Grateful Dead Terrapin Station

Terrapin Station's dancing turtles with tambourines and fiddle are the most whimsical thing in the Dead's catalogue, and they are made for hand-placed appliqué. Stephen Wilson stitches directly through an original vintage record sleeve. Every thread is hand-digitized from a scan of the cover itself, then built up in more than 200,000 stitches over some eight hours at the machine, combining yarn embroidery, photorealistic embroidery and hand-placed appliqué. Each finished piece is signed, framed in clear acrylic at 12" x 12" x 2", and made in the artist's studio in Charlotte, North Carolina. The series is designed to be hung together, so pieces can be added to an installation wall over time.