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Shortly About Me

Zhanna Plaksina

I am an embroidery artist. I create portraits and paintings in machine embroidery and digitize every work myself — each stitch, its direction and colour. My aim is to make machine embroidery a real art.

My «Portrait of Thomas Jefferson» won the title of overall Grand Champion at the international Impressions Awards (USA, 2015). Judge Deborah Jones called it a «masterpiece» (read what the experts said).

Two of my embroidered portraits — «Our Lady of Sorrows of Quito» and a portrait of Pope Francis — were official gifts from Ecuador to Pope Francis (Quito, July 2015). In gratitude for the gifts I received the Medal of the Pontificate of Pope Francis.

My work has been written about in the press of seven countries (see Press). In 2025 my bag «Diva» received a silver diploma at the Artist World Award (Moscow) and was shortlisted for the Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery (London).

Thank you for visiting my site!

Experiences

  • Unique 3-D portraits
    3-D portraits are not only very realistic (a "speaking likeness") but also rare: creating embroidered 3-D portraits is an extremely difficult and laborious process, both technically and artistically.
  • The most important thing is likeness
    A good likeness matters most in a portrait. You can judge the likeness of my portraits here.
  • «Diva» — embroidered bag, 2025
    My first bag, embroidered on all sides: a pop-art portrait of Marilyn Monroe from my own drawing, an embroidered mosaic and a lining in relief embroidery. See it in large photos.
  • Publications about my work
    Articles in the press of Ecuador, the USA, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Australia and Russia, 2014–2016. All publications with pictures.

My Awards

2025
London

Shortlist, Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery.

My bag «Diva» was selected for the shortlist of the Wilcom Associate Award, Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery 2025 (London).

2025
Moscow

Silver diploma, Artist World Award.

Silver diploma (2nd place), Artist World Award 2025, nomination «Decorative and applied art», category «Professional», for the bag «Diva».

2023

Honorary member of the International Academy of Contemporary Arts.

Decision of the Presidium of the Academy No. 25174 of 22 December 2023.

2016
USA

My "Thomas Jefferson" on a magazine cover.

Portrait "Thomas Jefferson" is on the cover of the American trade magazine "Impressions" (January 2016). The January issue came out with my work on the cover. This is international recognition of my art.

2015
USA

Portrait "Thomas Jefferson" - title of overall Grand Champion.

“Portrait of Thomas Jefferson” earned multiple honors in the "37th annual Impressions Awards". My portrait not only earned first place in the Digitizing Artistry category and Grand Champion: Embroidery honors, but it also earned the title of overall Grand Champion.

2015
Quito
Medal of the Pontificate of Pope Francis.

Two of my embroidered paintings — «Our Lady of Sorrows of Quito» and a portrait of Pope Francis — became official gifts to Pope Francis from Ecuador. In gratitude for the gifts I received the Medal of the Pontificate of Pope Francis (July 2015).

2014
Russia
Embroidered icon "Our Lady of Sorrows of Quito" - First place.

Competition "Best Machine Embroidery Designer of Russia and the CIS" (Yaroslavl). My embroidered Icon "Our Lady of Sorrows of Quito" (Dolorosa del Colegio) earned First place.

My Philosophy

A classical painting from my favorite artists

I love classical art, music, architecture - I pull a lot of inspiration from these. I have heard the saying that “machine embroidery is not an art – it is a craft”. However, I aim to make machine embroidery a real art.

My Favorite Artists

29sep

Caravaggio's birthday
Italian Baroque painter (1571–1610), a master of dramatic light and shadow.

4nov

Gerard van Honthorst's birthday
Dutch Golden Age painter (1592–1656), famous for scenes lit by candlelight; in Italy he was called «Gherardo delle Notti» — Gerard of the Nights.