Embroiderers' Guild Exhibit Opens January 11 

SALISBURY, MD---“Through the Needle’s Eye,” the Embroiderers’ Guild of America’s 16th national traveling exhibition with works by Fiber Forum, is on display in Salisbury University’s Fulton Hall Gallery Friday, January 11 through Friday, February 22. An opening reception is on Friday, January 11, from 5-7 p.m. 

The exhibit of 75 works of artists from the United States, Canada and Tbilisi, Georgia (former Soviet Union), consists of cross stitch, bead sculpture, quilting, overlays, crewel, shadow appliqué, ribbon, machine, silk, metal and multimedia and multidimensional surface embroidery, hardanger, blackwork, canvas work, knitting and free art embroidery.

The Embroiders’ Guild will host needlework demonstrations on Wednesdays from 1-4 p.m. in the Gallery.  Subjects include beading, needlepoint and counted cross stitch, January 16; Ecclesiastical needlepoint, smocking and Japanese silk embroidery, January 23; counted cross stitch, quilting and hardanger, January 30; and Japanese silk embroidery, February 6.

Having begun stitching in her early teens, Judy Jeroy, past president of the EGA and certified instructor, said that the visual aspect of the design that she is most concerned with is focal point and movement. 

“My style of embroidery is representational,” said Jeroy. “I try to show flora and fauna as accurately as it is possible with thread, and the positioning of the elements must serve to create the mood desired.”

In Jeroy’s piece based on Emily Dickinson’s poem “Hope is the Thing with Feathers,” she uses the title to point out the obvious. In this work the image of a bird singing its heart out symbolizes “hope” and its position within the depths of a fir tree represents the “soul” from which the song of hope pours forth.

“Successful artistry with the needle is work which interests, intrigues, motivates, questions, puzzles or teases me into involvement with the embroidery,” said current EGA President Marie Campbell. “It makes me care what the idea is and how it has achieved success for a viewer.”

According to Campbell her exhibit “Deciduous Vest,” a piece of wearable art created by machine embroidery, is indicative of her need to further her needlework skills, express her own ideas and make statements through original needlework.       

The Fiber Forum, the EGA organization that promotes embroidery as an art form, was organized in 1992 to advance embroidery through the exhibition of original works of exceptional merit at art centers, galleries and museums throughout the country. New members are juried each year by accredited judges on the basis of both aesthetic achievement and technical skills.

The exhibit is funded by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council and donations from the Eastern Shore of Maryland Embroiders’ Guild Association, the Chesapeake and Tidewater chapters of the Embroiders’ Guild Association, Mr. and Mrs. Harry E. Humes and the SU Office of Cultural Affairs and Museum Programs.

Exhibit hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. -5 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, noon –4 p.m.  For more information contact the University Galleries Office at 410-548-2547 or visit www.salisbury.edu.