Lecturer: Harriet Alonso
Date: Sunday, April 10, 2022 1PM Eastern
Registration: March 14-21, 2022 1PM Eastern
In 1973, Harriet Alonso took her first needlepoint class. Within a year, she was designing and stitching her own “political posters.” Never having taken an art course—not drawing, design, or art history—she just dove in, using the popular style of political posters to inspire her. Like many posters, the designs and their messages are easy to grasp. To this day, she continues to stitch pieces that reflect her commitment to feminism, human rights, and the study of history. This talk will include her work from the 1970s and early 1980s which reflect the history of its day as well as new pieces reflecting more recent times. This “Stitcherhood is Powerful” collection has been acquired by the New York State Museum in Albany although the bulk of the pieces still reside in Alonso’s home.
Registration is closed.
Registration is limited to 100 participants and will remain open for a full week. Once registration ends, the entire list will be run through a randomization app and the list of attendees will be filled in that randomized order with the remaining members added to a waitlist. Learn more in our Virtual lecture Series page.
Harriet Alonso is a Brooklyn-born historian and embroiderer. In her childhood, her mother introduced her to cross stitch which always held an attraction for her, but as an adult she fell in love with needlepoint. From 1973 to 1980, she completed a series of “political posters” which expressed her growing commitment to feminism, human rights, and peace. This led her to the study of women’s history. From 1980-2015, she devoted her professional life to studying, researching, teaching, lecturing, and writing about peace movement and women’s history, resulting in her receiving the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Peace History Society, an affiliate of the American Historical Association. Today, as a retired Professor Emerita from the City College of New York, CUNY, she combines her love for women’s history with her love for embroidery. You can learn more about her embroidery and history work on her website at http://harrietalonso.com.
