Conceptual Materials Social Practice Artist
Juried by Anastacia Bloch
Exhibiting Artists:
Janelle Abbott, Lexi Arrietta, Stacy Bogdonoff, Emily Budd, Rebekah Burgess, Malina Busch, Matt Cohen, Cathy Cooper, Rhonda Donovan, Rosalyn Driscoll, Vincent Frimpong, Kim Garcia, Gina Herrera, Eric Hines, Yasmine Iskander, Bonam Kim, Catherine Mellinger, Clara Nulty, Mari Renwick, Morgane Richer La Fleche, Sarah Rieser, Olga Rudenko, Theda Sandiford, Lauren Dana Smith, Maria Vasconcelos
| Museum of Arts and Design to Present Exhibition Dedicated to the Ephemeral Art of Floral Design |
| Flower Craft investigates floral artistry as an overlooked chapter in the history of craft and design. It features the creative visions of six botanical artists working at the forefront of contemporary floral design. Inspired by nature’s ephemerality, the artists engage with stages of the plant life cycle, from seed to germination to decay, to interpret nature in sculptural form. On view May 14 through June 26, 2022. Who wants to join me? |
I have two Emotional Baggage Carts included in this Online Exhibition
Juried by Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy
About the Exhibition:
The artists whose works are assembled all take the mantle of exploring the potential of multiple mediums at once. The possibilities opened by this project multiply wonderfully, as seen by the diversity of works on view, all of which find an expression of vitality through their mediums. Perhaps these artists working with mixed media are finding a way to reaffirm our bodily connection. They have a way of bringing out the physicality of their materials in the medium’s interactions, in divergent forms. We find surprising juxtapositions or forms springing out of their prior uses. Though in different ways, the works presented allude to the body: the presence of the artist’s hand in placing objects just so; suggestive forms; organic and inorganic decay; human detritus, and more.
by Theda Sandiford
Free Your Mind is a textile public art installation aiming to collect, embed and release personal narratives about Microaggressions.
Microaggressions are subtle, intentional — and oftentimes unintentional — everyday interactions or behaviors that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial messages or assumptions toward historically marginalized groups.
The weight of these daily interactions underpins very real consequences… stress, anger, frustration, self-doubt and ultimately feelings of powerlessness and invisibility.
Free Your Mind intends to expose these interactions and provide a release for the participating individuals. Participants have the feeling of being seen and acknowledged while interacting with the installation.
The installation evolves with each new ribbon, keeping a public record of disempowering interactions, that can be exposed and addressed.
Last year, Free Your Mind toured, collecting story ribbons in Bayonne NJ, Jersey City NJ, and during Miami Art Week. This summer at Governors Island, Free Your mind is documenting your story.
In this weaving, each piece of yarn is representative of a conversation where I was acknowledged for being able to express my thoughts and ideas. Being told I’m well-spoken often comes off as a backhanded compliment. It carries problematic connotations that, it is unusual for someone of my race to be intelligent or eloquent.
The completed weaving is displayed on a DYI loom, as if the work is still in progress because some version of this conversation, continues still…
The assignment… collage one iPhone photo, to pass the time while riding NJ Transit 123 bus from Union City NJ to NYC the summer of 2015.
Have you ever had someone put their hands in your hair without asking first?
This was a regular occurrence for me while riding the bus or subway… before the Pandemic. This is not ok. Please don’t pet me like a dog because my hair fascinates you.
Today, I rarely use public transportation and work mostly from home. I wonder, has social distancing caused a shift in this behavior?
Protective zip tie blankets draped on two 8 foot antique library ladders.
I know you are tempted to touch…
My piece, “Purple Fiesta”” chosen by juror, Lilly Wei, is included in the upcoming exhibit. Future Perfect/Imperfect: The Next Century.
The opening reception is Saturday, April 30, 5:00- 7:00pm.
If you want to join me for a road trip and then dash over for the last hour or so Snowball, please DM me.
Exhibition Dates : April 30 to June 9, 2022.
Location: Silvermine Gallery; 1037 Silvermine Road New Canaan, CT
Despite a revolving door of daily microaggressions reminding me I do not belong, I imagine a life free from the constraints of implicit bias. I CHOOSE to live a life of Joyful Resistance, finding solace in cherished memories attached to materiality.
