Sylvia D. Harding

Sylvia D. Harding (1911-1997) was a multi-talented artist best known for the miniature embroidered scenes she called “needle paintings.” Using silk thread on a variety of fabrics usually given to her by friends, Sylvia incorporated an array of color into gardens, bouquets, farm, and water scenes inspired by the property overlooking Hamburg Cove in Lyme, Connecticut where her family has lived for several generations. Her stitches, often including dozens of difficult French knots, are so small that her work is best appreciated when viewed through a magnifying glass or jeweler’s loupe. Sylvia’s embroidered miniatures have been featured in two major folk arts exhibitions: “Three Centuries of Connecticut Folk Art,” which toured the state in 1979, and “Stories To Tell: The Narrative Impulse in Contemporary New England Folk Art” at the De Cordova Museum in 1987. Her work received notice in the New York Times and Hartford Courant as well as in local newspapers. In addition to her needle paintings, Sylvia used her unique sensibility and embroidery skills learned from her mother to embellish sweaters, blouses, jackets, and belts. After her career as a childcare provider, Sylvia gave most of her art works to friends as gifts. The four pieces in the exhibit were made in the early and mid-1980s.