Needlework Designer - Jan Voich Designs using the Pseudonym of Samantha Taylor.

Jan began designing needlework in 1995 - her extensive Fine Arts training has produced an unusually creative designer.

Having studied and excelled in Fine Arts - since Kindergarten - a logical application for this talent and spatial intelligence turned Jan towards becoming a needlepoint designer. Considered a minor art form - Jan now ignores this topical term to explore the potentials of creation within the extreme restrictions of color and form.

SELF PORTRAIT - JFK AIRPORT - *BETWEEN WORLDS*

*When painting - the artist freely mixes her colors. Yet needlepoint is a much slower - exact proposition as the colors must be died into the medium which is the tapestry wool and other fibers including silks - cottons - metalic threads.

The combination of colors is the major challenge in needlepoint design - as you will not see the results until the piece is completely finished. The composition and form is - of course - of utmost priority - however - the color selections will make the difference in the final creation. A magnificent design may be ruined by choosing just one wrong color.

Each Dot of color must be carefully chosen and placed - the shading is almost painful. My first experiences as a needlework designer produced a hypnotic absorption - which one must be very careful with. I was an ignorant snob to have considered the needle arts a rancid and lesser art form. It is an incredibly fascinating world of artistic and decorative creation.

I enjoy the needle artists who choose my canvases and then interpret them by mixing fibers and the multitude of dimensional stitches - thus evolving the piece into - their own - unique and personal interpretation.

This is a very unusual and exciting form of communication. I truly enjoy receiving photographs of the artists finished work - which you may view in our - NEEDLEPOINT DESIGNS GALLERY.

Please view our Studio - Jan Voich Designs*

• SAMANTHA TAYLOR
• JAN VOICH
• JAN VOICH STUDIO