David Poyant – ICON by ATIM
David Poyant:
A Thread Through Time
David Poyant is a contemporary embroidery artist whose extraordinary thread paintings transform traditional embroidery into a powerful form of fine art.
Based in Massachusetts and inspired by the maritime heritage of New England, Poyant creates each work entirely by hand, using thousands of carefully placed stitches and hundreds of shades of thread to create portraits, landscapes, wildlife, seascapes, and dreamlike visions. From a distance, his works resemble paintings; up close, they reveal an intricate world of thread, texture, light, and movement.
Poyant discovered embroidery at the age of sixty-six, 45 years after losing his mother, a lifelong seamstress. What began as a way to reconnect with her memory became an entirely new artistic life. Self-taught, he developed a meticulous process in which a single piece can require sixty to eighty hours of patient, deliberate stitching.
His work explores memory, nature, human presence, and the quiet stories found in everyday life. Although he may use digital images to explore composition and atmosphere, every finished artwork is rendered entirely by hand.
Poyant is a Smithsonian artist and recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. His work has been exhibited across the United States and Europe, including the Venice International Art Fair and the New Bedford Art Museum, where Veil Nebula entered the permanent collection.
David Poyant’s art invites us to slow down, look closer, and rediscover the beauty of patience. Every stitch carries time, memory, and intention—creating works that are not simply embroidered, but deeply human.
“Every stitch is a moment of presence — a small mark of time, memory, and intention.”
— David Poyant
