With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories | Nicole Nehrig

This is the second program in the Interwoven: A Tradition of Textiles exhibition lecture series.

Image of a Peruvian woman weaving a colorful textile outdoors. In tandem with the exhibition Interwoven: A Tradition of Textiles on view at Hillwood from June 6, 2026 to January 3, 2027, please join author Nicole Nehrig for this talk about the women exercising power and agency through the "women's work" of textiles, as inspired by her book With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories.

Knitting, embroidery, sewing – these and other forms of textile work have often been described as “women’s work” and associated with domesticity and subservience. But, textile work has also been a way for women to exercise power and agency. When their voices were silenced and other avenues of employment and self-expression closed off to them, women used the tools they had – often a needle and thread – to seek freedom within restrictive societies. Through textiles women have documented history, stood up for what they believed in, processed difficult emotions, built community, and shaped their identities. With Her Own Hands shares stories of women who have made, and been made by, cloth.

Nicole will signed copied of With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories following the lecture.

Images courtesy of Nicole Nehrig.

Image of the cover of the book With Her Own Hands

HYBRID PROGRAM

This lecture will be presented in the theater in the Ellen MacNeille Charles Visitor Center and will be livestreamed via Zoom. Visitors can submit questions for the speaker from any location.

IN-PERSON TIMELINE

5:30–6:30 p.m. | Explore Hillwood

Enjoy Hillwood’s mansion, gardens, greenhouse, and exhibition, Interwoven: A Tradition of Textiles
Find the perfect memento from your visit at the museum shop

6:30–7:30 p.m. | Lecture

7:30 p.m. | Book signing. With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories is available in the museum shop.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Image of Nicole Nehrig, with short brown hair, glasses, and wearing a knit sweater, sitting in a chair knitting. Nicole Nehrig is a clinical and research psychologist and passionate textile crafter living in Brooklyn, NY. The meaning she has found in knitting, sewing, and embroidery inspired her to write the book, With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories which explores the ways women have used textile work to create meaning and purpose in their lives throughout history and around the world.