Dangerously Close To Home

It is thrilling to share this new work. My exhibition at Boston Sculptors Gallery, Dangerously Close To Home, presents handcrafted domestic items that traditionally signal comfort, lacing fibers and text with a smidge of time travel and some humor to speak the truth through cloth. Made of soft materials, these objects may warm the walls but they also tell a story, and it isn't always as it seems.
Living through the making of these durational artworks has provided me with both the joy of process and the horror of our new political world order. Those who know me can attest to my obsessive interest in the techniques and history of handwork. By propelling these practices into subversive conceptual declarations of protest, I hope to do justice to the long line of women before me who engaged in needlework to connect past to present, and to motivate investigation, empathy and change.
............................................................................................................................................................................................ DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO HOME February 26-March 29, 2026 Boston Sculptors Gallery First Friday: March 6 from 5-8:30p Reception and Artist Talk: Saturday March 14 from 2-5p, Talk at 3p Closing reception: Let's Keep Marching, Sunday March 29, 2:30 pm to closing ...................................................................................................................................................................................... WEAVING WORDS One hundred years ago, in 1925, the Jazz Age was in full swing, Mount Rushmore was dedicated in South Dakota and F. Scott Fitzgerald published the Great Gatsby. And, Adolf Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, Benito Mussolini solidified dictatorship in Italy and the Scopes ‘Monkey Trial’ challenged the theory of evolution. 1925 also witnessed the word game My Mother Sent Me to the Grocery Store where players recite answers from a stack of cards to describe what they bring home from the market. Laughter ensues when reciting absurd answers like ‘an insane bedbug’ or ‘a large blister’. These playful phrases from a century ago uncannily capture the language of 21st century culture and politics with humorous, tongue-in-cheek quips used as coded patterns of speech that cleverly bypass polite norms. In the context of 2025, they become pointed declarations in protest of American political culture. They are subversive, existing in plain sight, though not obvious, in this new age of censorship and retaliation. The weaves intertwine domestic materials with traditional methods and metaphor to lace fibers and text into whole cloth. Yarn, women’s clothing, panty hose and rope, mesh into a coarse surface that makes the multi-colored letters a challenge to decipher. The seemingly benign words at first appear approachable and nostalgic until, after reading, the unexpected meanings emerge. Weaving as a covert communication tool has been used throughout history, in stories, myths, and in war. Helen of Troy, whose body instigates the Trojan War, weaves her narrative alongside the names of the warriors who will ravage Troy. Hannah Ryggen of Norway responds to the atrocities of WWII with defiant tapestries depicting her deeply-held pacifist and socialist principles. Homer’s Penelope unravels her weaving each night to halt time and avoid undesirable suiters. Their discreet voices are heard within the interlocked structures of their cloth. Textiles are a defining sign of advanced civilizations and provide a framework for understanding societal systems where social well-being requires the same time and thought as the making of cloth, even if purely decorative. THE POINT OF THE NEEDLE EXHIBITION STATEMENT PRESS RELEASE INSTALLATION VIEWS Photography: Will Howcroft