About me

"I have always been a maker, but it is only in the past three years that I have truly found my medium for making art: stitching. What began as a curiosity about Japanese sashiko and boro traditions has evolved into a practice of hand stitching that is equal parts exploration and meditation.

From the rays of light and colour that I stitch on my own shaky photographs, to the calm concentric circles I stitch on repurposed fabrics, to the found objects and mixed textiles I layer and stitch on my textile bricolage, through stitching I have found my creative voice."

Rosemary Burd is a Vancouver artist who found her artistic voice during the pandemic. Her series of embroidered photographs developed from the integration of two very different practices: the energetic manipulation of the camera as she uses intentional camera movement to capture an image, and the calm, repetitive movement of the needle in her hand-stitching as she embroiders the resulting streaks of light and colour with silk thread. Rosemary's textile pieces combine repurposed textiles and found objects to create reverse applique portals and textured bricolage. Rosemary is self-taught in both photography and embroidery.

Rosemary’s first embroidered photos were included in Propeller Gallery’s 2021 Contact Photography Festival Virtual Exhibition, Altered Images by Hand. Since then, she has exhibited her photo-based work in group shows in Vancouver (Pendulum Gallery, Firehall Arts Centre, and Il Museo at the Italian Cultural Centre), on Vancouver Island ( Cowichan Valley Arts Council, Duncan, and Pat Martin Bates Gallery, Victoria), and in Madeira Park, BC (Fibreworks Gallery). In the fall of 2023, Rosemary was curated into a two-person show at the Kay Meek Arts Centre, West Vancouver. She is scheduled to have her first solo show at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery in Qualicum Beach, BC, in 2026. Rosemary’s embroidered photographs have been published in PhotoEd Magazine (Digital Extra, Spring/Summer Issue, 2024) and in The Hand magazine (Issue 42, October, 2023).

Rosemary's textile pieces have been included in group shows in Vancouver (Pendulum Gallery in 2021 and 2024, and This Gallery) and at the Cowichan Arts Centre on Vancouver Island. Her textile triptych, 'where can we find light in this never-ending shade', was published in the Surface Design Association's journal Exhibitions in Print (Fall 2021).