Booking and details
Dates Sat, Mar 07 — Fri, Mar 13, 2026
Venue Great Hall
Tickets Free; no tickets required
This is a free drop-in style program. No registration required.
Celebrate Women’s History Month with a drop-in embroidery program led by Folger Artist Fellow Heidi Henderson! Henderson will be demonstrating the technique of “blackwork embroidery,” which she uses to create art installation pieces and costuming for dance performances.
In Shakespeare’s time, embroidery was a mark of expected gender roles and upper-class status for women. As a Folger fellow, Henderson questions how these expectations were and were not encoded in early modern embroidery by crafting contemporary designs inspired by healing herbs, gardens, and “monstrous” animals.
Join us in the Great Hall to observe, learn, and even try your hand at this early modern craft!
Schedule
Please note that the Folger is closed on Mondays.
Saturday, March 7
- 11am-1pm
- 2-5:30pm
Sunday, March 8
- 11am-1pm
- 2-5:30pm
Tuesday, March 10
- 11:30am-1pm
- 2-5:30pm
Wednesday, March 11
- 11:30am-1pm
- 2-5:30pm
Thursday, March 12
- 11:30am-1pm
- 2-4:30pm
Friday, March 13
- 11:30am-1pm
- 2-5pm
- 7-8:30pm
About the Artist
Folger Artist Fellow
Heidi Henderson
Heidi Henderson, costumer and choreographer, is beginning a process of performing Blackwork Embroidery. As the choreographer for elephant JANE dance, a 5 time recipient of the RI State Council on the Arts Choreography Fellowship, she has been making dances in RI since 1997. She danced in several companies in NYC before leaving to teach and have kids. She has been sewing and embroidering since childhood, with a long stint as a couture sewer in NYC specializing in detailed hand sewing. She is a Professor at Connecticut College, teaching quilting, dance costuming, and multiple movement forms.
Related
Embroidering the crown: Needlework in the English royal court
Rachel Pollack writes about early modern English embroideries and the stories they depict, such as the classical myth of Hero and Leander.
Covering Esther, or What Happens When Renaissance Woman Esther Inglis Exchanges Her Brush and Pen for a Needle: Examining Embroidery Through Reproduction
A behind the scenes look at the creation of a reproduction of one of the embroidered bindings on display in Little Books, Big Gifts: The Artistry of Esther Inglis.
About Folger Institute
The Folger Institute is a center for early modern research at the Folger Shakespeare Library that brings public audiences together with researchers to explore the cultures and legacies of the early modern world. Learn more.