Once Upon a Stitch, my retrospective exhibition of original embroidered picture book art will be at the Cape Cod Museum of Art for a few more weeks, until Sunday, January 26th. So, if you’ve been thinking about going to see it, act quickly. It’s been wonderful to have a place to send people, although it is limited to those who can make it to our beautiful peninsula.

For those of you from far away, here’s a brief video tour of the gallery.

There’s also a scavenger hunt with lots of cards made up of different close-up details to find in the framed artwork.

Last Saturday, I talked about my work to a very nice group who nestled themselves into the gallery. After being introduced by Benton Jones, the museum’s Director of Art, I shared stories about growing up in a household where making things was as routine as brushing one’s teeth.

This was different that my usual slide presentation, in that I just talked off the cuff, making it more like a Show & Tell. I brought some things to show like my first book (mixed media, of course) which I made at around age 8. People often ask when I started making the kind of art I do. I have to say that I’ve been on this path my whole life. Manipulating materials in my hands has always been more satisfying that just drawing or painting. As a child, I felt that crayons were not enough and that my pictures weren’t finished until something real was glued, stapled or sewn to it.

Most of the audience were women who share a love of stitching and sewing. There are a lot of us out there and we tend to gravitate toward each other. It was a pleasure to meet and share my work with such kindred spirits!

SALLEY MAVOR: Once Upon a Stitch
Dec. 12, 2019 – Jan. 26, 2020
Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA
Winter hours: Thursday 10am – 7pm,
Friday – Saturday 10 – 4, Sunday 12 – 4

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My retrospective exhibition of original picture book art, Once Upon a Stitch has been at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, MA. for 2 weeks now and I’m happy to hear that lots of visitors are specifically coming to see it. If you’re thinking of making the trip, please note that the museum’s winter hours are Thursday 10 am – 7 pm, Friday – Saturday 10 am – 4 pm, Sunday 12 noon – 4 pm. The show runs until January 26 and I’ll be giving a Family Gallery Talk on Saturday January 4th, 1:00 – 2:00 pm.

It took 2 trips in my Subaru Outback to transport the more than 50 bubble wrapped frames to the museum. That doesn’t count the dozens of wee folk characters I brought along to set up in a display case. At first, the curator was skeptical that everything would fit, but after explaining how I envisioned the layout, with clusters of double hung frames, he relaxed. The museum’s very able crew ended up filling the gallery walls with what could be a record number of pieces!. After everything was hung, my husband Rob looked around and said, “You must understand, with Salley’s art, more is more.”

The first thing you see when entering the gallery is a grid full of of prints showing enlarged animal faces and other characters staring at you. They are blown up details from pieces in the exhibition, which includes a wide selection of original hand-stitched children’s book illustrations I’ve made over the past 300 years. Oh, I mean 30 years!

I set up the figures from my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk: New Adventures on and around a Dala horse and cart elevated on top of 2 wooden cigar boxes.

Four original illustrations from Mary Had a Little Lamb are on loan from collectors. It’s the largest reunion they’ve had since the book was published in 1995.

Most of my books are represented in the show, with groupings of pieces from either my own collection or ones that are borrowed from their owners.

A rather plain concrete pole in the middle of the gallery called out for some kind of embellishment, so, I lace-bombed it with doilies. To make it, I cut a length of green felt to the right circumference and machine stitched lace and doilies to it. I pinned the seam and stitched it in place on site. Like a lot of textile geeks, I have a collection of misc. old lacy things and it feels good to finally use them for something.

The opening was well attended by many people who knew of my work, as well as others who were seeing it for the first time. I got to watch people’s reactions to seeing the originals, which is a totally different experience than looking at the pages of a printed book. I can honestly say that without exception, everyone was smiling. In the photo below, a man is telling me that he just came from visiting New York and that my show was more impressive than anything he saw at MoMA. As you can see, I was flabbergasted!

There’s a scavenger hunt with about 20 cards, each one showing 4 different close-up images that you can look for in the artwork. This game is certainly not just for children!

The exhibition is an opportunity to see the detail and 3-dimensional quality of my work.

I was happy that my friend and picture book collaborator, Judy Richardson came to the opening. Here we are in 1991, having our publicity photo taken with Bella the elephant at the Barnstable County Fair.

And that’s Judy and her husband Phil at the show, looking at the originals from “The Way Home“, which she wrote and I illustrated.

I hope that many of you can make the trip down the quaint and historic Old King’s Highway (Rt. 6A) to Dennis, Massachusetts to see the show!

Dec. 12, 2019 – Jan. 26, 2020
Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA
Winter hours: Thursday 10am – 7pm,
Friday – Saturday 10 – 4, Sunday 12 – 4
Family Gallery Talk with Salley Mavor –
Saturday January 4th, 1:00 – 2:00 pm

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