French-Spanish-Moroccan visual artist and embroiderer born in Casablanca, Morocco in 1969.
Trained at the École Lesage, the Conservatoire des broderies de Lunéville and with a diploma in Embroidery Arts, I use ancestral embroidery techniques to create mainly textile works, often with an organic aspect, which stand out from the frame and whose reverse side reveals the path taken by the hands.
With an ESAT diploma in Space Design and a degree in Plastic Arts from the University of Paris 1, my artistic practice is multi-faceted.
I use a variety of creative processes - photography, monoprints, silkscreening, sculpture, painting, drawing - as supports and starting points for stories embroidered from both sides of the embroidery loom, with Lunéville crochet hook and needle.
In a meditative rhythm, I embroider on tarlatan gauze, which evokes the medical world, and on fragile paper, to speak of a world that only thread can heal, transform and regenerate. I add pearls and sculpt elements in relief, and the work becomes more precious, organic, mobile, almost alive, escaping from the frame.
I'm interested in the living world, a wonderful world that transcends appearances.
I live and work in Paris, on the heights of Belleville where my studio is located. I am a member of Maison des Artistes, ADAGP, Ateliers d'Artistes de Belleville and Cercle de l'Art - Saison 4.
My work has been exhibited in France, Romania, the USA and Ukraine at international textile art exhibitions, biennials and triennials, and can be found in private collections in France, Spain, the USA and Morocco.
“I grew up on the roads
watching landscapes go by at breakneck speed...
Furtive moments, caught on the fly, to the rhythm of the stopwatch.
Time has stopped under a tree, where we tell each other stories of where we've come from and where we're going. This is where bonds are forged...
A dream of slowing down again, sitting on the ground, changing our point of view, observing the world, rediscovering it, again...
Slowing down again and again, until you perceive the almost invisible movements of the air, feel the wind caressing your soul, breathe in, breathe out, watch the leaves take flight, swirl and gain height...
The gaze finally settles, and the story can take on a new shape...
From my contemplations
are born images
timeless images,
moments captured,
printed,
drawn,
reworked,
enigmas of sorts,
that take shape
as
as the
as the thread
tangles
with
my mixed-race roots
to untangle itself with sewing and embroidery.
And I continue to follow a thread that escapes the frame, inviting the viewer to join me in a meditation on the thread, even if it means redrawing the thread of his or her life...
In short, I dream of a world in which, every morning, we have the chance to slow down time, contemplate life, seize the present moment and draw the thread of our destiny... ”
Stéphanie Olivar
Artistic CV
2024
- November 22-December 30. Group exhibition, LA BELLE ET LA BETE MMXXIV, Galerie L' Aiguillage, Curator: Isabel Bertelot, Paris, France.
- June 13-July 18. Group exhibition, Textile et fil, Galerie L' Aiguillage, Curator: Isabel Bertelot, Paris, France.
- June 1-2. Collective work, 20000 artistes sous les mers ou presque, La nuit blanche de Paris, 23rd edition. Curator: Claire Tancons. Galerie des AAB, Paris, France.
- May 23-26. Ateliers d'Artistes de Belleville open house, Paris, France.
- April 11-15. Group exhibition, Elles exposent, Eglise de la Madeleine, Paris, France.
- April 1-30. Art Month du Cercle de l'art, 102 selected artists. Project by Margaux Dehry.
2023
- June 6-20. Biennial exhibition, The 11th International Mini Textile and Fibre Art Exhibition “Scythia”, Ivano-Frankivs’k, Ukraine. Curators: Ludmilla Egorova, Anastasia and Andrew Schneider. 149 artists, 33 selected countries. Ukraine.
- May 10-30. Textile art triennial, 6th edition of International Triennial of Textile Art – TexpoART 2023 – New Realities. Galeria de Artă ApArte a Universității Naționale de Artă George Enescu. Curatrice : PhD. Miruna Hașegan. Iasi, Roumanie.
2022
- October 2-8. Group exhibition, Les Vendémiaires d’automne, Chemin de traverse. Curator: Christiane Villalonga. 5 selected artists. Saint-Mathieu-de Tréviers, France.
- June 1-15. Textile art biennial: The 14th International Textile and Fibre Art Biennial “Scythia », Ivano-Frankivs’k, Ukraine. Curators: L.Egorova, A & A.Schneider. 98 artists from 34 countries selected. Ukraine.
2020
- Dec 10-20: Group exhibition, Little Big Art, Galerie des AAB. Curator: Constance Martiny Sondag. Paris, France.
- Oct 9-31: Group show, Vill'up, 11 ephemeral galleries. Curator: Joyce B. Paris, France.
