My new children’s picture book, My Bed, Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep around the World was released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co. in Sept. 2020. It took about 2 years to hand stitch all of the illustrations and I’m excited that you can now see the fruits of my labor! Reviews like these are pouring in –
“(My Bed) is just stunning, calming and healing”, “ingeniously illustrated” and “I am overwhelmed by the beauty and all the little details of each page.”
Autographed copies of MY BED are available in my shop here.
A Japanese translation of MY BED, published by Fukuinkan Shoten is now available in Japan.
A touring exhibition of the original embroidered bas-relief artwork that is photographed and reproduced in the book is now underway. Salley Mavor: Bedtime Stitches debuted at the Cahoon Museum of American Art in Cotuit, MA in the fall of 2020 and is traveling around the country for a few years. More information about the exhibition, including a current schedule is at the end of this post.
For a while now, I’ve shared the process of making the 3-dimensional bas-relief illustrations, which involve stitching, embroidery and other embellishment techniques. Posts I’ve written so far are listed here:
- Title Page
- Night Sky – part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
- Afghanistan – part 1, part 2
- Ghana – part 1, part 2, part 3
- Holland – part 1, part 2, part 3
- India – part 1, part 2, part 3
- Iran – part 1, part 2, part 3
- Japan – part 1
- North Africa – part 1, part 2, part 3
- North America – part 1, part 2, part 3
- Russia – part 1, part 2, part 3
- Scandinavia – part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
- South America – part 1
- Mongolia – part 1, part 2, part 3
- Home – part 1, part 2, part 3
- Animals (spot illustrations) – Rooster, Camel, Parrot, Elephant, Goldfish, Cat, Duck, Sheep, Rabbit, Cow, Crocodile, Giraffe, Dog, Pony.
This list will be updated as more posts are published.
Rebecca Bond wrote a poem that celebrates our diversity, while also bringing us together through the universal theme of children sleeping safe in their beds. As the illustrator, it was my task to bring these children to life and create their varying environments.
I am happy to announce a touring exhibition of original artwork for the book: SALLEY MAVOR: Bedtime Stories. This is an opportunity for the public to see up close the fine detail and 3-dimensional quality of my bas-relief sculptural embroideries. The exhibition is modeled after the successful national touring exhibition of the artwork for my book, Pocketful of Posies. It is currently booked through 2024 with the possibility of being extended into 2025. Interested museums are welcome to contact me (Salley at weefolkstudio.com) for information about hosting the exhibit.
SALLEY MAVOR: BEDTIME STITCHES
What’s being said about the exhibition:
“Bedtime Stitches Provides Cozy Respite From a Tumultuous Year”
The Falmouth Enterprise
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“The genius of Salley Mavor’s meticulously realized imaginative worlds is just what we need right now.”
Artscope Magazine
TOURING EXHIBITION
Beginning in September 2020
Sept. 11 – Dec. 19, 2020, Cahoon Museum, Cotuit, MA.
Feb. 28 – May 30, 2021, Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, Mount Vernon, IL
Sept. 14 – Dec. 31, 2021, New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA
Jan. 25 – April 10, 2022, International Quilt Museum, Lincoln, NE
June 7 – Sept. 11, 2022, Brick Store Museum, Kennebunk, ME, Bedtime Stitches will be included in the retrospective exhibition, What a Relief: The Art of Salley Mavor
Oct. 15 – Dec. 31, 2022, Historical and Cultural Center of Clay County, Moorhead, MN
Feb. 1 – Apr. 30, 2023, Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum, La Conner, WA
June – mid-Sept. 2023 Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum, Carrollton, Georgia
Sept. 30, 2023 – January 7, 2024, Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT. Bedtime Stitches and Social Fabric will be displayed together.
Jan. 20. – May 5, 2024, Upcountry History Museum, Greenville, SC
July — Dec. 2024, Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY, Bedtime Stitches and Social Fabric will be displayed together.
Visitors to the exhibition, as well as those of you at home with a copy of My Bed, can hunt for details in the artwork using the downloadable sheet below.
Salley Mavor: Bedtime Stitches Exhibition Booklets are 6″x 9″ soft cover, full-color, 16 pages about Salley Mavor and the exhibition including images of extra works only on view at the Cahoon Museum of American Art. Booklets may be ordered online here.
Throughout the book, there are spot illustrations of animals on text panels. To see how they were made, click here.
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SALLEY MAVOR 