Joyful Resistance is a celebration of the alchemy that occurs when disparate materials are assembled to create something new, more beautiful, and more purposeful.
All the work in my upcoming solo show was made while the Pandemic took me on a emotional rollercoaster of a journey through self inspection, loss, isolation and racial trauma.
While in lockdown during the first month of the Pandemic, I organized my closet and storage unit. While sorting through my vintage accessories collection, childhood memories of playing dress up in my mother’s clothes flooded my brain like serotonin.
I recreated that moment with All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go dressing the steel structure with Vintage hats, shoes and bags, 3 ply cotton ropes, pearls, rhinestones, wrapped ropes, yarn, trim.
I custom dyed the cotton rope a bright yellow using Jacquard ink, then wrapped it with ribbon, pom pom trim, yarn and vintage fabric from a block print tapestry that hung in my college dorm room.
These three emotional baggage carts explore the Middle Passage and its impact upon my cultural identity as a Caribbean American woman. I still have a lot to unpack here. Both Appropriation Mud Cloth Baggage Cart, on the right and Hi Yellow Mud Cloth Baggage Cart on the left are not covered in zip ties. These carts have unresolved emotional baggage connected to them.
We all carry emotional baggage. This manifests differently for each of us. Some of us carry shopping carts of pain and bitterness while some of us sport a backpack. How we choose to handle our baggage makes a difference. We have the choice, to let it define us or to let it go and move forward.
In 2020 my artist residency with NOW Friends in Nairobi Kenya was cancelled due to Covid. I had spent 6 months preparing for this residency, studying Swahili, researching local artists, looking at basketry and beading techniques.
I used the time I would have been in Kenya to clean, drill and string thousands of bottle caps into larger than life strings of pearls with the help of the Jersey City arts community during JCAST 2021.
Exhibition Dates: April 1st – May 28th, 2022
Opening Reception: April 16th, 4 – 8pm
Closing Reception: May 21st, 4 – 8pm
Location: Blue Lines Arts: 405 Vernon Street Suite 100, Roseville, CA 95678
The show was juried by Ariel Zaccheo, curator at the Museum of Craft and Design in SF
Come see me and 5 new Emotional Baggage Carts in booth 377 at the Navy Pier April 7-9th. Stop by if you are in town or DM me.
APRIL 7 2022 – April 10 2022
Location: Navy Pier Chicago, Booth #377
Exhibition Dates: April 1 2022- May 28th, 2022
Opening Reception: April 16, 2022, 4:00 – 8:00pm
Closing Reception: May 21, 2022, 4:00 – 8:00pm
Location: Blue Lines Arts: 405 Vernon Street Suite 100, Roseville, CA 95678
The International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art
Exhibition Dates: April 7 2022 – April 10 2022
Location: Navy Pier Chicago, Booth #377
Exhibition Dates: April 22, 2022 –May 22, 2022
Location: Site:Brooklyn Gallery Online Gallery
Exhibition Dates: April 22 2022 – June 4, 2022
Location:The Center for Contemporary Art; 2020 Burnt Mills Rd, Bedminster, NJ 07921
Exhibition Dates: April 23,2022- May 21, 2023
Location: 411 N. Sherman Parkway, Springfield MO 65802.
Join Sky Garden Gallery for a fun interactive rooftop photoshoot with Theda Sandiford’s Emotional Baggage Carts. Come play and have your picture taken.
Saturday April, 30 2022 from 12:00- 3:00pm
Location: 150 Bay Street, PH9, Jersey City, 10th floor
RSVP Here
Exhibition Dates: February 4, 2022 – May 21, 2022
Location: The Biggs Museum of American Art, 406 Federal St Dover DE 19901
Exhibition Dates: March 22, 2022 – May 21, 2022
Location: Artworks, 19 Everett Alley, Trenton, NJ 08611, USA
Exhibition Dates: May- September 2022
Location: Governors Island, 406b Colonels Row
Exhibition Dates: March 22, 2022 – May 21, 2022
Location: Artworks, 19 Everett Alley, Trenton, NJ 08611, USA
