Three years ago, I commissioned a local filmmaker to make a video about my artwork. In this day and age, moving pictures, with spoken word and music seem to be one the most effective ways of communicating information. Daniel and Elise from Undercurrent Productions did such a great job putting together RABBITAT, using material they recorded in my studio and outside. The film has been an indispensable tool in helping tell the story of my artistic journey.
And, I’m happy to share the news that RABBITAT has gone beyond 12,000 views on Vimeo! To celebrate, I am offering a worldwide Giveaway. To enter, please leave a comment on this blog telling me what subject or theme you are drawn to in either making or looking at art. Two winners will be picked at random on July 31st, to win an 8 x 10 print of Slow Work, Fine Work.
print – Slow Work… Fine Work
SALLEY MAVOR 
I have always been drawn to faces, especially very old faces. If you look hard enough, you can see wisdom of the years, life experiences and a range of emotions. Photographs are especially appealing to me.
I am drawn to fiber, whimsy, often miniature, and nature! Been following you for years now! Thank you so much!
I am lately drawn to butterflies and moths, embroidered. I make felt, and hope to try some this week. Love your embroidery!
Hi Salley! That film is awesome! Congrats! I love anything of a vintage nature from the 50’s and 60’s and that goes for art, design, objects, etc. And I also can’t resist bears. 🙂 And I greatly admire your patience so that poster is a delightful reminder of the artistic process and for life in general!
I am drawn to detailed as well as colorful embroidered pieces. Added crochet also makes for a luscious vision.
Embroidery, felting. Making dolls. ;). Love your work Salley.
i love doing embroidery…especially on lacework. i have your books and am anxious to make some of your wee folks. you do such beautiful work.
Just love the processes of “goldwork..crewel…stumpwork…any hand embroidery”. I have found for myself a place where I am happy! I have a renewed interest in my woodlands since I have been exposed to your work… Thank you for your inspiration…
I’m drawn to texture and nature particularily; water,sky and trees.I love your beautiful little people!
Nature, colours, texture and all growing things take my attention. Flowers – all kinds – ‘a weed is but an unloved flower’ are especially interesting to me. I love your little dollies – I must have never matured from the innocence of child’s play.
A bunch of those 12,000 views were mine–I’ve enjoyed Rabbitat many times. Today I tried again to watch it, although my slow internet connection has made me impatient. I did get far enough into it to hear you mention sewing snaps on felt doll clothes, and I can see that you, too, had trolls as a child. I remember that experience, too–sewing snaps on felt troll outfits. Very tiny outfits, and very satisfying it was. Your question is hard to answer, but perhaps it is the suspension of disbelief. When I look at your work it isn’t simply fabric and thread and bits of wood. It’s a fantasy world of people and animals and tiny houses that exist only in our minds. I love that great leap of faith into another world, or with other artists, a time travel experience to visit another place and moment in time in the real world. A successful work of art beckons me to lean in and allow myself to be absorbed by the artwork, while leaving behind the real world, however briefly. Your consummate technical skills aid in the escape to another reality, and I greatly appreciate those fine skills and your love of whimsey.
Blessings to you for finding Daniel and Elise to document your amazing
story, full of creativity, awe and inspiration!
I love being drawn into your magical world and have it validated
and enhanced while holding and reading two of your illustrated masterpieces.
It’s so rare to discover an individual who still honors slow, fine, detailed work.
As a fiber artist, I’m always entranced with any type of needlework as I love
the dimensionality felt through embellishment and detail. The subject of nature,
illustrated with miniature, fictitious characters is appealing to all ages.
Storytelling and illustrating the written word are my passions . . . but to see someone
as gifted as you take this all to another level, leaves me breathless. You touch
places deep within and bring heartfelt memories right back to my aging mind.
I am a Taiwanese, 65years old grandmother, sorry, I do not understand English, but I like your embroidery works, every time I see your work, I tried to look up dictionary, I hope I can understand the article, so I feel very happy.
I am drawn to a number of things having A.D.D it keeps me busy, I am drawn to color texture and rabbits at the moment.
Hello, the movie is great, but it is your work that is awesome. I like to spend time looking for details and what kind of material you used to do each part – so much creativity!
I love looking at art that has mother/child relationships or nature. I love the organic feel of your work that often includes both of these elements!
I have loved and looked at your work many times. I love love love miniatures, and handmade, homemade, things made with love, things made without rushing, just taking time to create something beautiful. Your Paige Turner is one of my favorite examples, and each time I see something else it is my favorite for a time, until the next page turner time. Thank you for the work that you do! It inspires me to make my life better by placing and having little bits and pieces of time here and there in my own life.
I enjoy art of all kinds but I am really drawn to nature in art. I am never so happy as I am outdoors watching birds or putting in my garden. And so I think that is reflected in the art I enjoy most. I spend most of my free time emerged in fiber….I love to knit and now am learning to spin and dye my own fiber using nature from my garden beds. After spending my summer outdoors with my dye pots and wool – I spend my winter knitting with the colors of my garden.
