Sacred Love & Lives 2023 Collaborations

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Sacred Love/Sacred Lives is a mixed-media embroidery art project I began at the end of 2022. I shared an initial round of artist statements in November 2023. Since then I have continued to work on artist statements for each piece in the series as and am publishing the statements here as I complete them.

I shared about the very first collaboration I did as part of this series, with Spencer AKA @PrairieFruitArts, in a Works in Progress Post from 2023. I have since gone on to collaborate with Spencer again as the cover artists for the first issue of From the QILT2BAG+.

The following are statements about the artists who contributed to the collaborative pieces I made in 2023. Each one of these pieces now belongs to the artist who made the original artwork, sent to them as a gift and expression of gratitude for being open to sharing their work with me.

Don’t let anyone tell you your life and who you love and how you love is anything less than sacred.

Disabled Lives are Sacred, Crosstitutes collaboration

Mixed-media: Acrylic paint, fabric marker and embroidery floss

I have no idea how I came across the work of Crosstitutes, but they kept coming up on my Insta feed and I love seeing their work. They are a duo who make embroidery pieces in colour-themed batches, mostly about feminism and body positivity. Their work is cheeky, subversive, and comes in every colour you can imagine.

In February 2023, they posted an image of three figures in a row with the text “Disabled is not a bad word” and I knew the time had come to reach out about a collab. I had so much fun working with their design and am grateful they said yes to sharing it.

Disabled Lives are Sacred, Marie Hausauer collaboration

Mixed-media: Acrylic paint, markers, fabric markers and embroidery floss

Marie Hausauer is an incredible massage therapist and equally skillful illustrator. Her work is regularly featured in The Seattle Times and The Stranger. While a lot of her work is absurdist and surreal, she also often draws stories highlighting issues of class inequality and police brutality, and the communities fighting for a more just and equitable future.

This seated figure in a landscape is an original design she made for this project.

Disabled Love is Sacred, Ogrefairy collaboration

Mixed-media: Markers, fabric markers, plastic button, and embroidery floss

Michaela Oteri AKA @Ogrefairy is a self-taught digital artist. She has an incredible series of pieces called Disabled Beauty, featuring portraits of disabled activists and ancestors. She also made a bunch of free to print colouring sheets called the Disabled Cuties, which is where I got the two figures I used in this collaboration. I am so stoked that Michaela opted to create the cover art for issue 5 of From the QILT2BAG+.1

Queer Love is Sacred, Aaron El Sabrout collaboration

Mixed-media: Acrylic paint, plastic buttons and embroidery floss.

Aaron El Sabrout, AKA @ToReachPoise was the first artist to reach out to me with a design. Up to this point, I had always been the first to ask an artist if they wanted to be part of this project. This is some original work he created just for this project.

Aaron’s work has an illustrative style and explores themes of queerness, race, and decolonizing. He makes ‘zines and does portraits on commission.

Trans Love is Sacred, Steel Transplants collaboration

Mixed-media: Acrylic paint and embroidery floss.

Aaron AKA @SteelTransplants is a punk artist committed to anti-racism and collective liberation. They make all kinds of art, including collage, jewelry and mixed-media pieces. They also make a lot of digital ‘zines as part of their community building and strengthening efforts.

This was an original design they created just for this project. They also came on board to make the cover art for Issue 3 of From the QILT2BAG+.

I am seeking to collaborate with other artists for this series.

If you have an idea for a design that would work for this series, please get in touch! You can email me: hello ‘at’ kschatch ‘dot’ com or look at the online gallery of this project to learn more.