In this workshop you will explore hand embroidery techniques such as couching and goldwork, combined with dried and pressed flowers from my community gardens to make embellishments. The work explores the meditative processes of both hand stitch and gardening combined.

Please arrive early to visit the exhibition.

All materials included
Open to all abilities
Age 14+

About the artist: 
Elnaz Yazdani is an embroidery artist and educator based in Yorkshire dedicated to sharing textile skills and promoting the importance of embroidery as an art form for the future and for community wellbeing. She has taught embroidery throughout the community, within primary, secondary and higher education as well as community groups and organisations. In 2020 elnaz was commended for the teaching excellence award in embroidery via the Embroiderers Guild and became an Embroiderers Guild Scholar after the successful launch of a virtual embroidery school ‘Embroider Your Future’.

Her practice explores ways of transforming traditional embroidery techniques through choice of unusual materials; she is inspired by industrial and natural upcycled materials and the ways in which she can embellish, connect or transform these items through stitch to develop a surface or form. Her unique embroidery style has allowed her to work across fashion, jewellery and installation contexts since graduating from Manchester School of Art in 2014.

About the exhibition:
The exhibition at Leeds Central Library explores the transformative, enriching and sometimes radical power of gardening. Inspired by the British Library’s major exhibition (2 May-10 August), we are part of a network of 30 library services celebrating gardening through the UK-wide.

From windowsills to allotments, Unearthed: The Power of Gardening explores how the act of gardening can heal and sustain people in a multitude of ways. It reveals how gardening can bring people together, empower communities and shape our relationship with the natural world. It also considers gardening as a form of activism, as a means of challenging land ownership and highlighting social disparities, as well as providing a global story about the movement of plants.