Sorrell Kerrison: Exuberant brush-stroke portraits in stitch

Sorrell Kerrison makes stunning hand-embroidered, Fauvist-style expressionistic portraits. Each image explodes with colour and texture, giving life and movement to the subject’s face, hair and clothing. Her works require huge amounts of patience to complete; even the portrait backgrounds are often entirely hand-stitched.

Sorrell completed a BA (Hons) degree in Television and Radio and spent time working on music videos and documentary films, as a performer and a gig and festivals organiser. She was the singer/songwriter in the band No Plato from 2009 – 2011; the band was named after a W.H. Auden poem she loved. From 2013 – 2017 she was the singer and guitarist in a grunge garage band, Pinot Grigio. Moving into textile art, she combines her love of music and creating art with great passion, making portraits of musicians and other people who have made significant contributions to the people.

In 2017 Sorrell created the album cover artwork for Andrew Hung’s debut solo album “Realisationship” (Lex Records). She was also commissioned by Bolton Museum to create four embroidery portraits of significant benefactors and curators for their permanent collection. These were unveiled in 2018 and are housed in the Chadwick Rooms in the new Egyptology wing. Her work has been featured in the Embroiderers’ Guild Magazine, on the Selvedge blog and in the Stitchery Stories podcasts.

In this interview, you’ll discover how to use your passions in life to spur on your artwork. You’ll discover in detail how Sorrell creates her work.