needle arts

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about embroidery lately. It all started when I read all about the Bard Graduate Center’s exhibition ‘Twixt Art and Nature. I admit that I’ve not seen the exhibition yet, but that won’t stop me from recommending it based on what friends have reported to me—so go see it before it closes on April 12th. I’m also pretty excited about the Bard’s exhibition-related programming, especially “Present Tense: Embroidery in Contemporary Art,” which will include conversation with artists Elaine Reichek and Richard Saja (I’ve become especially fond of Saja’s reworking of toile traditions).

I have also been spending some time browsing through Embroidery: The Journal of the Embroiderers’ Guild. The Library has decades and decades of back issues, and the issues offer an aesthetic trip back in craft time as well as lots of information on projects, exhibitions, Guild member creations, the history of needle arts, and more. If your interests lean to embroidered toadstool table mats (Autumn 1963) or a needlepoint backgammon board (Summer 1964) and the like, then dig in to back issues of Embroidery.