Art

Tapestries

milk, 2026

Featured in Knot Sorry exhibition at Not Shockboxx gallery in Hermosa Beach, CA, August 2026

Published in make/shift: made with care by Motherlore Magazine, June 2026

Milk. I couldn’t write about the frustration, so on my tiny cutting board loom, I wove it. This story is told with a tube from pumping, dried mother’s milk tea, milk storage bags, the newborn beanie from the hospital, and a photograph of me trying, trying, trying to hand express colostrum before my milk came in.

mombrain: a (self) portrait, 2025

This is a sort of self portrait, woven on my cutting board loom with inherited yarn, a found photograph, and found text from a National Geographic.

It navigates the mombrain static,
touched-out frazzle,
sleep regression mania,
milk, milk, milk, suppliments, milk, milk, milk,
kindness of strangers,
glowing empathy,
staggering loneliness,
murmuration of instinct,
red of birth flashbacks, rage,
boundless love,
love that rewrites every fiber of my being, transforming me into

Mama.

Artist’s Books

A Girl’s First Book of Scary Shapes, 2026

Part embroidery sampler, part American Girl book, part manifesto, “A Girl’s First Book of Scary Shapes” is shame transformed. It represents how we hand this shame and fear down to the next generation, and, hopefully, how we can subvert it.

Though I weave, I hardly ever embroider or sew, and tapestry weaving was new. I chose handspun threads I inherited that were uneven, and wool that had all the fuzz and earthy smells of life. The fibers are seen, felt, and heard. This is a loud, messy project. Each developmental stage has its own weaving: breast development, pubic hair, menstruation, a vagina for sexuality, a plus sign for a positive pregnancy test, and the silhouette of a very pregnant person. These are the stages I myself feared from a very young age, and have finally accepted, as seen on the last page, which reads:

Beware of your power.

Medium: handwoven cloth book created with Icelandic wool, handspun wool, and 100% cotton fiber, red embroidery thread, tapestry weaving and embroidery

Heirloom, 2023

Published: Needlebound, September 2026

McGovern inherited an 8-shaft Macomber floor loom from her husband’s family. Along with this loom came the story of two generations of weavers and their tangential arts. This is a story of remembering the lost while finding a voice through creation. McGovern becomes closer to the women she never knew with every project because she is the next chapter.

This book strives to capture this story. It is crafted with handwoven cloth from the loom, and its pages hold artifacts from each chapter: the fiber art pieces of Elsie Kronenfeld, the bead collection and arts of Kathi Beratan, and McGovern’s own writing and crafts.

This is a story she carries into the future.

Medium: Red clamshell box, cloth book created with handwoven twill, found lace, beads, photography, macrame bracelet, handspun yarns, manufactured yarns, painted miniatures, creative nonfiction, crochet

Home, 2023

Featured in Artists Books Student Exhibition, Arizona State University, November 2023

This was my first ever artist’s book. It is a personal history, weaving memory, place, and family. My personal history extends across state lines, and is rooted in the history of the Southwest. I am surrounded by my family’s love as I write the next chapter of us, daily, stitching a new life.

The structure of the book is a wonky double-accordion with five spreads. The images were created with collages of family photographs, found images in magazines, and collected papers and textures. The text includes lines from a bunch of my writings from the past five years.

Medium: Collage, topographic maps, found images from National Geographic, collected papers, text from McGovern’s writings

The Invisible Technology, 2023

Featured in Artists Books Student Exhibition, Arizona State University, November 2023

I picked a domestic object we could recognize, a cutting board, to transform into a loom to illustrate how looms used to be everyday household items.

I cut up historical images of women weavers for my classmates to weave: Venus de Milo holding a drop spindle, Ada Lovelace, and vadmal, the Viking cloth used as currency during the Middle Ages. My classmates at ASU wove the pieces into the loom, but I didn’t properly warp the loom, and the strips were too wide.

Recently, I revisited this piece, and recast the work into something that could last in more than a liminal space.

little somethings press

Based in Tempe, Arizona, little somethings press: a collection of small writings, amplifies the power of micro-literature and handmade books. We publish high-quality poetry, flash fiction, flash memoir, and art. Care is taken in hand-binding each book made from upcycled materials in community spaces. McGovern is the founding editor and book designer.

To learn more, visit our website.

Exhibitions

Mindscape of a Mother. Breath, Satellite Gallery: Tempe, Arizona, September 2026.

Milk. Knot Sorry, Notshockboxx Gallery: Hermosa Beach, California, August 2026.

Home and The Invisible Technology. Artists Books Student Exhibition; Arizona State University: Tempe, Arizona, November 2023

Mother, Maiden, Crone. Oh, the Places You’ll Go; Arizona State University: Phoenix, Arizona, January 2017.

Home in Six Scenes. House, Habitat, Home; Arizona State University: Phoenix, Arizona, March 2016.

Collage

with child, memories, and rewritings

Published: In Parentheses 9.1, October 2024

This piece is shaped with flowers from my wedding, journal writings, family photographs, a postcard from my weaving fairy godmother, book cloth from a past project, and the dreams/anxiety/love of an expectant first-time mama.

Dancers

Published in Write on Downtown, April 2021

Male Gaze