Self-taught. He paints with thread.
A Life Reawakened
Through Thread.
David Poyant first picked up a needle at sixty-six. What began as a tribute to his mother became an entirely new life, and his hand-stitched work now hangs in museum collections and has shown at the Smithsonian.
Now exhibited from New Bedford to Venice.
The Story
David Poyant spent decades in orthotics and retail before he ever held a needle for art. At 66, mourning his mother - a lifelong seamstress - he began to stitch. What started as a way to feel close to her became an entirely new life.
Today he creates hand-sewn thread paintings that treat embroidery as a serious contemporary medium: layered, painterly, and deeply human. Each is built stitch by stitch over dozens of hours, capturing coastal New England, wildlife, the night sky, and memory itself.
I began with thread as a way to feel close to my mother. What I found was an entirely new life.
The Process
Technology opens the door.
The hand gives it soul.
David uses AI to explore an image - composition, color, atmosphere. Then he leaves the screen behind and renders it entirely by hand.
Artist Statement
I approach each embroidery as a quiet meditation - a dialogue between thread, time, and emotion.
In a world that rushes past beauty, I want my work to hold time still. One stitch at a time.
David Poyant
In Motion
The Artist & The Artwork
Meet David Poyant
The New Bedford Fisherman
Veil Nebula
Fisherman at the Table
Next Chapter
Experience the collection.
Explore the complete portfolio of hand-stitched original artworks, available for private acquisition.