Artistry in Thread Exhibit

Yesterday and today, the local EGA and ANG chapters had a joint exhibit at the Artistry in Thread festival held by the women's council of the Rochester Museum & Science Center. Our goal in doing this is simply to encourage membership in the guilds. In past years, we've been only moderately successful, perhaps gaining a handful of members over the course of 4 years.

To try to improve this rate, we decided not to only show our best works, which seems to intimidate more hopeful stitchers, rather than encourage them. Instead, this year our exhibit showed lots of group projects, both completed and in progress. We displayed hand-painted canvases with the threads intended to be used on them, with stitch books that might be used as reference. Visitors could look over the shoulders of several members who were stitching on their current WIPs. We gave away old copies of guild magazines (NeedleArts for EGA, and NeedlePointers for ANG). There were piles of enticing threads scattered about. In short, the exhibit was a welcoming display, showing that stitching is about the process, not just the finished piece.

It seemed to work! We had a lot of interest, and handed out many fliers with meeting information and membership applications for both groups. We'll see how many of those end up with guest visits and possibly new members. I'm encouraged.