Jill Goldstein
Thrones, 2025
cotton and silk thread on linen
13 x 18 inches , 16.25 x 21.5 inches framed
Jill Goldstein at Esther III
Estonian House
243 E 34th St
New York, NY
May 12-16, 2026
Since 2020, Jill Goldstein has been making complex and commanding embroidered works on linen. Her abstract compositions often start with a near-symmetry that is disrupted by required repairs and undulating shifts in rhythm, placing patterns against patterns and using sewn line as if drawing. The work reflects the unpredictability of life, and her grids, geometries, patterns, lace and line are dictated by the fragility of the threadbare textiles as well as intuition, spontaneity and interruption.
In one work, a lumpy seam on a bed sheet is resolved with three small stitched orange rectangles, and in other works, the irregular curve of a torn edge is juxtaposed with hard geometric triangles, like zig zag teeth. Goldstein reduces six-strand embroidery floss to single and double strands, creating variable size and density. Using brightly colored and metallic thread, she stitches over and over on the same spot, creating formal, sculptural weight, and these solid labored areas contrast with the delicacy of single strand stitches and open lacework. Sewing is an act of moving, joining and uniting things.
Cosmic circles, polka dots, stars, grids, and radiating lines align Goldstein’s work with the meditative and universal qualities of tantric drawings or the rhythmic movements in Louse Bourgeois’ works on paper and textiles, who described the immediacy of drawing as “thought feathers.” And yet, unlike the quick and gestural mark-making of drawing, embroidery is rooted in a physical, sculptural, material meditation. Things can be done and then quickly torn out – the process is marked by starts and stops – and this condition dictates the layering of patterns, border-making, and other strategies of containment and expansion. Each mark is small, staccato and pensive.
@streamandstitch 
