Crafting the Mind
Curated by Rachel May and Danielle Krcmar
January 15th - March 28th, 2026
“Crafting the Mind” is an exhibition of contemporary fiber art that speaks to the early history of crafts as a therapeutic practice at McLean Hospital, New England’s first psychiatric hospital. McLean was opened at Somerville’s Barrell Mansion in 1818, and today the Somerville Museum holds the mansion’s original flying staircase. McLean patients created textiles and other crafts for therapeutic benefit as part of the hospital’s “moral cure,” an approach to treatment that emphasized compassionate care, access to nature, and patient activities. “Crafting the Mind” explores the evolving definitions of “care,” “health,” and “treatment” in different cultural contexts, as well as today’s advocacy movement for mental healthcare equity.
Artists: Betty Antoine, Amy Caliri, Cicely Carew, Mimi Clark, Alison Doucette, Leah Dunn, Farah Faustin, Samantha Fields, Ifé Franklin, Kate Holcomb Hale, Kayla Johnson, Lauren Leone, Joetta Maue, Michele Moran, Loretta Park, Carl Phillips, Darryl Richards, Carter Shocket, Josie Sosa, Matthew Treggiari.
Danielle Krcmar was selected as the Somerville Arts Council’s January Artist of the Month! Read full interview with Charan Devereaux here.
Opening reception sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). This exhibition is also sponsored by Cambridge Health Alliance Leadership in Psychiatry Program.
Events:
January 15: Opening Reception (Parking available at the Greek Church on 29 Central Street)
January 24: Curator Walk-Through with artists, 11am
January 31: Story Quilt Workshop (K-8) with Rachel May & Danielle Krcmar, 10am-12pm
February 7: Archivist Terry Bragg on the Founding and History of McLean, 3pm
February 21: Fiber Workshop with Lauren Leone. "Crafting Care: Stitching personal and collective definitions of care through fiber and discussion”, 12-2pm
March 14: Curator Walk-through with artists , 11am
March 28: Closing Reception, 3-5pm
Meet the Curators
Danielle Krcmar is an artist and curator of the RSM Gallery at Bentley University. She earned her BFA in Sculpture from SUNY Binghamton and an MFA in sculpture from UMASS Amherst. She has received grants from the St Botolph Club Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Blanche Colman Foundation, and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation. She has completed architectural sculpture commissions in Ridgeway, Illinois and Knoxville TN, and created outdoor installations for the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust, Forest Hills Cemetery, and the Fort Point Channel area of Boston. Her work has been featured in Ocean State Review and Quilting with a Modern Slant in addition to having been reviewed in Sculpture Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Boston Phoenix, and Arts Media. Danielle Krcmar was Somerville Arts Council’s January Artist of the Month. Read her interview here.
Rachel May, a writer and fiber artist, is the author of four books, including An American Quilt: Unfolding a Story of Family and Slavery, (Pegasus Books), The Experiments: A Legend in Pictures and Words (Dusie Press), which combines sewn images and fiction, and Quilting with a Modern Slant, named a Best Book of the Year by Library Journal and Amazon. She illustrated two novellas with embroidery for Jaded Ibis Press, and has shown her fiber art at galleries in Michigan, where she was a professor of creative writing. She earned her PhD from the University of Rhode Island and MFA from the University of Montana, and her essays on image+text, history, fiber art, and mental health have been included in Best American Science and Nature Writing and recently published in The New York Times, Arnoldia, Outside, The Boston Globe, Public Books, Condé Nast Traveler, LitHub, National Geographic, Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies, and many others. She's been awarded residencies and fellowships at The Vermont Studio Center, VCCA, and The Millay Colony.
Admission
Opening reception is free thanks to the generous sponsorship of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
General Admission: $8*; free to Museum members and visitors 12 years of age and under; Free to everyone on the first Friday of every month**
Event Admission: varies; Museum members receive discounts where applicable.
Check out our event schedule for the museum’s open hours and events.
*Admission fees help the museum cover programming, staffing, and overhead expenses. These fees help us keep the doors open to the public.
**Special thanks to the Somerville Community Preservation Act (CPA) for supporting this program.
Sponsored by:
