About Salley Mavor

About Salley Mavor

“My aim is to breathe life and emotion into embroidery, an art form that is often perceived as purely decorative.”
Salley mavor

A needle is my tool, thread is my medium and stitches are my marks. For over 45 years, I’ve created 3-dimensional hand-stitched miniature worlds that range from precious to poignant to provocative. My art serves a variety of purposes: it appears as illustrations in children’s books, stand-alone framed artwork, and stop-motion animation.

There is a distinctive over-the-top quality to my art that stands outside of the mainstream. A combination of storytelling imagery, innovative techniques, fervent craftsmanship, and the interplay of familiar, yet intriguing materials set it apart.

While I take delight in every careful stitch, it is the spirit of play and the pursuit of a bigger visual narrative that propels my work forward. My objective is to move beyond the confines of embroidery as a medium and create art that is valued for its message and emotional resonance as well as its workmanship.

The art I make and the driving force behind it stem from a lifelong, insatiable desire to invent and make things with my hands. This deep love for the tactile process has always been central to my creative approach, shaping everything I have done from childhood through to the present day. My wish is for people of all ages to connect with my art in personal and meaningful ways.

Mavorkids1963

Where did this doll-infested needle and thread universe come from? It began at the height of the baby boom, in a family of introverts who were either making things or staring into space. You could say that we excelled at parallel play.

Detail from “Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion”

Education
While studying illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design in the 1970’s, an insightful teacher encouraged me to tap into my crafty and playful side. This newfound sense of freedom felt exhilarating—an organic, joyful expression straight from the heart. No longer confined to traditional art mediums, I discovered that working with stitching and soft sculpture allowed my ideas to come alive in new and unexpected ways. For most of my career I have followed this path, creating stitched scenes in bas-relief, much like miniature, shallow stage sets, with figures imposed on embellished fabric backgrounds.

Books – My 3-dimensional artwork is photographed and reproduced in children’s books, including the 2010 award-winning Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes and My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep Around the World. My bestselling how-to book of doll projects, Felt Wee Folk: New Adventures continues to inspire creativity.

Shop – Personally autographed books, cards, jigsaw puzzles, notebooks, and posters with printed reproductions of my embroidered scenes are available in my Etsy Shop.

Birds of Beebe Woods poster, cards, puzzles and notebooks are available in my Etsy Shop

Sale of Original Artwork – My original pieces are no longer available for sale. I have made the decision to retain all works currently in my possession. By holding on to these pieces, I am ensuring that there is a well-rounded and representative body of work ready for exhibition purposes. This way, I can maintain a collection that accurately reflects my artistic vision and creative journey. Printed reproductions of my work are available in my Esty Shop.

Sharing Knowledge – I do not teach classes. However, this blog is full of informative and inspiring photos, videos, and descriptions of projects I’ve made. My how-to book Felt Wee Folk provides step-by-step instructions for making wee folk dolls, with many examples and patterns. To learn my personal philosophy about sharing knowledge and artistic privacy, please read this post: to teach or not to teach.

Animation
After the 2016 presidential election, I formed a satirical wee folk drama troupe, The Wee Folk Players (they’re a stitch). Also, my husband Rob Goldsborough and I made a short stop-motion animated film titled Liberty and Justice: A Cautionary Tale in the Land of the Free.

Screen shot from “Liberty and Justice” animation

My solo exhibit Liberty and Justice was abruptly cancelled in 2018 at its original venue due to its political content. The show was generously picked up by the New England Quilt Museum and the Cotuit Center for the Arts, and portions were included in The Art of Cute at the Brick Store Museum in Kennebunk, Maine. You can watch my interview about the Liberty and Justice exhibit on WGBH TV and read the post Finding My Voice, which includes an excerpt of my talk about making art that is both precious and provocative.

EXHIBITIONS

To see a schedule of current and upcoming exhibitions of my original bas-relief artwork, including the Bedtime Stitches national tour, please visit the Exhibitions Page.

My most recent book, MY BED: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep around the World was published in 2020. You can see blog posts showing the book’s progress here. SALLEY MAVOR: Bedtime Stitches, the touring exhibition of original bas-relief artwork for the book is scheduled into 2027. The current list of venues is here. Inquiries from museums are welcome. For information about hosting the show, please use the contact form below.

See how I made the illustrations for my new picture book, MY BED in this 8-minute documentary.

I live and work on Cape Cod, in Falmouth, Massachusetts. For answers to frequently asked question, please go to the FAQ Page. Contact me using the form below or write to P.O. Box 152, Woods Hole, MA 02543.

Autographed books, prints, puzzles, cards, notebooks and posters are available in my Etsy shop.

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Social Media: Follow me at BlueSky, Facebook and Instagram.
Shop: Autographed books, posters, puzzles, notebooks and cards are available in my Etsy shop.
Contact me via the form above or write to P.O. Box 152, Woods Hole, MA 02543

PODCASTS:

The Object Itself Podcast : Salley Mavor shares the inspiration and process behind her Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion. Published 1/23/25

NeedleXChange PODCAST: Salley Mavor – Telling Wee Folk Tales PART 1 and PART 2. Recorded 11/8/24
School of Stitched Textiles PODCAST: Textile Talk with Salley Mavor. Recorded 9/26/24.
Creative Exchange PODCAST with the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod. Staying True to Yourself and Your Work with Salley Mavor. Recorded 1/6/23
Craft Industry Alliance PODCAST with Mimi Kirchner and Salley Mavor. Recorded 6/1/15

INTERVIEWS

Watch TEXTILE TALK: Textiles in 3D with Salley Mavor, Barbara Schneider, and Jean Sredl, presented by SAQA. Recorded 5/29/24.
Read an interview with the Embroiderer’s Guild of America
Read this interview to find out about my foray into political satire
Read my thoughts about artistic privacy and when to tell how and when not to.
Watch WGBH OPEN STUDIO interview
Read my acceptance speech for the 2011 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
Read an interview with Create Whimsy
Read an interview with Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Watch a 2016 Interview with Falmouth Community TV

Book trailer for Felt Wee Folk – New Adventures

Information

Autographed books, posters, cards and jigsaw puzzles are available in my Etsy shop.
To see a list of all of my books, go to My Books.
Watch videos about my work: Videos Page
For info about exhibits of my original work, visit the Exhibitions Page.
Frequently asked questions: FAQ Page

Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion (pictured below) is on semi-permanent display at the Woods Hole Public Library. Posters of the piece are available in my Shop here.

