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Lisa Smirnova uses hand embroidery to make images with the color and visual force of painting, while letting thread add raised, tactile texture. “Painting” is a metaphor for how she approaches embroidery—not a claim that it is her only medium or her current exclusive favorite.
How can embroidery work like painting?
Painting and embroidery are not the same process, but both can build an image through color, shape, and the relationships between marks. In a 2016 Make: profile, Smirnova describes choosing hues much as an artist might with watercolor, then using colored thread to form the image on fabric. The stitches remain visible: instead of a smooth layer of pigment, the picture is made from interwoven strands that give the surface dimension.
That material difference is part of the appeal. In a 2026 interview with .ART, Smirnova explained: “Textile attracts me with its texture and sense of color completeness; a painted surface attracts me with its complex texture and color transitions; and embroidery is responsible for air and tactile appeal.” The quote describes distinct roles for the materials in her practice, not a contest in which one replaces another.
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The 2016 Make: profile describes a process that begins with drawing and gradually turns a sketch into a stitched picture:
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- Sketch on paper. Smirnova starts by drawing ideas.
- Choose and scale a design. She selects a sketch and enlarges it to make an embroidery template.
- Transfer the design. The template is traced onto fabric in pencil.
- Stitch the outline. Thread establishes the shape of the image.
- Fill in the form. She adds color, choosing hues from dark to light, according to the profile.
The result depends on both the color sequence and the accumulation of stitches. Thread does not simply imitate a painted surface: its crossings and relief remain part of what the viewer sees.
What does embroidery add to her wider practice?
Smirnova’s current biography describes her work as spanning textiles, painting, and hand embroidery. It also says that since 2021 she has made textile sculptures and felted and knitted objects. That broader practice makes the “painting medium” phrase most useful as a description of one way she builds images, rather than a complete account of her materials.
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Her project page for VYSHTAVKA describes a 2018 exhibition at the All-Russian Decorative Art Museum, held from September 30 to October 15, with more than 100 exhibits. In the artist’s account, the exhibition showed her work from sketch to embroidered picture and presented embroidery as an independent art form comparable to painting.
How long do her embroidered works take?
The 2016 Make: profile reports that the embroideries it discusses took from three days to three months. Smirnova’s current biography says her works often require several months. These are differently framed descriptions, not a single production schedule: the older range is specific to the works in that profile, while the biography’s wording does not say that every piece takes the same time.
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Who is Lisa Smirnova?
Liza Smirnova (born 1992) is a Russian textile artist whose current biography places her in Lisbon, Portugal. The 2016 Make: profile called her Moscow-based; that is historical location information, not her current base. Her biography also lists exhibitions and collaborations, but her medium is best understood through the work itself: images made across textile, painting, and hand embroidery.
In the 2016 profile, Smirnova summarized her intentions this way: “My work is more emotional than deeply meaningful. I’ve never tried to raise any problems — I try to make it in a way that satisfies me emotionally.” The statement helps explain why the vividness and physical character of the image matter without requiring embroidery to carry a fixed message.
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