Elsa Hansen Oldham creates embroidered fiber works with an eccentric array of mini characters extracted from pop culture and history. Her works often portray provocative comparisons of public and religious figures, offering an artistic take on popular events, politics, and contemporary society. Using cross-stitching as a means of communication, Elsa's pieces intertwine tradition and pop culture.
Elsa Hansen Oldham was born in 1983 in Louisville, Kentucky. She attended Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, where she studied outdoor recreation and discovered her love of cross-stitching. In 2008, Hansen Oldham took a position as an Urban Park Ranger in Brooklyn, New York, before assuming an assistant role to artist Tom Sachs. Later, during her collaborations with experimental filmmaker Van Neistat, Hansen Oldham embraced cross-stitching as a means to pass the time during the film editing process. Today, her work is featured in various private collections in the U.S. and abroad. The artist currently lives and works in Louisville, Kentucky.
