10/17/2026
Natalie Hays Hammond took up needlepoint after a bad fall necessitated years of surgery that kept her away from her drawing board. Her mother had been an excellent 'needle-woman' but Hammond was not interested in the same classic, commercially available patterns. She instead turned to less traditional imagery including astrological signs, esoteric symbols, ancient objects, and solemn landscapes.
It is in her landscape needlepoints that Hammond explicitly attempted to capture the experience of silence. In her writings about these works, Hammond relayed several personal experiences with silence across her many global travels through deserts, temples, hill towns, and ancient ruins. She categorized these works as needlepoints depicting 'places partly remembered and partly imagined' and referred to them as 'amiable ghosts that haunt the reality' of life in a visual form.
Natalie Hays Hammond: Needlepoint Landscapes is an online exhibition available to view on our website October 17 through December 13, 2026.
https://childsgallery.com/exhibition/natalie-hays-hammond-needlepoint-landscapes-online-exhibition/
