Art Exhibition: Through the Needle’s Eye
at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts
Exhibition Dates: July 25 – August 29, 2025
Associated Events
Opening Reception. Friday, July 25, 6 pm – 8 pm. Includes cash bar and light refreshments.
Curator’s Talk. Sunday, August 24, 2 pm
X the x: Embroidery beyond Cross-stitch workshop. Saturday, August 23, 11 am – 1 pm, $25. Register at millerbeacharts.org
EXHIBITION SUMMARY
The Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts’ upcoming exhibition “Through the Needle’s Eye” celebrates the vision of eight individual artists and two collective groups, expressed through piecing, appliqué, fiber collage, quilting, and embroidery.
Jane Sassaman develops arresting pieced quilts on themes around nature and plant life. Melissa Leandro also draws on nature using weaving as well as stitching to create rich surfaces. Local artist Bobbie Burns combines fabric collage and felting in a mix of abstract and inventive images. Heidi Parkes’ abstract quilts explore ideas and personal experiences through appliqué and extensive hand stitching. Donna Katz’s painted, pieced quilts deconstruct landforms, as do Deb Dyer’s embroidered aviation maps. Krystle Lemonias and Deidre Scherer both focus closely-detailed fabric collages on the representation of human experience. And the artists who gathered to assemble two large quilts for the Maryland Institute of Creative Arts under the direction of artist Susie Brandt, offer an array of responses to the theme of Endangered Planet.
This exhibit, curated by Miller Beach resident and textile artist Jane Whedbee, explores the extraordinary and tremendously varied practices at work in the contemporary fiber world. In a movement that historically struggled to be recognized as significant “Art,” these artists display how engaging and meaningful art is possible through these means.
The exhibition opens with a reception on Friday, July 25, at 6 pm. Curator Jane Whedbee will lead a talk on the exhibit on Sunday, August 24, at 2 pm. Both events are free and open to the public.
An associated workshop, "X the x: Embroidery Beyond Cross Stitch," scheduled for August 23, invites participants to explore the creative use of traditional embroidery forms. Registration required.