World of Threads Festival

Ive applied to World of Threads Festival a few times in the past and was not accepted. This year is different, I finally was accepted.

I am please to share that part of my microagressions installation, Blackity Black Blanket Ladders will be on display along with hundreds of other international fiber artists.

Bottom line… try and if you don’t succeed, try again. Eventually, you will hit your mark.

Ive already booked my flight to attend the opening reception in Oakville Canada.

World of Threads Festival

Exhibition Dates: October 10 – December 17, 2023

Opening Reception: October 14, 2023, 1:00-3:00pm

Location: Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre; 2302 Bridge Rd, Oakville, ON L6L 3L5, Canada

Blackity Black Blanket, ladders and emotional baggage cart installation

St. Georges Botanical Garden Fiber Workshops

I’m a fiber artist who processes repurposed materials. Now that I am on St Croix, I am itching to explore the abundance of natural fibers just outside my door, palms, coconut, vines, bamboo, to name a few. Last month, St. Georges Botanical Garden hosted three natural fiber workshops using materials sources from their garden. Naturally, I showed up ready to learn and experiment.

This is how it went

Rope making using invasive snake plants.

Same twist away and bring forward process I use to make rope with upcycled textiles.

Paper making is sparking new ideas.

The potential for “painting” paper made from natural fibers has me giddy with joy.

And I spent a morning palm weaving…

I will definitely do this as an activity with friends visiting from the States. You have been forewarned.

Ive been thinking incorporating these experiments into my practice and new ideas are percolating. Meanwhile, I am building a tool kit of garden sheers, gloves, buckets, and bins to process natural fibers at Sky Garden Retreat in St. Croix.

Register for Artist Talk Next Week

I am giving a virtual lecture about my Free Your Mind; Social Justice Art Project next week on March 28 at 7:00pm.

Free Your Mind is a collection of personal narratives. Participants are invited to share a personal experience with implicit bias to release this story from their personal narrative.

Please join me, registration is Free… HERE

Free Your Mind is a collection of personal narratives. Participants are invited to share a personal experience with implicit bias to release this story from their personal narrative.

Feel free to share your story HERE

Triggered, Truth & Transformation Solo Show

My solo show, Triggered, Truth & Transformation opens this week in Auburn NY.

Exhibition Dates: March 25-May 28, 2023

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

I will be leading a rope making workshop on April 15, 2023. Please join me

I Can’t Breathe, night view

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.

JC Friday: Rope Making Workshop Tonight

Learn to use old textiles or scrap fabric and turn it into rope.

The process is easy, slightly addictive, and most definitely meditative.

Materials provided

Date: JC Friday, March 3rd, 6:00-8:00pm

Location: Art 150, Studio #231, 150 Bay Street, Enter at Provost and 1st Street and ride the elevator to the second floor.