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Inspired By: a Fur-Lined Teacup

I was recently asked if Meret Oppenheim’s fur-lined teacup, inspired Blackty Black Blanket.

According to the MOMA,  Object was inspired by a conversation between Oppenheim, Pablo Picasso, and photographer Dora Maar at a Paris café. Admiring Oppenheim’s fur-trimmed bracelets, Picasso remarked that one could cover just about anything with fur. “Even this cup and saucer,” Oppenheim replied.

Blackty Black Blanket came about by completely by happenstance. I tossed a partially finished zip tie blanket onto the white chaise in my studio and turned around to work on the computer. Later when i got up to leave the room and saw the blanket draped on the chaise, I did a double take and knew the Chaise and blanket belonged together.

I lost a comfortable place in my studio to lounge but gained a subtle yet powerful way to communicate how discomforting microaggressions feel.

Blackty Black Blanket, 2020
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Joyful Resistance: Closing Event

Exhibition Dates: September 8 – October 7

Location: Ivy Brown Gallery; 675 Hudson St, New York, NY

212-925-1111 by appointment

Closing Reception: Friday, October 7, 3:00-5:00pm

Come say goodbye to Joyful Resistance at Ivy Brown Gallery. And your last chance to pick up your own mini Emotional Baggage Cart…

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Inside And Out

The Gallery at Hillside Square and the Hillside Square Sculpture Garden is open this fall with a dual show featuring two and three-dimensional works from Peter Allen, Kate Dodd, Jerry Gant, Wendy Letven, myself, and Charlie Spademan.

Please come see my my woven textile work Inside and my emotional baggage cart in the sculpture garden outside. I will be at the Opening Reception, Saturday, October 8, 5:30-7:30pm. Hope to see you there.

Exhibition Dates: October 8- December 16

Location: The Gallery at Hillside Square, 8 Hillside Avenue, Montclair NJ

The Gallery at Hillside Square is open Monday through Friday, 7:00 am – 7:00 pm

Sunrise in the Valley, Back panel of a recovered shopping cart, fabric yarn, paracord, plastic bag, doggie pop bags and recycled fabric grocery bag. August 2021
Politics of Hair: Camo Yellow January 2020, Cotton rope, wool, acrylic and reflective yarns, recycled sari thread, satin and cotton ribbons. 65 x 8 x 5 in
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#NAF2022 Opening Night, Oct 6th 6-9pm

Join me for Opening Night of the Newark Arts Festival and celebrate Newark Arts Festival: Artful Healing, the NAF 2022 annual group exhibition! 

Curated by NAF 2022 Lead Curator Adrienne Wheeler and the Museum’s Elena Muñoz.  

NAF 2022 kicks off with a festive celebration featuring live performances by dancers, drummers, vocalists and more. View artwork and explore healing spaces throughout the museum.

The theme in 2022 features art as medicine. Participating artists demonstrate what healing means or looks like to them and inspire others with their messages of hope, comfort, and encouragement.

You will leave uplifted and inspired!

Join us to celebrate NAF 2022 at the opening event on October 6.

LOCATION: The Newark Museum of Art, 49 Washington Street, Newark NJ 07192

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October Exhibitions

Sensing Woman

Dates September 27- October 1

Location: C24 Gallery, 560 W 24th St, New York, NY 

Tickets are available for purchase at https://sensingwoman.org/

VIP Opening Sept 27th @ 6:30pm with Eve Ensler, the playwright of the Vagina Monologues.

My Artist Talk is Thursday, September 29th 10:30am

The REBEL Exhibition

Exhibition Dates: September 29 – October 28 

Opening Reception September 29  6pm-9pm

Location: The Untitled Space 45 Lispenard St, New York, NY

Emotional Baggage Cart Installation JCAST 2022

Friday, September 30, 5:00-9:00pm

Location: Art 150, window of studio #231. 150 Bay Street. Enter at Provost and First Street and ride the elevator to the 2nd floor. Studio # 231

Clutch My Pearls @ JCAST 2022

Saturday, October 1, 1:00-6:00pm

Sunday, October 2, 1:00-6:00pm

Location: Nimbus Arts Center, 329 Warren St, Jersey City, NJ

Bridge Art Gallery presents Garden Renaissance

Exhibition Dates: September 8 – October 2

Location:  Firmament Gallery Space at the Nimbus Arts Center in Downtown Jersey City.

Joyful Resistance (solo show)

Exhibition Dates: September 8 – October 7

Location: Ivy Brown Gallery; 675 Hudson St, New York, NY

Community Art Making: Wednesday, September 28, 3:00-6:00pm

Closing Reception: Friday, October 7, 3:00-5:00pm

Newark Arts Festival

NAF will celebrate “Artful Healing,” this Fall in New Jersey’s largest city. NAF will showcase Newark’s dynamic and diverse arts and culture sector from Thursday, October 6 through Sunday, October 9, 2022. 

