Celebrating Fiber, Textile and Needle Arts in the African Diaspora

Dear Friends,

We are still growing strong in the "new normal." The past year has been an adjustment and we are looking forward to our continued expansion and growth.

The journey has been a remarkable experience of advancing and curating the identity, histories and inclusion of fiber, textile, design, and needle arts to various stages of art engagement. Harlem Needle Arts continues to expand a narrative that has existed for centuries and with a significant impact not only on visual art but also on insights into the heritage of our daily lives.

Creating spaces for exhibits, learning, technical support, economic development, and dialog, HNA continues to be at the forefront of sharing our mission of preserving the art forms of fiber arts, for generations to experience.

Over the past two years HNA continued to create space through programming such as:

• #MantraMondays featuring weekly guest artists in the field of textile art that included Bisa Butler, Michael Thorpe, Sara Trail, Lesley Ware, Aniqua Wilkerson, L’Merchie Frazier, Toni Lipsey, Nastassja Swift, and Cassandra Bromfield, to name a few. #MantraMondays became a space of refuse and social change as our communities dealt with the effects of the pandemic and the systemic racism that continues to plague the US. Audience members included community from New York, California, Florida, and Nebraska, to Germany, London, and Australia.
• Two public exhibitions featuring eight artists, Up South and I AM FREE at New York City’s Col. Charles Young Triangle Park.
• Three film screenings WAX PRINT: 1 Fabric, 4 Continents, 200 Years of History, Summer of Soul, and Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union.
• The inaugural Fabrigasm Live! in collaboration with Cultured Expressions. The two-day virtual experience for all aspects of African textile included panel discussions, creative demos, and opportunities to Sewcialize. Textile presenters included textile designers and artists Jose Hendo (Ugandan), Gasali Adeyemo (Nigeria) and Kwasi Asare (Ghana).
• Development of original textile art for the Museum of Food and Drink’s African/American Making the Nations Table show at the Africa Center opening in February 2022.
• Continuation of our ongoing series Business of Textile Art which continued to help artists plan and gain access to economic opportunities. The program offered support to artists and craftsman as they transitioned to remote engagement—e.g., provide ten artists with cameras to help them teach remotely, offered presentations with techniques in maximizing social media, understanding the use of online graphics tools, archiving and documentation of textile art, grant assistance workshops, and engaging diverse audiences.

As we approach the close of 2021, we continue to build capacity and share our mission. I hope that we can count on your support of our work and help us reach our year end goal of $10,000 to enable HNA to continue to provide art, heritage, and resources to the Harlem community and beyond.

Thank you in advance for your support to Harlem Needle Arts. I look forward to sharing our journey with you in 2022.

Sincerely,

Michelle Bishop

Executive Director

#GivingHNA

#BlackLivesMatter