“An Homage to Nimble Fingers” is a body of work that Kami Galeana created to acknowledge and honor centuries’ worth of embroidery produced by women from various places around the world.

Galeana states, “Embroidery is one of the earliest art forms, but it rarely survives into modernity. As long as humans have been clothed, they have desired to adorn these garments with embellishments. In this sense, embroidery is a collective heritage, but this skill in many nations was relegated to women in some part as a concession for their exemption from “higher” forms of art.

The act of embroidering is very intimate. The piece is held close to the chest and face, which to my mind is reminiscent of the closeness between a woman and an infant. This body of work capitalizes on that intimacy by featuring a variety of precious and semiprecious materials including several types of gemstones, Czech and Japanese glass, silk and satin. The work itself is nonobjective with a vague reference to elemental themes. This allows each piece to communicate with different cultural practices by not relying on traditional imagery.”

Galeana’s work is available for purchase in the Museum Store throughout July.

/// Photo by Kami Galeana