Elaine Reichek’s “Painted Blackfoot.”

In the very back of the ground floor of the Boca Museum of Art is a simple, beautiful exhibit from Elaine Reichek – it could be easy to miss, and you really shouldn’t. Reichek studied at Brooklyn College with abstract master Ad Reinhardt in the 1960s and was an early pioneer of conceptual art with a twist, a somewhat feminine one. She makes much of her art from needlework, which is why the exhibit is titled “In the Eye of the Needle.”

Reichek often uses as models structures and imagery of various indigenous and ancient cultures. So one stunning piece is a couple of knitted men, natives of Tierra del Fuego of Argentina; it’s paired with a photograph of them (in a tragic twist, much of this population was wiped out by disease, from germs carried in the cloth of the Europeans). Another photograph of a teepee is paired with a knitted sculptural version in the same colors and patterns. Another is a cotton replica of a southern black Baptist church, from a photograph taken in the 1930s by Walker Evans.

And then ultimate treat: tucked into the back corner is a little room painted bright blue. In it is a blue bed, surrounded by little wall sculptures made from cloth, imitating famous paintings from the likes of Mondrian and Van Gogh. Reichek’s work can be found in MOCA and the Brooklyn Museum – and now in Boca.

War rug with map of Afghanistan, woven.

In the rooms in front of this special show is a bigger, though just as profound, exhibit, also involving threads woven into pieces of art. They are Afghan rugs, but not the ones you may have in your house. These are contemporary tapestries made by women of that war-scarred land, depicting the real and terrifying world around them. These gorgeous, colorful rugs, in fact, reveal a landscape filled with tanks, helicopters, weapons and other mechanisms of death. The more than 40 rugs on display brings that distant war home, with the sad reality that even when the U.S. leaves, this landscape likely won’t change in the eyes of these Afghan weavers for decades to come.

Once upon a time, a trip up to Boca to see art might have seemed a trip too far, but not anymore. All of South Florida is maturing in its art offerings, and melding too. Case in point: upstairs is an exhibition of pieces from the collection, which recently grew with donated artworks from Wendy Wischer and Miamian Bhakti Baxter, with a new foyer underway created by the duo of Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt. It’s summer, you have time.

“Elaine Reichek: The Eye of the Needle” runs through July 27; “Afghan Rugs: The Contemporary Art of Central Asia” runs through July 27; “Making Connections: Selections from the Boca Museum and Private Collections” is ongoing, at the Boca Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real in Mizner Park, Boca Raton; www.bocamuseum.org.