Liberty Style, Aemilia Ars Needle Lace and Forlì

In Italy Art Nouveau style is called Liberty after the British company Liberty of London. Art Nouveau style was influencing all forms of creativity during the time that Aemilia Ars needle lace was born which is apparent in early pieces of this beautiful needlework.

From February 1st until June 15th, 2014 there is a Liberty exhibition held at the San Domenico Museums in Piazza Guido da Montefeltro in Forlì, Italy.

Among the many things to see will be an Aemilia Ars needle lace exhibit and classes (I've outlined the information on the classes in red on the brochure pictured above). Here is a translation of what it says:

Workshops
Aemilia Ars lace earring
Creation of needle lace
From February 15th to May 24th every Saturday (except the 19th and 26th of April and the 3rd of May)
Mornings from 10am to 12:30pm and afternoons from 3pm to 5:30pm
Other dates available on request
€30,00 (euros) per person
Cost includes a pair of gold earring mounts and entrance ticket to the Liberty exhibits
The workshop is available for individual visitors or groups with a maximum number of 25
A reservation is compulsory
For information and bookings:
Francesca Bencivenni
(contact info via telephone and email which I won't put here so that webcrawling spammers can't target them - check the brochure by clicking on the photo above)

(Francesca Bencivenni is the lacemaker behind the exquisite creations found on this website.)

Also featured in the Liberty exhibit at Forlì will be the Aemilia Ars needle lace altar cloth masterpiece created by the lacemakers and embroiderers of the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Bologna in the early years of the 20th century. I wrote an article for Piecework magazine about this altar cloth which I had the extreme privilege to view while on display at Easter at the Sacred Heart in Bologna in 2011. There are some photos of it here. 

In this post here, I told you about two table cloths created by the Aemilia Ars Society in the early part of the 20th century. I have as yet been unable to discover if either of these incredible pieces have survived to present day. Inspired by the beauty of these designs Francesca Bencivenni of Bologna has created her own masterpiece which will be on display as well at the Liberty exhibit in Forlì.

click on the photo for a closer look!

Francesca's peacock Aemilia Ars needle lace measures 89 centimetres long and 21 centimetres high and took more than 1100 hours for her to complete. It will be for sale at the end of the show - best offer will take it home - interested parties should contact her directly at her contact info on the brochure pictured above. I am in no way involved with, nor will I benefit from, the sale of the lace. If I could buy it myself I would have already made an offer!

If you find yourself in Italy this spring, make the effort to get to this show. I know I always say this but I really do wish I were able to get to this exhibit! If you go, please let me know how it was!