- March 7-22. Group exhibition, International Women's Day, 6 Femmes artistes à l’honneur. “Printemps Féminin”. Musée de la Maison Consulaire, Curator: Christine Laborde, Saint-Leu-La-Forêt, France.
2017
- June 19-July 30. Textile art biennial, The 8th International Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary Mini Textile Art « Scythia », Kherson/Ivano, Frankivs’k, Ukraine. Curators: Ludmila Egorova, Andrew Schneider. 132 artists, 33 countries. Ivano Frankvis'k, Ukraine.
- June 19-July 2 Group show, Art Gallery Kherson, Kherson, Ukraine.
- July 17-30 Art Museum Catholic Church of the Holy Virgin Maria Ivano Frankvis'k, Ukraine.
2016
- Sept. 17-18. European Heritage Days 2016 organized by the French Ministry of Culture and the Direction Générale des Patrimoines. Group exhibition, Le Matrimoine, L’étoffe des Femmes, La Maison des Métallos. Curator: Sylvie Cohen, Le Comité Métallos. With works by Louise Bourgeois. Paris, France.
- May 13-30. Solo exhibition, Au fil des arbres, Café Social de Belleville, Paris, France.
- May 13-15. Collective installation, Passeport, Villa Belleville, Paris, France.
- March 3-6. Collective exhibition, Les Nouveaux, Galerie des AAB, Paris, France.
- Collective exhibition, L’amour, Galerie L’Amour, Collectif art Squat Punk, Bagnolet, France.
2015 and before
- 2015 September 4-25. Group exhibition, The Resurrection of The Exquisite Corpse, Artworks Richmond Museum, Galleries & Studios, Manchester Art District. Curator: Helene Ruiz. Virginia, U.S.A.
- 2009 1-15 avril. Collective exhibition, Poisson d’avril, espace Les petits joueurs, Paris, France.
- 2004. Exposition Secrets d’Afrique, Mairie du 17ème arrondissement de Paris, France.
- Works in private collections in France, Morocco, Spain and the USA
- 2024-25. Artist selected for season 4 of the Cercle de l'art - 50 artists selected.
- 2023-24. Artist selected for season 3 of the Cercle de l'art - 102 artists selected.
- 2022. Résidence Les Vendémiaires d’Automne, Saint-Mathieu-de Tréviers, France.
- 2019-present. Resident artist at Atelier Melingue, Paris, France.
- 2017-19. Artist in residence at La Halle Papin, Pantin, France.
- 2020. Guest artist. Marché public négocié workshop art textile, Ecole Municipale d'arts Plastiques Gustave Courbet, St-Denis, France.
- 2017-18. Guest artist. Design and production of a monumental textile work. Call for projects under the departmental plan La culture et l’art au collège initiated by the Département de la Seine St-Denis in partnership with the Association Citoyenneté Jeunesse and Collège Fabien, St-Denis, France.
- 2017-18. Projet Cloth U’Art. Design and production of a monumental participatory textile work with C. Le Runigo, Paris, France.
- 2016. Joint work with Pascale Baud. Exposition The Resurrection of The Exquisite Corpse, France, USA.
- L’évaluation en arts plastiques. Participation in a collective study led by F. Flambart and A. Diot. Diot, commissioned by Agnès Fabre, IA-IPR, 2007-2008, France.
2024
- May 29. Going out in Paris, www.sortiraparis.com
- March 14. Interview Live Instagram, Regards Croisés, Entre artistes
2023
- April 13. Midi Libre, Daily newspaper.
2022
- Oct. 6 Midi Libre, Daily newspaper.
- 12 oct. Midi Libre, Journal quotidien.
- Sept. 29 Midi Libre, Daily newspaper.
2020
- march-april. Dans ma ville, Saint-Leu-La-Forêt's magazine, p 20.
- 2022. C.A.P Arts of Hand Embroidery
- 2022. Broderie d'art - Luneville embroidery conservatory.
- 2018-21. Embroidery - Ecole Lesage, Paris.
- 2006. Master's degree in art research and aesthetics, Université Paris 8.
- 2005. Capes Arts Plastiques
- 2002. Formation aux techniques de fabrication d’accessoires, Centre de Formation Professionnel aux Techniques du Spectacle (CFPTS), Bagnolet, France. (Techniques de sculpture, forge, modelage moulage, terre, plâtre, matériaux de synthèse, résines, latex, silicone)
- 1994. Diploma in interior architecture, scenography and film sets from the Ecole Supérieure des Arts et Techniques (ESAT), Paris, France.
- 2016-present. Visual artist and embroiderer.
- 2006-16. Trainer of visual arts instructors, educational consultant and certified teacher of visual arts and cinema.
- 1996-2005. Head decorator - theater - cinema - advertising film - music video. France, USA, Morocco.
