Join MAD Artist Studios alumna Shradha Kochhar for an embroidery workshop inspired by the exhibition Designing Motherhood: Things that Make and Break Our Births.
In this hands-on workshop, participants will explore the duplicate knit stitch—a meditative embroidery technique that allows you to “draw” directly onto a knitted surface. Together, we will transform fabric into canvas, illustrating over knits with patterns that merge tradition, craft, and personal expression. Embroidery has long served as a method to preserve cultural and familial histories. We invite participants to reflect on how handmade objects contribute to shared storytelling and generational memory.
The workshop is designed for all skill levels, from first-time makers to experienced fiber practitioners. It offers a space to slow down, connect with material, and discover the quiet joy of working by hand.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Shradha Kochhar (b. Delhi, India) is an artist and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. Best known for her innovative homespun and handknitted khadi sculptures using Kala cotton, an inherently organic cotton strain indigenous to India. Her work delves into material memory, regeneration, and intergenerational dialogue, researching indigenous cotton varieties in India and the US to explore cotton legacies across time and space. Kochhar’s large-scale sculptures serve as tangible archives of South Asian women's stories, revealing the often-overlooked aspects of invisible labor and collective grief.
Kochhar received her MFA in Textiles from Parsons School of Design, New York. She was awarded the John L. Tishman Environment and Design Award for Excellence in 2021. She is the finalist of the 2022 Dorothy Waxman Textile Excellence Prize and the 2023 Van Lier Fellowship. Her work has been shown at the Melbourne Museum and Houston Center for Contemporary Craft among others. Her work is featured in PAPER magazine, The New York Times, Times of India, British Vogue, Architectural Digest, Vogue, Crafts Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, and others.
Designing Motherhood: Things that Make and Break Our Births is generously sponsored by Ruth Ann Harnisch and the Harnisch Foundation. This exhibition is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Major support for Designing Motherhood has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
