Triggered, Truth & Transformation

I have three solo shows in 2023 focused on this theme.

Despite the growing commitment to racial equity, the day-to-day experiences of women of color are not improving. Women of color face similar types and frequencies of microaggressions as they did two years ago – and they remain far more likely than white women to face disrespectful and “othering” behavior.

The weight of these triggers underpins very real consequences… stress, anger, frustration, self-doubt and ultimately feelings of powerlessness and invisibility. These triggers come with a hefty toll of emotional baggage.

Extensions of rope, wrapped, knotted, woven, and embellished with recycled textiles, zip ties, ribbon and yarn, gingerly invite the audience into off the-wall conversations about the “respectability politics” of black hair.  My Emotional Baggage Carts are vessels for this racial trauma.  The act of making, weaves the sting of daily microaggressions into the cart, freeing me from these constraints.

Exhibition Schedule

Exhibition Dates: March 25-May 28, 2023

Location: Schweinfurth Art Center; 205 Genesee St. Auburn, NY 13021

Exhibition Dates: April 22,  2023- July 17, 2023

Location: Wa Na Wari, 911 24th Avenue, Seattle WA 

Exhibition Dates: July 1, 2023- September 17, 2023   

Location: The Lab at Krasl Art Center.  707 Lake Blvd, St Joseph, MI

Dark Matter

Dark matter takes up an estimated 25% of the vast universe. It is not observable through the human senses. In the darkness of space, its presence is detected by its interaction with gravity and its mass bending light around it, similar to refracted distortions in water. It is an uncomfortable truth that so much exists in our reality, yet so much is beyond our perception.

Like light revealing dark matter in space, the artists in the exhibition use the physicality of their work to present unrepresentable realities and experiences. The artists offer a range of engagement, from providing comfort to illustrating society’s harmful, unacknowledged ills that impact groups differently.

Each artist in DARK MATTER brings personal and systemic concerns to the foreground. By starting with the intangible, the artists render perceptible the dark matter of society.

DARK MATTER features artists Kevin Claiborne, Turiya Magadlela, Jamel Robinson, Nnorom Samuel, Theda Sandiford, Rudy Shepherd, Jairo Sosa, and Roscoè B. Thické III on view Tuesday, January 10th to Saturday, February 11th, with a reception on Friday, January 13th, 2023. Mark your calendar for a performance by Rudy Shepherd takes on Saturday, January 21st, and on Thursday, February 2nd, a special program with Art Noir.

Exhibition Dates: January 13- February 11, 2023

Location: Kates- Ferri Projects, 561 Grand St, New York, NY 

I Found Chaney

A hybrid of the words for “china” and “money,” chaney is the porcelain shards found in the soil after a hard rain and washed up on the beaches of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.

I found this shard in The Gut, the riverbed on my property that runs down the Blue Mountain out to the Salt River estuary.

Ceramics, broken in symbolic acts of destruction by slaves, is a symbol of colonial resistance.

I wonder if the tourists buying chaney repurposed into jewellery are aware of the sociopolitical postcolonial critique of colonization and slavery.

For now, I will keep collecting chaney until It is ready to find it’s way into my work….

2023 Exhibition Calendar… so far

I have quite a bit lined up for 2023 , including three solo shows, a return to Governors Island, Fiber Art’s Excellence in Fibers and the group show Dark Matter in LES. There is so much to look forward to in 2023.

Forecast//Recast

Surface Design Association’s juried members’ exhibition

Exhibition Dates: December 6- January 27th, 2023

January 4, 2023: Online panel discussion held as part of Textile Talks

Location: Chehalem Cultural Center; 415 E Sheridan St, Newberg, OR

The Soul of African American Art

Exhibition Dates: January 22-March 5

Location: Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC), 100 South Street in Morristown NJ

Dark Matter

Exhibition Dates: January 13- February 11, 2023

Location: Kates- Ferri Projects, 561 Grand St, New York, NY 

Each One Teach One: Preserving the Legacy in Perpetuity 

Exhibition Dates: March 3 – July 30, 2023

Location: The Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road Morristown, NJ

