How an Alumnus Found Art

David Nimick ’39 welcomed fellow alumnus and current Senior School Art History teacher and Alumni Engagement Officer, Clayton Deutsch ’99, into his home to discuss needlepointing and to share some of his work. The following article is a result of their meeting.

It was the task of creating a textilebased birthday present for his sister Eleanor ’35 that first piqued David Nimick’s interest in the fabric arts.

David recalls that his younger daughter, Carol ’69, proposed in 1978 that family members each produce a square for her aunt’s 60th birthday quilt. With some persuasion on Carol’s part, siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts, and even a friend or two volunteered to produce fabric squares in time for the project’s completion deadline of Leap Day 1980. David was somewhat at a loss for how he might create his contribution to the quilt. In seventh grade, he had learned the basics of knitting while recovering from a bout with anemia, but that was the extent of his training. And, he says, “my interest in art per se, except for paintings I can understand, was, and still is, pretty nil.” As he shared in 40 Years of Needlepointing, a one-page bio that accompanied his works in a Masonic Village Art Studio window display in 2021, “At the time, his wife June was occasionally needlepointing. He asked her ‘How ’bout I needlepoint my square?’ Receiving an ‘If you think it is suitable for the proposed quilt, I can show you how to stitch’ reply, he betook himself to THE PORCUPINE, the needlepoint shop since 1972 in Sewickley, and asked if they had an artist who could paint a meaningfulto-his-sister image on a piece of needlepoint canvas.”

Opposite page, top row: The colorful covering of one of 38 wooden stools David has had Santom’s, a local furniture repair/ refinishing shop, fabricate for him. One of three “Christopher Robin and Friends” stools. Two have been gifted and one remains in David’s home collection. A David Nimick original on a stool currently displayed in the SA’s Alumni Art Exhibition. Middle row: A stool with a David-stitched needlepoint cover in his home collection. A David Nimick original framed needlepoint. Currently on display in SA’s Alumni Art Exhibition. “Seabirds” 38” x 50,” framed in David’s collection at home. Original artist unknown. Bottom row: A custom-designed cover on a stool completed in 2021. Most of his 17” x 17” stitched canvases include his initials and the year the canvas was completed. “Noah’s Ark” wall hanging currently on display in SA’s Alumni Art Exhibition A pillow in David’s personal collection with a custom designed cover. Stitching the painted “Red Owl’’ square for the quilt grew into something of an addiction for David. Now in his 99th year, David is SA’s 3rd oldest living alumnus and an enthusiastic “Practitioner of Fiber Arts,” an epithet suggested by a friend some years ago.

For the past few years, he estimates that he has spent an average of two hours per day needlepointing, but this was not always the case. For instance, in the 1980s and ’90s, when demands of his day job did not leave much free time, he’d try to squeeze 30 minutes before weekday bedtimes whenever possible in order to relax with a needlepoint project. He recalled, “In early 1984, June suggested that if I was looking for things to stitch, there were 8 chairs in the dining room that could have new needlepoint seat covers. That took care of 1984-1986!” A 38” x 50” painted canvas of seabirds required much of 1993-1995 to complete. It was then that he moved his self-employed asset management business from a Pittsburgh office to his home, opening up more time for stitching. For David, needlepoint has been both relaxing and a great form of double-tasking. Over the years, his projects have accompanied him at airports and doctors’ offices and while listening to music, watching sports on TV, and other activities. The 12 years spent serving on the Quaker Valley School Board and more than 40 years as a lead trustee of two 501(c)(3) organizations benefiting QV students inspired David with “the idea to put a stitched canvas on a wooden frame with a two-inch foam cushion” as a classroom teaching aid. Having observed teachers in the lower elementary grades sitting on classroom floors with their students, he took it upon himself to gift his first needlepoint stool to a 2nd grade classroom at the Edgeworth School in 2007. And while he anticipated that the teacher might be more comfortable using the stool, he later learned that “teachers have found permitting students to sit on the stools as a special reward works well.” In the years

David and his wife, June, in July 2021.

Top: Framed needlepoint of Eeyore’s house at Pooh Corner. One was gifted to the Sewickley Public Library’s Children’s Department, and one remains in David’s home collection.

Left: David standing with two of his stools currently on display in the Campbell Art Gallery as part of the Alumni Art Show.

that followed, David contributed 18 stools and 5 Winnie-the-Pooh wall hangings to the public library and the two elementary buildings.

David’s work unites the disparate qualities of visual appeal, practicality, and suitability for both children and adults – qualities which rarely all cohere in one object.

Whether needlepointing supplements to functional objects like mirrors, trays, stools, and pillows, or crafting small decorative rugs and wall hangings, he is careful to draw a distinction between his original works and those that involve a pre-painted canvas by another artist. Painted canvases vary in the care the artist has taken in painting and can create stitching dilemmas if a dot of paint is not exactly placed or is omitted on a thread crossing. David spends considerable time inspecting “the accuracy with which a canvas is painted” prior to purchasing. “Wellpainted canvases are expensive, but generally worth the cost,” he says. Working with a blank canvas provides David an opportunity to be what he refers to as a “true artist.” When creating an original work, he frequently starts in the center by stitching a colored thread that he likes or considers to be unusual. From there, he says, “there’s no secret to my geometric creations. It’s all counting and moving as the spirit moves me.” To date, all of his original work has been on 20” x 20” #13 canvas with the stitching covering 17” x 17” of the piece for two reasons: 1) David prefers “an edge” to hold on to when nearing the border, and 2) he needs that area stitched completely to cover all of the cushion on his stools. This particular size also fits nicely into an 18” x 18” frame such as the two works which are displayed in the Alumni Art Exhibition in Sewickley Academy’s Campbell Art Gallery through December 16, 2022.

To truly appreciate David’s needlepoint artwork, one must understand that a single finished canvas for one of his stools requires approximately 50,000 stitches and 240 hours, a figure which is often exceeded in the case of more complex designs.

David’s collection of needlepoint projects display tactile brilliance, inventiveness, and verve that are equaled only by the amount of time and effort involved. It is safe to say that words can never do justice to the experience of viewing one of David’s needlepoint works in person.

David Nimick is one of six children, all of whom graduated from SA. His father was an Academy board member during the Great Depression years of the 1930s. As SA had only 10 grades in his era, he and his four brothers all completed grades 11 and 12 at Philips Exeter Academy (David was a member of the class of 1942) and then matriculated at Princeton. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve in December 1942, and on July 1, 1943, reported to Cornell in the Navy’s V-12 college training program. In 1945, he received a degree in Electrical Engineering, and, in 1947, an MBA from Harvard. He served in the Navy until 1954, after the Korean War had ended, attaining the rank of LT(SC)USN. His marriage to June in September 1948 is considered his life’s highlight.

LEAVE YOUR LEGACY

While Paving the Way for the Future

Sewickley Academy invites you to become a part of our school’s history and pave the way for generations to come by purchasing a brick paver. Legacy pavers are sold for $1,000, but we are offering the paver to you at a but we are offering the paver to you at a special discounted price of $500! All proceeds support the SA Fund. Pavers are placed in Melodia Plaza located in front of Nichols Snyder School Center as a permanent tribute to our SA community. Orders placed by December 1, 2022, will be Orders placed by December 1, 2022, will be installed in Spring 2023. You will be notified when your paver is installed. To purchase, please contact Carey Byrnes, Annual Giving Officer, at cbyrnes@sewickley.org or 412-741-2230 ext. 3629.