I am enchanted with your felt and embroidery art. Someday I must travel and see it in person.
I love mixed media and fiber art. Anything nature related.
In either the creating of art or observing art, the detail that is exhibited in an art piece is what I find most fascinating. It’s in the finest details that cause me to not just observe the art piece but I find myself mentally unearthing each and every layer which draws me in to the art. I truly appreciate all the time and creativity the artist lovingly expressed no matter what medium is used.
So love your art Salley! I’m a cornhusk sculpture artist and I’ve always said I love the detail in the back as much as what I put into the front of each sculpture.
I love mixed media. Miniatures. And landscapes, old French ones.
I love handiwork and your work is lovely. I am one of a line of women who have enjoyed creating with their hands. I am most happy when making something with my hands. Truly, I think it goes back to the pleasure filled days when my Granny Belu took time and patience to work with me and encourage me to keep trying until I could complete the task. When I look at art I enjoy the completed project and the workmanship that it took to get it finished.
I have just stumbled upon your page and this wonderful video. In the past year or so I have been drawn to hand stitching and recreating the small environments around me in stitch, thread, felt. Slow, laborious, yet deliciously satisfying and appealing to so many of us. As you say in the video, it just comes to you. I think it is meant to happen that way. Thank you for sharing your work. 🙂
I just love any handwork whether quilting, embroidery, knitting etc, nothing better than giving or receiving something hand made.
I just love anything that recreates the very old and more than often forgotten arts of embroidery, felting and anything artistic, especially something to take me back to the early 1900’s.
I love looking at art or quilts that have a lot of detail so I can spend time really looking at all the little things the artist added to make something uniquely their own. Crazy quilts are great at telling a story.
Love your work. It is amazing and I have been watching it since I bought your first book. I like textures and whimsical. My art work is influence by nature.
Michele
First I am always drawn to the amazing detailed perfection that you always produce. I love the messages and beautiful colors. I really love this “slow work, fine work” message. I am always told I do nice work, but I am too slow. I try to explain that it takes longer to do nice work, but some just don’t understand. I love your work!
Nature is the Master of art in my opinion. I continue to be in awe of nature as it presents itself or to see someone’s individual interpretation of it’s beauty.
Colour and texture attract me first together with curves, paisleys in particular, flowers, leaves, butterflies and dragonflies. I am also a fan of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s style and Art Deco.
I love mixed media and fiber art they are my biggest love
Where to start…your work is awesome, fantastical and magic. It takes me back to my childhood fantasies of wee folk. forests, castles and elves!
My passion is miniatures, be they quilts, tiny people or animals. The smaller the better. I also love hand applique. The list is endless!
Never stop doing what you do!!
Your work is truly a work of love that creates works of art. Like yourself, I look at the natural world around me to find inspiration. My main areas of textile art are rug hooking and wet and needle felting. I live near the sea and that is always a place to find and see objects to catch the eye. I take a lot of photos of flowers, rocks, grasses, birds, trees, etc., which I refer to when I need a design idea. I see designs in the lines, shapes, and colours My favourite has always been birds–their colours, feathers, nests, habits, and songs, I think what a dull world this would be if we didn’t have our avian friends. In the simplicity of the everyday world around us I can find inspiration galore.
Thank you so much for all you have given & shown us! Your ceativity has inspired me for years. I love lots of color, embroidery, quilting & am currently mesmerized by dragonflies!
Eu amo todo o seu trabalho artístico.
Passo muito tempo admirando suas peças (nas fotos do seu facebook e dos blogues) que são feitas com muito amor e carinho.
Sou apaixonada pelo seu trabalho.
Handwork amazes me. Quilting, embroidery, etc. things humans choose to do with their own hands.
BIG FAN here! YOur work inspired me 8 years ago, when I first got my hands on the WEE Folk book. My daughter loved the little fairies and people I made. I love textile work for the layers construction. I draw and paint based on the beautiful things around me. Thank you!
I love roses and gardens. I find lots of inspiration in gardens with secret places for rabbits to snuggle in and with bees circling the drowsy flowers. I loved your video. Just wish it was longer 🙂
I’m drawn to woodsy, outdoor themes with flowers and woodland creatures…
I am drawn to farm scenes, especially old English ones where the herb and flower gardens are somewhat overgrown…and the cottage houses are cozy and have vines growing on them. I love your work. You are completely inspirational. I hope that one day, I can see it in person!
Congratulations on 12k!! I love color, interesting compositions, anything with beads, unexpected materials used in unexpected ways.
I am drawn to look at religious art and also imaginative art like fairies.
I first found your work through your book about dolls, but I was hooked by by pictures. I love the compositions that include natural found objects and often find myself with this strong desire to step into your pictures! I am currently fascinated with water color and felt.
I’m drawn to the feel and look of various textures fabrics and embroidery stitches create. That is one of the reasons why I enjoy looking at your artworks so much and their third dimensional quality. …besides being absolutely charming and whimsical.
There aren’t words to describe your work…I love everything you do. Rabbits hold a special place in my heart.