To keep up with new posts, please subscribe to this blog. If you’d like to see more frequent photos tracking the projects in my studio, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Blue Sky.

Iranian scene from My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep around the World

Throughout my life, a folky multi-cultural aesthetic has filtered through just about everything I’ve created, beginning in childhood and continuing into my current work. This enduring interest in international folk traditions is deeply rooted in the way I was raised.

Russian scene from My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep around the World

Whether drawing inspiration from traditional motifs and patterns, regional styles, or the details found in costumes from around the world, my art consistently features characters and subjects that celebrate the beauty of diversity while also emphasizing the universal connections that unite us.

In this post, I share three stories about different experiences in my upbringing that have influenced my life and style: Souvenir Doll Collection, Childhood Travels, and Folk Dancing Legacy.

Looking back, I feel incredibly grateful to have been brought up in a family who valued creativity in all forms, with an emphasis on world cultures and folk traditions. My parents’ love and appreciation for all things folky—whether it was art, clothing, music, or dance from around the world—was a constant presence throughout my early years. Their passion for celebrating international folk customs not only enriched our daily lives but also served as a meaningful way for our family to engage with and feel connected to our wider community. Growing up in such an environment, it is no wonder that I am continually inspired to explore relationships across cultures and to integrate folk art elements into my work.

Recent projects influenced by a folky multi-cultural aesthetic include Face Time, Cover Up, Whiskers, Displaced, and my books, My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep around the World, and Felt Wee Folk.

Souvenir Doll Collection
My fascination with clothing and costumes stretches back to early childhood. I remember gazing up at my grandmother’s collection of international souvenir dolls, which were displayed high out of reach on her living room shelves. There were dozens of them, each dressed in the traditional clothing of a different country she had traveled to.

My Grandmother’s souvenir doll collection

Over time, I was allowed to touch some of the dolls and get a close look at their intriguing outfits. This early exposure to a variety of cultures in such a child-friendly way sparked a life-long curiosity about how clothing can identify and communicate something about who we are as groups and as individuals.

Salley and Anne Mavor and our friend Heidi Stergis (in pink) in Austria, 1965

Childhood Travels
In 1965, when I was ten years old, my family went on a trip to Europe that would have a lasting impact on my life. At that age, I was old enough to truly take in and appreciate the wide variety of places and people we encountered. To this day, I remember highlights from our travels: climbing the Eiffel Tower in Paris, riding a donkey up a mountain in Greece, hiking through the Alps, and floating in a gondola along the canals of Venice.

Continuing into my teenage years, our family went on other memorable trips abroad including to Scandinavia in 1973, where we joined my sister Anne, who had just completed a year studying at a Folk School in Sweden.

Anne, Jimmy, Salley and Mary Mavor in Norway in 1973

Each of these travel experiences played a significant role in broadening my understanding of the world. This exposure not only enriched my perspective but also laid the foundation for themes that would become central to my creative work in the years to come.

Woods Hole May Festival in the early 1970s, Mary Mavor in green spotted dress

Folk Dancing Legacy
Mary and Jim Mavor’s shared passion for folk music and dancing brought them together in the late 1940s. They met and fell in love while attending a variety of folk dance events in the Boston area. During those post-war years and into the 1950s, Boston was a vibrant hub for the emerging folk music and dance scene. They had their choice of dances to go to, including New England Contra dances, square dances or international folk dances, often with live music. My parents’ mutual enthusiasm for folk dancing not only marked the beginning of their courtship but also became a lasting focus throughout their long marriage.

In 1961, when our family switched from being summer people in Woods Hole, MA to living there year-round, Mary and Jim naturally brought their love of folk dancing with them. They began teaching folk dancing at the Woods Hole Community Hall, sharing their knowledge and extensive record collection with people in the village. My father soon formed the Woods Hole Folk Orchestra, which is still going strong. For over fifty years, they made it their mission to hold weekly international folk dances and monthly contra dances.

My mother always stressed the social benefits of the dances, including countless match-making successes and the fostering of long-lasting friendships across generations. Through our parents’ example, my sister, brother, and I learned the importance of building community by creating regular opportunities for people to come together—not just physically, but also emotionally and spiritually. Over the years, the seeds they planted helped cultivate a thriving local scene, inspiring the growth of other music, dance, and theater groups rooted in folk traditions.

Woods Hole Folk Orchestra – Jim Mavor on accordion,

Folk dancing continues to be an unbridled source of merriment in Woods Hole even now, decades after our parents’ passing. It remains a defining phenomenon in our community and stands as a testament to their vision and unwavering dedication to celebrating the world’s shared humanity.

International folk dancing at the Woods Hole Community Hall in 2025

To keep up with new posts, please subscribe to this blog. Your contact info will not be sold or shared. If you’d like to see more frequent photos tracking the projects in my studio, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram and BlueSky.

SALLEY MAVOR

WEE FOLK STUDIO