Megan Zaniewski is a self-taught hand embroidery artist who has been creating hand-stitched natural portraits since 2018. She inherited her mom’s love of textile art and her dad’s curiosity about nature. The two interests merge in her art, where she applies thread painting and three-dimensional stumpwork embroidery techniques to capture animal and botanical subjects in realistic detail. Megan’s work explores various textures, stitches, fabric, and stumpwork techniques and the ways they can be applied to bring out the unique characteristics of each subject. Her designs are informed by her observations of nature — usually from her backyard or nearby parks — and the questions that arise from them. These questions inspire further study of the subject and ways to translate her understanding of the subject through needle and thread. Her work has been featured in Colossal and Modern Met, in group exhibitions, and displayed in personal collections worldwide. She currently lives in Biloxi, Mississippi, with her husband and three children, who continually inspire her to view the natural world with awe and wonder. Find her work on Instagram @megembroiders.