Interwoven Stories: THE FINAL CHAPTER
Interwoven Stories is a community-based narrative stitching project created in March 2016. Conceived and facilitated by Diana Weymar, 2016 Artist-in-Residence, the project has enjoyed amazing support of the community through so many eager volunteer stitchers.
Interwoven Stories created a special dialogue within the Princeton community. With some participants picking up a needle and thread for the first time, each stitcher received a blank 3-hole fabric page to tell a story through their memories, honor beloved family or friends, or return home to a favorite place through needle and thread.
The response to this project exceeded our wildest expectations. Each page spoke to the generosity, diversity, spirit, commitment, and creativity of this community and ultimately, more than 100 completed pages were donated to Interwoven Stories 2016 and displayed in our Taplin Gallery.
In 2018, we expanded to Interwoven Stories International when Diana returned to the Arts Council after taking the project on the road for two years to curate more than 250 pages collected from Princeton, The Peddie School, the Nantucket Stitching Gam, the Zen Hospice Project (San Francisco), Open Space Art (Damascus, Syria), Build Peace (Columbia), the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma), Yarns/NoDominion Theater (Jersey City), and Trans Tipping Point Project (Victoria, BC).
To say the least, we had all been through a lot since then, from COVID to fraught elections and civil unrest. We once again felt that there is so much to say – so much to stitch!
In 2022, Interwoven Stories: The Final Chapter went national, culminating in an exhibition on view in our Taplin Gallery June 4 – July 2.
Also in 2022, local resident and Interwoven Stories participant Kyle Burkhardt joined our team. Kyle organized behind the scenes and led stitching workshops for those who needed help, or just wanted to stitch with others. And, of course, we were thrilled to have Diana involved once again after her work has reached tremendous popularity nationwide.