Artist Amy Beeler leads a free talk Thursday, Sept. 10, at the Birmingham-Bloomfield Art Center about her textile exhibition built from cotton clotheslines, clothespins and memories of a family farm.

The talk runs from 6 to 7 p.m. at the BBAC, 1516 S. Cranbrook in Birmingham. It is part of a series the center presents in partnership with Essay'd. The talk is free and open to the public.

Beeler's show, "Domestic Lines: Quiet Rituals," fills the BBAC gallery with sculptural pieces that draw on backyard traditions. It closes Thursday, Sept. 17.

Beeler, a trained jewelry artist and metalsmith, used a domestic sewing machine to stitch cotton clothesline into forms that evoke laundry, food preparation and family gatherings, according to the BBAC's exhibition description. She built the displays and frames herself, with the exception of some historical pins she has collected, C&G Newspapers reported.

"The making is so important to me that it's very hard, in a way, for me to let go and let anybody else have part of that," Beeler told C&G Newspapers.

A centerpiece of the show is "The 16 Panels of Remembrance, Loss and Lasting." Each panel represents a woman in Beeler's family who has died. The piece addresses the lasting impressions each person made, as well as grief.

Annie VanGelderen, the BBAC's president and CEO, described the exhibition as like traveling through a maze of Beeler's background. Another piece, the interactive "Gathering Table," invites visitors to sit and gently unravel rope, representing a family table where food was prepared for processing.

Beeler earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art with a specialty in jewelry and metalsmithing from Bowling Green State University in 2000, according to her professional biography. Her background in metalwork shapes how she constructs the textile pieces.

The BBAC gallery is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The next exhibition, Doug Cannell's "Backstories," opens Sept. 25.