Qinhua Yao has been a professional embroider for over 30 years, and was fortunate to be born into a family of embroiders from the Jiangsu province.

Her vast experience and knowledge of Suzhou embroidery or Su embroider, which has a long history of over 2600 years and originates in Suzhou, a water town in the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze river, an area made famous not only for its extraordinary environment, but more importantly because of the wonderful expansive range of colours threads that have contributed to the thriving Suzhou embroidery. These colours reflect the intense richness of the environment, which is known as the Pearl of the Orient. These colours also abound in the needlework of my embroidery and allow me to explore the illusion of depth in much the same way that colour informs contemporary and traditional painters, whist exploring
with imagination the complex density of colours that already exist in the nature that I am surrounded by, with a deep understanding of the importance of realism and truth that is found in nature. The artworks are embroided without revealing stitches or knots, as the threads appear almost seamlessly fluid almost like a painters brush, but invisible to the technical demands of the needlework. Su embroidery often uses three to four similar or adjacent colours, that create contours of light, or texture on surfaces and in patterns and allows me to present the natural colour transitions that are found in the harmony of nature. These technical skill particularly interest me as they allow me to explore the space of the surface in the ways we understand and encounter depth in painting. The embroideries often keep a “waterway” when trying to change the depth of the image, by leaving space to make the layers more precise and neat in outline. These ideas are not dissimilar to how painters use negative and positive space on the canvas surface, but with embroidery it seems that each thread functions like a beam of light and what we see is the full affect of the colours that are revealed in the experience of the natural world. My art is embroidery, and with it I explore the many possibilities reflecting upon the natural world in a manner that is creative and enriching, whilst constantly renewing and reinvigorating my pallet with the developments in art with contemporary elements.

Qinhua Yao (姚琴华) is a national artist based in Jiangsu Province. She was born in an embroidery family in Zhenhu, Suzhou. Yao studied with Lu Cun (吕存), a master of Chinese arts and crafts and has devoted herself in Su embroidery for over 30 years. Based on predecessors’ experiences, she constantly embraces new themes by redefining painting with embroidery through her unique observation and production and make the ancient crafts skills more artistic by further input of originality and contemporary elements.