Penny Berens was born in England. Her childhood was spent moving every few years to new places and new countries.   She was finally able to form more permanent roots when she and her husband settled in Canada with their young sons on January 1st, 1975.  Since retiring in 2007, Penny and her husband have made their home in the coastal woodlands of Granville Beach, Nova Scotia. 

Penny has a City & Guilds diploma in Embroidery & Design but her education in stitch started many years earlier at the age of four under the loving guidance of her mother and two grandmothers.

Penny’s work has been shown in solo and group shows across Canada and internationally.  Teaching and encouraging others to follow their own stitching path has been an important part of Penny’s creative life.  She now shares her process and sources of inspiration on her blog “Tanglewood Threads”.

Her work is hand stitched and embroidered on plant dyed cloth over several months and sometimes years. Penny’s work for “In the Middle of the World” reflects her life living close to nature and her observations on her local landscape and it’s changing patterns through the seasons and indeed the years.