5 Years and Counting!

 An ongoing project, the Annapolis Tapestries is now in its fifth year of community activity.  After 3,266 hours of stitching the 18th  Century large tapestry and hundreds of hours to complete 8 of the 12 smaller, complimentary 18th Century panels, we are preparing for the Tapestries’ first public exhibit!

My name is Remy Agee and I serve as Chair of this historic project and President of the Board of Trustees of The Annapolis Tapestries, Inc.   As Chair, I am delighted to report the progress we have made through the commitment of our many volunteer stitchers and historians along with our key support volunteers.  With the help of  Hollis Minor, Technical Advisor, and countless hours of her time, the 18th Century large and 8 smaller tapestries are being blocked and finished in preparation for the 2012 exhibit at Historic Annapolis  Museum located at 99 Main Street in Annapolis.  Opening on February 11th, the exhibit will run through November 2012.

Pictured here is the unstitched 18th Century panel measuring 3’h x 6.5′ w. The tapestries all are original artwork by Gail Bolden who specializes in this type of work.  Gail used photographs, drawings and written descriptions provided by the historians and Hollis to design the tapestries. This entire canvas took four months to hand paint using the pen and ink drawings placed underneath the unpainted needlepoint canvas as a guide. Each large tapestry offers a birds’ eye view of City Dock which immediately conveys the changes and development from one century to the next. There are 44 elements on this one tapestry panel.

A work group of seven local historians – Jean Russo, Jane McWilliams, Greg Stiverson, Orlando Ridout, Janice Hayes-Williams, Matt Grubbs and Vince Leggett – began their work in September 2006 and devoted over 8 months to identify, select and finalize the significant people, places, things and events that helped shape the City as we know it today over a 300 year period.  Three maritime historians – John Wing, Fred Hecklinger and Jim Cheevers – joined the historians work group during the vetting of the images on the pen and ink tapestry drawings. The project encompasses one large tapestry panel for each of the three centuries complimented by 12 small tapestries in sizes 10″x12″ and 18″x24″ for each century. Phase 1 of the Project focused on the first one hundred years since the City’s charter was granted, 1708-1807.

For information about the community stitching of these tapestries, contact     To read an account by stitchers on the large 18th Century tapestry, see Their Story: 18th Century Large Tapestry Stitchers  on this blog.