Community members are invited to bring treasured family photos or take a selfie and create their own textile art onsite. Join our group of artists and historians to tell your family story through photos, and an archivist/preservationist will help preserve and protect the prints.

If you’d like, your photo can be conserved, scanned, and printed on a small canvas. We’ll have sewing stations for you to express your artistic side by creating your own stitched portrait. Take inspiration from the works in Gio Swaby: Fresh Up, where the artist creates unique portraits through a range of textile-based methodologies.

FREE with museum admission; Limited capacity, advanced registration highly recommended

Participants are encouraged to send their photos to the MFA before their scheduled visit. Our staff will be transferring your selected images to canvases so they’re ready for you to embroider when you come in. Each registrant may submit up to two images. To submit your photos in advance, please send an email, including your name, to slynch@mfastpete.org.