Dates: Thursday, October 6 -Sunday, October 9

Location: Newark Museum of Art, 33 Washington Street, Newark, NJ,

Inside And Out

Dates: October 8- December 16

Opening Reception, Saturday, October 2022, 5:30-7:30pm

Location: The Gallery at Hillside Square, 8 Hillside Avenue, Montclair NJ

Free Your Mind Artist Talk @ Art Crawl Harlem/ Governors Island

Artist Talk, Saturday October 15, 1:00pm  

The installation runs through the end of October 2022

Location: Governors Island, 406b Colonels Row

Wonderland

Exhibition Dates: September 15 – October 20, 2022

Location: Trolley Barn Gallery; 489 Main St, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601

2022 New Jersey Arts Annual: Reemergence.

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

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

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

Sculpture Walk Springfield 2022-2023

Exhibition Dates: Now through May 21, 2023

Location: 411 N. Sherman Parkway, Springfield MO

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Rebel

The REBEL Exhibition, a group show presented in collaboration with The Untitled Magazine’s 10th Anniversary REBEL Issue opens on September 29th and on view through October 27, 2022.

.The ‘REBEL’ Exhibition shares the work of artists who not only take risks, but who stand up against oppressive forces, challenging the status quo. The exhibition celebrates true, unbridled authenticity and artists who have had the courage to follow their own path despite any obstacles.” – Curator Indira Cesarine

Please come meet me and I Can’t Breathe at the Opening Reception, September 29 6pm-9pm.

Exhibition Dates: September 29 – October 28 

Location: The Untitled Space 45 Lispenard St, New York, NY

The REBEL Exhibition, The Untitled Space, September – October, 2022
I Can’t Breathe, night view
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JCAST Activity: CLUTCH MY PEARLS

There is opportunity to shift structural language when a person is invited to play with unexpected materials without any expectations. Throughout the weekend of JCAST, Sky Garden Gallery and Theda Sandiford invite you to make strings of beads from recycled bottle caps.

Drawing inspiration from various beading traditions, mixing different bottle caps to make a string of colorful oversized beaded necklaces. Your creation will become a part of an upcoming installation celebrating personal adornment.

You can also tour Sky Garden Gallery and interact with my Emotional Baggage Cart series.

I am looking forward to making, with you….

JCAST Hours

  • Friday September 30, 3:00-8:00 pm
  • Saturday October 1, 12:00-6:00 pm
  • Sunday October 2, 12:00-6:00 pm

Location: Sky Garden Gallery, 150 Bay Street, PH9, Jersey City NJ

NOTE: Entrance 150 Bay residential lobby with the sculpture in the courtyard and ride the elevator to the 10th floor, Sky Garden Gallery is in PH9. Follow the signs to the gallery.

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Joyful Resistance: Event of the Week

Exhibition Dates: September 8 – October 7

Location: Ivy Brown Gallery; 675 Hudson St, New York, NY

212-925-1111 by appointment

Up Next… Community Art Making: Wednesday, September 28, 3:00-6:00pm

Clutch My Pearls

Drawing inspiration from various beading traditions, join me in mixing different bottle caps to make a string of colorful oversized beaded necklaces.

Your creation will become a part of an upcoming installation celebrating personal adornment.

Followed By…

Closing Reception: Friday, October 7, 3:00-5:00pm

Double Dutch Pony Bead Braids, August 2022, Cider Six Packs and various single use bottle caps strung and knotted with blue and white polyurethane rope 55 x 72 x 8 in
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Theda’s JCAST 2022

The 32nd Annual Jersey City Art and Studio Tour, will be held Sept 29 – Oct 2 and feature over 1000 artists in 140 locations across Jersey City.

Build a calendar of art outings here on www.thejcast.com 

AND make a plan to catch up with me and see my art at a couple venues within walking distance from one another downtown Jersey City.

My JCAST shows

Bridge Art Gallery presents the Garden Renaissance @ Nimbus Arts Center. 329 Warren Street, Jersey City

Timeless @ Art House Gallery. 180 Morgan Street (corner of Marin Blvd and Bay St)

Emotional Baggage Cart Installation @ Art 150, studio #231 and common area. 150 Bay Street. Enter at Provost and First Street and ride the elevator to the 2nd floor.

Come see me in person during JCAST

Friday 9/30 – Art150’s Opening reception 5-9pm, visit me in Studio#231. 150 Bay Street, Jersey City. Enter at Provost and First Street and ride the elevator to the 2nd floor.

On Saturday and Sunday come have fun and make art with me.

Drawing inspiration from various beading traditions, we will mix different bottle caps to make a string of colorful oversized beaded necklaces. Your creation will become a part of an upcoming installation celebrating personal adornment.

Saturday 10/1 – Clutch My Pearls 1-6pm, Nimbus Arts Center. 329 Warren Street, Jersey City

Sunday 10/2– Clutch My Pearls 1-6pm, Nimbus Arts Center. 329 Warren Street, Jersey City

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Joyful Resistance: Community Event Next Week

Exhibition Dates: September 8 – October 7

Location: Ivy Brown Gallery; 675 Hudson St, New York, NY

212-925-1111 by appointment

Up Next… Community Art Making: Wednesday, September 28, 3:00-6:00pm

Clutch My Pearls

Drawing inspiration from various beading traditions, join me, mixing different bottle caps to make a string of colorful oversized beaded necklaces.

Your creation will become a part of an upcoming installation celebrating personal adornment.

Followed by…

Closing Reception: Friday, October 7, 3:00-5:00pm

Double Dutch Pony Bead Braids, August 2022, Cider Six Packs and various single use bottle caps strung and knotted with blue and white polyurethane rope 55 x 72 x 8 in