This is a very difficult question to answer, especially because at this point the horizons for what moves me in art are widening! Texture and color are always key. In my own work I often explore simple shapes, such as circles or mandalas, and other geometric forms.
Thank you for this opportunity to respond to your pondering…and I agree that it’s a difficult one to answer. When looking at art, I am drawn to pastoral scenes, often choosing impressionistic ones on which to linger. Those images seem to calm me and remind me of my ancestors from rural England. I also am drawn to themes related to the sea (also in honor of my ancestors and my early years spent at the beach) and to children, since I loved my years of teaching elementary aged children. Such a hard topic to focus on…but it boils down to pastoral scenes, near the beach if possible, which include animals and children! I have always been someone who needs to edit and keep things simple, as you can probably surmise!
I like nature, especially animals, and detail of the colors in the animals. Movement is also a big draw when looking at animals. You pieces are absolutely beautiful, by the way. Thanks, Sally
Salley, I love the way that the book inspires me to take a different perspective on the world around me, to channel my inner bunny spirit, perhaps. Your video brings to life already quite well- animated images and is a feast for the senses! Thanks for sharing.
The video is wonderful, Salley! I’ve been following you since the story in Victoria magazine. I’m drawn to torn, tattered and well-worn items such as fabric, leather, skeletonized leaves, antique & vintage paper…
I’m drawn to many things and it would be difficult to pin it down. Sometimes it is colour, sometimes texture. I think I just appreciate the creative process in many pieces of work, from the whimsical to the abstract to the near perfect rendering of a subject, they all fascinate me.
Oh, I love the video! Thanks so much for sharing. I am really drawn to mushrooms, gnomes and mice. I love doll houses & tiny, small scale things. Years ago I discovered your Felt Wee Folk and made quite a few of your dolls for Christmas presents that year. Everyone loved them! Thank you for such whimsical inspiration!
I’m drawn to all sorts of things but usually words, images, sounds that remind me of days gone by and childhood 🙂
Nature has always been the biggest draw for me. Trees, leafy things, flowers, small animals, insects, birds. The use of embroidery to express these themes is so charming. Thank you for your beautiful work.
I love the world of miniatures. I had a dollhouse as a child and loved making tiny items for it. I am drawn to felt, embroidery and yarn. Seeing your art work brings back so many memories from my childhood.
I have always been drawn to miniature worlds. Your work gives me inspiration to create. It is lovely.
Your art is amazing! I could look at it for hours. (I have!) I love the different textures and the objects you mix together. And all the teeny tiny stitches you’ve done in your lifetime so far — it’s mesmerizing. And it always prods at me “hey you — you used to love embroidery — get back to it, get back to it. . .”. I love whimsy & fantasy. The worlds you create are beautiful. Thanks for sharing it with us. ❤
I started making rag/cloth dolls when I was a teenager but have never like to make faces or realistic “people”. Just a couple of years ago I started creating and stitching birds, butterflies and rabbits. It came so naturally to me that I am amazed each time I finish one. You were the inspiration to embroider and to create birds. I love stitching and dyeing wool fabric for them.
I love the whimsical, the unusual, pieces that make me think.
Florals always draw me as well as dolls of all types of media – no the typical baby doll.
I love your work with fairy tale characters although many of the other pieces attract me as well. Each new work is exciting. Pat Keogh
What a question ! Beauty I am drawn by beauty … In the eye of the beholder. Colours,emotions, details, beauty xxx
My name is Ava and I like to sew with felt. I also like to make your little people. They are awesome:)
I love your use of tiny, beautiful objects from nature, wool felt in beautiful hues and wee folk and fairies. Your creations are so rich and full of beautiful details that provide an infinite ability to inspire creativity and imagination in others. Thank you, Salley ❤
Bright colors and subtle, playful details are what attract me to art.
I have always been drawn to wooden objects, and pyrography. I also enjoy embroidery and knotting, being a “child” of the 70’s. My daughter is a printmaker and I would so love to win that beautiful print for her!
Lovely way to share the love of handwork. Thank you!
Details and line speak to me even more than color, but the emotion invoked in either admiring or creating tops my list of what is important in art
I am personally drawn to trees, especially large old or historic ones, in imagery. Woodlands, clearings, magical places with dappled sunlight.
I love your work and deeply appreciate the sharing you do on your blog – I got a chance to see the Birds piece you did in an art gallery and was mesmerized by it. As an embroiderer myself, the detail was just riveting.
🙂 Linda
I am always incorporating leaves and birds in my work, even when I try to do something different, there they are back in the mix! Thank you for sharing this film. I’m in a bit of a creative funk right now and it was very inspriational…back to the leaves and birds for me!
I love small detailed handwork, making tiny minature dolls and bears. I love the aspect of making something so tiny you have to sew by hand. That was the aspect that brought me to your first book.
I love your work. I hope that sometime you will do a show on the North Shore of MA. “the other Cape” Cape Ann. I love anything miniature I have a collection of miniature items. I am also an embroiderer and I love doing counted cross stitch items.