Columbia Gorge Museum:
Lacing Communities Together

with Maggie Hensel-Brown

Instructional Videos

Project PDFs

Calendar

Community Partners

About the Project

The Columbia Gorge Museum: Lacing Communities Together project with lace artist, Maggie Hensel-Brown, is an initiative to engage curiosity and educate about the heritage artform of lacemaking. As ubiquitous as lacemaking is, and perhaps you have a lace story in your family that hovers around the edge of your family lore, the very heart of its existence is invisible…the makers.

Historically, lacemaking has been part of almost every culture for centuries. In many areas, it had a powerful economic impact and was a symbol of power and wealth. As such, it can be found in the clothing of the most powerful figures known, in their paintings, sculptures, and historical artifacts. Museum walls are lined with cuffs, ruffs, and embellishments that may have cost the equivalent of acres of land to purchase. Where are the names of time’s greatest lacemakers?

The Columbia Gorge Museum has evidence of handmade lace in its collections. While we have ample information about the makers of other objects, the stories of lacemakers are lost. It was this fact, and the introduction of lace artist, Maggie Hensel-Brown through YouTube, that the idea for the LCT project grew.

Hensel-Brown made a series of instructional videos for making lace triangles inspired by the Pacific Northwest. New and experienced lacemakers from around the world sent in 576 triangles to the Columbia Gorge Museum. This September, Hensel-Brown, volunteers, and Museum staff laced them together into a large art installation. The final piece, A Sense of Place, was unveiled on September 11, 2026. The final artwork will be on display through January 2027 along with Hensel-Brown's 2023 community lace project, Radiance, and Fragility, an exhibition of lace landscape photomontages by Friderike Heuer. It will then travel to partner locations in Washington and Oregon. See the beautiful result of communities in action at the Columbia Gorge Museum.

While the window for sending in triangles to the Museum has ended, we still encourage people to make a piece of lace for themselves or their loved ones! The videos will remain up on this page and on the Columbia Gorge Museum YouTube for anyone to enjoy! Thank you to all the lacemakers who participated in this amazing project.

Maggie Hensel-Brown

Maggie Hensel-Brown is an Australian artist, working predominantly in needle lace techniques.

She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Newcastle in 2014, and in the same year opened a small gallery and workspace as a part of the Renew Newcastle initiative. She worked there as director and curator.

In 2015, Hensel-Brown took a class in Reticella at the annual general conference of the Australian Lace Guild. Since then, her practice has been dedicated entirely to lace making. She has travelled and studied needle lace in England, Italy, the United States, the Netherlands, and all around Australia.

Her lace takes techniques from various needle traditions to create contemporary imagery. Inspired by classical pictorial needle lace panels, Hensel-Brown’s work tells stories of the most mundane parts of her life: experiencing the highs and lows of the contemporary world. She has exhibited widely throughout Australia and the United States.

Hensel-Brown has an extraordinary talent in teaching lace techniques and inspiring today’s creatives with yesterday’s artform.