Fleur Woods invited the students of her Joyful Embroidery online course to share an artwork they had created as a result of the course that spoke to the theme of ‘Collected Joy'.

Students were encouraged to share what sparks joy in them and how they translated that to stitch.

We were delighted with the beauty and skill displayed by each of the student’s submissions. Stunning stitch stories were created within mere weeks.

Foreword by Fleur Woods:
“To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with.”
― Mark Twain

What an absolute privilege it is to be writing on Joy at a moment when our world feels increasingly complicated. It makes the past month's work with an incredible group of creatives feel all the more meaningful and relevant.
I’m proud to present this exhibition, Collected Joy, with works submitted from our first-ever Joyful Embroidery course group.
The ethos of the course is strongly aligned with the heart of my work which is to identify and explore the materials, methods and moments that bring you joy and use them as fuel for your creative practice.
Collected Joy represents our collective creative journey and the physical collecting of knowledge, community and inspiration that we have all enjoyed over this magical time.
By connecting to the truth of what brings us joy we can connect authentically to our process.
The more challenging learnings become gifts instead of failures as we move closer and closer to that mind, heart, and hand connection that allows us to fully express our unique creative process.
To see this collection of stitched artworks created by some of the many creatives that participated in the course is both humbling and inspiring. It is clear that they committed to a sustained and challenging practice and embraced the brief, which was to share work that they have created that represents our theme.