Needlepoint and Art

As a needlepointer, I find that often my work gets trivialized by
artists and by people who do other fiber arts. Needlepoint suffers
from a “little old lady” syndrome, which is completely out of sync
with the reality of the art we produce, which is often far more
advanced than what is done by other, more accepted arts.

As needlepointers we should carry the banner for acceptance of our
work as a fiber art.

We can do this in lots of ways small and large:

• enter your pieces in the local fairs as art not as craft or
  “home arts” You may not win prizes, but you will start to lay the
  foundation.

• carry your needlepoint with you, show off the work in your home
• host an exhibit of your work at the local library, school or
  shopping mall (often they will do this free for non-profits)

• do you have a good story to tell, send a press release to the
  local newspaper

• create a gallery of your original work on your website and
  list it in art directories

But most importantly, organizations like ANG can do much to promote
acceptance of our work as art. They need to make and keep to firm
rules about classifications, they need to read and accept the work of the artists when they submit and artist’s statement. They need to look at the classifications of original and adaptation in other
fields of endeavor and use those as a basis for classifying
needlepoint. They need to applaud those teachers who have created
new stitches and techniques and those stitchers who use these tools
to create original work. But most of all, the entire judging process needs to be free of the prejudice, rudeness, and disbelief of artist’s which has been appearing lately.

ANG has a bully pulpit as do other organizations in the field —
let’s ask them to use it to make us and our art better known!

Related posts:

1. TNNA Preview – Fiber Artists Trading Cards
2. All about Needlepoint News
3. Needle Artworks – Website Review
4. Why Create?
5. Publicize your Guild & Promote Needlepoint