Woodlawn Needlework Show & Sale

The 58th Annual Needlework Show & Sale’s theme “Hindsight 2020” was chosen to exemplify how historic this past year has been. For the 2021 Needlework Show, we anticipate showcasing over 500 diverse pieces which highlight the artists’ flow of emotions and reactions throughout this unprecedented time. From COVID-19, isolation, social justice movements, economic stresses, political unrest, to the deepening need for connection and community, the need for craft as an outlet has been paramount. Needlework, like most crafts, can be a beautiful piece of art or a pathway for its maker to express emotion. It can showcase a specific technique or be employed to tell an important story. It can be something made as a hobby, profession, or in servitude. Often, it is all of these and much more.

For years, needlework has been a rich and powerful example of strength, art, and rebellion. This is still true today, with the rise of “craftivism”, awareness of social justice issues, and political unrest. Woodlawn programs and activities spotlight all who lived and worked here, while maintaining the long tradition of the needle arts, promoting emerging needlework artists, and raising needed funds to preserve our site today.

Woodlawn has a long history of needlework, starting with the first owner, Eleanor “Nelly” Custis, one of America’s foremost needleworkers. As a plantation site, Nelly benefited from significant contributions of the enslaved people, who historically were weavers, spinners, and quilters, and would have created textiles used in the Custis household. The Needlework Show will connect needlework to events of today, and real stories about the enslaved and Indigenous peoples of the area.