BIOGRAPHY AND ARTIST'S WORLD
Patricia V. works at the intersection of haute couture hand-embroidery and structural steel welding. The two mediums share a single logic: each one changes how you read the other.
"The world of reality has its limits ; the world of imagination is boundless" - J.J Rousseau
In her work, the metal symbolizes physical power, the warrior side, and the embroidery symbolizes beauty, the feminine body. The duality represented in these two mediums shapes and determines how her ideas are expressed in the art.
The duality of raw metal (masculine, requiring brute strength) and art embroidery (femininity, requiring finesse) perfectly encapsulates her own nature. A woman can be sexy and soft and simultaneously strong and independent ; she is equipped to deal with whatever arises - as Mother Nature is beautiful and resilient, and enduring. These are the qualities that she strives for and that she hopes define her.
She finds inspiration in nature, in all of its diversity, and in the various cultures that she witnessed.
Welcome to her world.....
Patricia Violes, born in 1973, is Franco-American and has lived in Pensacola, Florida since 2020.
Having traveled and lived abroad since childhood, she has taken inspiration from the beauty and diversity of nature on almost every continent. As a former international logistics provider and freight forwarder for 20 years, she has converted her experiences into handmade art.
Life offers opportunities you might not expect. Synchronicity and coincidence are part of it. Trusting your instincts and staying confident, especially in uncomfortable and difficult situations, helps you to grow. She could tell that her life would take an unexpected turn five years ago when she decided to pursue a long-time love of metal craftsmanship.
She remembers stealing the key to her grandfather's shop to play with his metal and tools as a child; fast-forward to 2007, when she met a wrought-iron artist and was attracted to art welding and its potential. Ten years later, she began to experiment with recycled-steel sculptures using MIG and TIG processes.
The path of the needle came through her mom, who was a professional sewer and passionate about fashion and garments. She began in her twenties, teaching herself cross-stitch and traditional embroidery techniques, and always looked forward to different sorts of needlework. In 2021, she undertook to study the art of embroidery used in Haute Couture with a French master embroiderer (Studio Eyral). In 2023, she earned the official diploma in art embroidery in France.
Soon she realized the potential for merging her two interests - art embroidery and metalwork. Thus, she became a mixed-media artist, merging metal, thread, and many other materials into unique art.
About the artist
The reason behind...
Trained in two disciplines, working in one.
About materials
She incorporates the "Luneville hook" (crochet de Luneville)*and needlework techniques in her artistic creations.In her metalworking, she primarily employs the TIG and MIG processes for welding steel. Additionally, she utilizes a plasma cutter to shape and cut the metal.
On one hand, she selects premium materials like Japanese seed beads (e.g., Miyuki and Toho), vintage European glass seed beads, sequins from France and Italy (e.g., Langlois Martin), silk organza, high-quality threads (e.g., Ver a soie), and surplus French leather from well-known fashion houses (e.g., Hermes) among others.
Furthermore, she creatively reuses waste materials such as plastic and fish scales during her leisure time spent fishing offshore, enjoying to repurpose a variety of found objects.