Page 27 - JOA August 2020

international awards for his work. Vladi later regretted not undertaking more joint
projects with Erica. The rocking chair, designed by Vladi with upholstered needlework
by Erica, appeared in many magazine articles featuring the couple and was displayed in
the shop on Madison Avenue and later in their Park Avenue apartment.
When Erica Wilson died in 2011, her shop on Madison Avenue had closed, but
the shop on Nantucket, operated by her daughter Vanessa, continues
(ericawilson.com). In 2015 the family of Erica Wilson, one of the most successful
needlework entrepreneurs of the second half of the century, generously donated
examples of her work to Winterthur Museum and lent additional material for
a book and an online exhibition, Erica Wilson: A Life in Stitches. Due to the
coronavirus, Erica: A Life in Stitches will be an online exhibition only. A book with
the same title by Anne Hilker and Linda Eaton will be available in the fall. Go to the
Winterthur Store online or order a copy this fall.

Linda Eaton is the John L. & Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections and the
Senior Curator of Textiles at Winterthur Museum. She has curated exhibitions on fakes
and forgeries, quilts, and embroidery and is the author of Quilts in a Material World:
Selections from Winterthur’s Collection and Printed Textiles: British and American
Cottons and Linens 1700-1850.
Erica Wilson relaxing (l)
and a still from her
WGBH program (below)
which can still be viewed
through their Open Vault
photos: pbs.org

Left: Erica loved owls. The rocking chair
was designed by Vladi with embroidered
upholstery by Erica. This was displayed in
Madison Avenue store and later in their
Park Avenue apartment.
Image courtesy of The Family of Erica Wilson

Photo by Bob Leitch

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August 2020 25