Theda Sandiford: Triggered, Truth & Transformation

Exhibition Dates: March 25-May 28, 2023

Location: Schweinfurth Art Center; 205 Genesee St. Auburn, NY 13021

2022 New Jersey Arts Annual: Reemergence.  Artist Talk

Artist Talk: March 22, 12:00-1:00pm

Location: New Jersey State Museum; 205 West State Street Trenton NJ

MAFA Virtual Artist Talk

Date: March 28, 2023

Location: Registration for Virtual Zoom details forthcoming

Theda Sandiford: Triggered, Truth & Transformation @ Wa Na Wari

Exhibition Dates: April 22,  2023- July 17, 2023

Location: Wa Na Wari, 911 24th Avenue, Seattle WA 

2022 New Jersey Arts Annual: Reemergence

Exhibition On View: June 18, 2022 – April 30, 2023

Museum Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 9 am to 4:45 pm; Closed Mondays & all State Holidays

Location: New Jersey State Museum; 205 West State Street Trenton NJ

Lady Whistledown

Sculpture Walk Springfield 2022-2023

Exhibition Dates: April 23,2022- May 21, 2023

Location: 411 N. Sherman Parkway, Springfield MO 65802.

Free Your Mind@ MAFA 2023 Conference

Exhibition Dates: June 22- June 25, 2023

Location: Millersville University, Millersville, PA

Theda Sandiford: Triggered, Truth & Transformation @ The Lab

Exhibition Dates: July 1, 2023- September 17, 2023   

Location: The Lab at Krasl Art Center.  707 Lake Blvd, St Joseph, MI

Excellence In Fibers

Exhibition Dates:August 23, 2023 – January 7, 2024.

Location: San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textile; 520 S First St, San Jose, CA 95113

Best of 2022: Top 5

All things considered 2022 was a good year. Here are a couple highlights for me…

I met so many wonderful people at ExpoChicago at my booth, I am still on endorphin high from my visit to the windy city.

I spent most of my Summer with Art Crawl Harlem at Governors Island and can not wait to do it again this year with a new interactive installation.

It was so fantastic to hang with old friends and new, at my solo art show at Ivy Brown Gallery in the meatpacking district.

Being recognized by ADWeek and my peers for my innovation was surprise and trill for me.

And lastly…. my emotional baggage carts made with Fresh Direct bags were mentioned in the NY Times and got picked up by ArtNet News.

FreshDirect, But Make It Fashion

My Emotional Baggage Carts were featured in New York Times article as one of the inventive examples of designers upcycling and turning FreshDirect plastic totes into trendy accessories and art.

Have a look….

ArtNet News even mentioned my Emotional Baggage Carts sculpture series, addressing the pressures of the pandemic that produced such a surplus of Fresh Direct delivery bags in the first place.

Bottle caps, neon yellow 550 paracord, 200′ neon yellow camo 850 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, solar LED rope lights, recycled Fresh Direct bag and commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. Photo by April Tracey

Put A Mini Under The Tree

There is still time to pick up a mini emotional baggage cart for yourself or someone special.

Annual Affordable Art Show!

Saturdays and Sundays in December –  12pm – 5pm

December 19 – 22 5pm-8:30pm

Holiday Party: Friday, December 23 6pm – 9pm

Saturdays and Sundays in January – 12 to 3pm

Closing reception will be Friday, January 27th from 6:00pm to 9:00pm.

Location: Art House Productions Gallery: 345 Marin Blvd (between Morgan and Bay St.)

SDA’s Forecast/Recast

The online exhibition page and gallery is now live!

Forecast//Recast brings together artists and artworks that explore ideas of predicting, reshaping, and re-predicting — works that offer a glimpse of possible futures, reexamine historical narratives, shed light on needed social and ecological interventions, and bend inquiry towards new aims to reframe the way we view the world.

Highlighting fiber and textile-based materials and techniques, cross-disciplinary practices, experimental processes, and material innovation, this exhibition prompts a reshaping of the future with works that predict our current trajectories, cast a new gaze on the past, and revise what is to come.