Stitching the Steel, Making Peace with the Wolf: The Life and Art of Mildred T. Johnstone

Abstract: Pioneering fibre artist, executive wife rebelling against Bethlehem Steel’s elite culture, grieving mother, spiritual seeker. The vibrant Mildred (Milly) T. Johnstone (1900–1988) challenged the male elite not only with her personal style but also through her imaginative, Modernist, female-signified needlepoints, which reconceived the masculine steel-making industry and reflected upon the direction of post–World War II America. Later in her career, she migrated from steelmaking to subjects and designs from Eastern spirituality that reflected her own journey in seeking peace of mind after the tragic loss of her two-and-a-half-year old son to a wolf’s attack. Johnstone’s life and art provide fresh insights into Modernism, feminism, economic power, and culture in twentieth-century America.