also welcome to bring along your own textiles to infuse your piece with a lashing of personal significance. 

Photo credit: Prairie Hatchard-McGill

About Prairie

Photo credit: Aileen Chen

Prairie Hatchard-McGill (born 1997) graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts in 2021, and is presently working towards a Master of Fine Arts at Elam. She is interested in ideas of utopia, countercultural histories and intuitive making, which she explores through sculpture, performance and myriad craft processes. Recent exhibitions include à la Tōrea Pango, Mokopōpaki and Laree Payne Gallery (2025), Feminine Rubble, play station gallery (2024), and Sunlighting, Artspace Aotearoa (2023). 

Bamboo kindly donated by Auckland Botanic Gardens.