Cayce Zavaglia was born in 1971 in Valparaiso, Indiana, but she grew up in Australia. She originally trained as a painter, earning her MFA from Washington University in Saint Louis. She switched to embroidery 16 years ago to create a non-toxic studio and to reference a piece she made as a child.
Her work focuses exclusively on portraits of friends, family, and fellow artists. The portraits are all hand sewn using cotton, silk thread, or crewel embroidery wool. From a distance they look like hyper-realistic paintings, but up close the true construction reveals itself. She uses a technique that blends colours similarly to classical oil painting.
A few years ago, she turned one of her embroideries over and saw the back for the first time. She discovered a new image, one that was raw, chaotic, and full of loose ends. This discovery led her back to painting, creating works of these verso images in gouache and acrylic.
“The haphazard beauty found in this verso image created a haunting contrast to the front image and was a world of loose ends, knots, and chaos that could easily translate into the world of paint.”
The production of both front and back images is now the primary focus of her studio work. This process highlights the contrast between our public and private selves. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Saint Louis, and Miami, and is held in collections including the 21c Museum and the West Collection.
Q: What defines Cayce Zavaglia’s artistic style?
A: Her unique blend of embroidery and painting, creating hyper-realistic portraits from thread and then painting the chaotic backs of those works. She explores the contrast between our public and private selves, using hand-sewn thread to mimic the techniques of oil painting and the raw, expressive quality of paint.