Neža Ema Mikec

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Neža Ema Mikec
Born
Neža Mikec

(1877-01-09)January 9, 1877
Leskovec, Novo mesto
DiedMarch 2, 1967(1967-03-02) (aged 90)
Radovljica
NationalitySlovene
OccupationEmbroiderer

Neža Mikec, sister Ema, (9 January 1877, Leskovec– 2 March 1967, Radovljica) was a Slovenian embroiderer. As a member of the School Sisters of Christ the King she led the convent embroidery workshop in Maribor and, in collaboration with Helena Kottler Vurnik and Ivan Vurnik, helped shape 20th-century Slovene ecclesiastical textile art.[1][2]

Early life

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Neža Ema was born into a devout family on 9 January 1877 in Leskovec near Novo Mesto.[3] Her mother was the farmer Marija Gričar and her father the farmer Jurij Mikec.[3] She first attended primary school in Velika Brusnica, then the convent school of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Šmihel near Novo Mesto.[1] In Šmihel she also learned embroidery.[1] In 1892 she began attending the private women's teacher-training school of the School Sisters of Christ the King in Maribor.[1]

Work

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Artist Helena Kottler Vurnik

In 1896 she entered the convent of the School Sisters of Christ the King.[1][2] In 1897 she passed the exam to become a school teacher for lower classes.[1][2] In 1899 she began working in the order’s embroidery workshop in Maribor.[4][1][2] Between 1903 and 1904 she refined her technical skills at the applied-arts school of the Sisters of Mary in Vienna.[1] In 1907 she took over management of the Maribor convent embroidery workshop and raised it to a high technical and aesthetic level.[1][2]

The products made in the workshop during the first decade of her leadership display many skillfully employed embroidery techniques, though their aesthetics were not yet fully mature. After World War I she began to collaborate with artist Helena Kottler Vurnik[5][6] and her husband, architect Ivan Vurnik.[1][7] Works created in collaboration with them, using simple means, achieved an elemental monumentality.[1] In particular, the appliqué technique, by then largely absent from embroidery, was revived in pieces based on Helena and Ivan’s designs.[1] A wide range of embroidery techniques was employed.[1] The works produced under Neža Ema’s leadership in the Maribor workshop represent a pinnacle of Slovene embroidery, both for their distinctive artistic conception, unique in world production, and for their exceptionally accomplished technical execution.[1][7]

Later life

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After World War II, many School Sisters were imprisoned or expelled.[8] The convent embroidery workshop in Maribor continued to operate, but on a much smaller scale.[9] Mikec died on 2 March 1967 in Radovljica.[3]

Selected works

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Notable works produced in the School Sisters’ embroidery workshop under Neža Ema’s direction include:

  • Eagles’ flags for Teharje (1919), after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik;[1]
  • Chasuble for Selca (1919), after designs by Ivan Vurnik;[1][5]
  • Canopy for St. Peter’s in Ljubljana (1921), after designs by Ivan Vurnik;[1][5]
  • Chasuble for the Jesuit church in Ljubljana (1922), after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik;[1]
  • Chasuble for the golden jubilee Mass of Bishop Anton Bonaventura Jeglič (1923), after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik;[7][1]
  • Cope of St. Francis for Franc Kimovec (1928; a high point of the appliqué technique), after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik;[1][5]
  • Altar frontals for Domžale (1928), the Marijanišče in Ljubljana (1932), and the Franciscan church in Maribor (1932), after designs by Ivan Vurnik;[1]
  • Pluvial and veil for Predoslje (1929), after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik;[1]
  • Flags of the Sodality of Our Lady in Ptuj (1930) and Konjice (1931), after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik;[1]
  • Bled church flag (1932), after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik;[1]
  • Flag of the St. Peter’s Sodality of Our Lady in Ljubljana (1933), after a design by Slavko Pengov;[1]
  • Flag for the Sodality of Our Lady, Šiška (1933; motif: “the woman clothed with the sun”); after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik;[1][5]
  • Flag of the cultural society in Komenda (date not specified), after designs by Ivan Vurnik;[1]
  • Cloaks of the Sacred Heart for Ihan and of Christ the King for Šmartno pri Slovenj Gradcu (date not specified), after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik;[1]
  • Flag of the Sacred Heart Sodality for Cleveland (date not specified), after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik;[1]
  • Chasuble of the Sacred Heart for Kansas City (date not specified), after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik;[1]
  • Annunciation of Mary (owned by the Kobi family of Borovnica) (date not specified), after designs by Helena Kottler Vurnik.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae "Mikec, Ema (1877–1967)". Slovenska biografija (in Slovenian). ZRC SAZU. Retrieved 2025-08-17.
  2. ^ a b c d e Mariborski biografski leksikon. Univerzitetna knjižnica Maribor.
  3. ^ a b c "Krstna knjiga / Taufbuch – 03779: Brusnice". Matricula Online (in Slovenian). Nadškofijski arhiv Ljubljana. Retrieved 2025-08-16.
  4. ^ "Mozaik ustvarjalnosti". Šolske sestre (in Slovenian). 2025-08-02. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
  5. ^ a b c d e Jaki, Barbara (2017). Helena Vurnik – Slikarka in oblikovalka (PDF) (in Slovenian). Narodna galerija.
  6. ^ Balantič, Polona. "Dunajčanka, v kateri je Ivan Vurnik videl potencial, da mu bo pomagala vzpostaviti slovenski narodni slog". RTV Slovenija (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2025-08-17.
  7. ^ a b c "Sooblikovala je sakralno umetnost". Družina – vsak dan s teboj (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2025-08-17.
  8. ^ "Zgodovina". Šolske sestre (in Slovenian). 2021-09-14. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
  9. ^ "Naše skupnosti". Šolske sestre (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2025-08-19.