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JCAST: Theda Sandiford Art Open Studio: #231

Please plan to spend some of your JCAST with me. Im looking forward to seeing you.

Friday, October 1st 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Saturday, October 2nd, 12:00 PM – 6:00 AM

Sunday, October 3rd 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM

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 wee tote bag. 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.

My Emotional Baggage Carts are vessels for racial trauma. My baggage carts serve to separate myself from these experiences. Each recovered shopping cart is woven with recycled rope, bottle caps, twine, paracord, fabric, LED lights, pony beads and zip tie blankets.

There is opportunity to shift structural language when a person is invited to play with unexpected materials without any expectations. Join me to discover what materials are used to create these sculptures, and look within, to recognize and release the emotional baggage you, yourself are carrying. Audience participation is encouraged

Throughout the weekend, you are invited to make strings of beads of recycled bottle caps in the 2nd floor common area of Art 150 and visit with me in my studio #231. Come play with me.

I will have a selection of prints, tote bags and mini baggage carts for sale.

NOTE: Theda Sandiford’s Art 150 Studio #231 on the second floor of 150 Bay Entrance lobby for the 2nd floor studios is separate from that for the residential units of 150 Bay and can be found at the NE corner of the building, at the corner of 1st St. and Provost St.

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14C Juried Show!

I’m so excited that my emotional baggage carts were juried into the 14C Juried Show.

During the pandemic I picked up weaving again. I had not weaved since I was a child. To refresh, I took a virtual weaving workshop with Textile Arts Center (NYC) and then fell down a rabbit hole of recommended videos on YouTube University.

In the process of relearning these laten skills, I came face to face with many frustrations and triggers connected to the emotional baggage I have been squirrelling away for years. Guilt, resentment, judgement, colorism, fear, insecurity…

With these works I am exorcising these demons. Sharing these works is both liberating and anxiety inducing at the same time. I am still processing emotionally and artistically.

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Natural Plastic Environment: Doggie Poop Foliage

Do you walk a sidewalk where your neighbors may or may not clean up after their dog? I do. And when you are fortunate your more considerate neighbors leave little green doggie poop bags piled up, in and around the garbage can. A lovely cesspool.  My work, Natural Plastic Environment- Doggie Poop Foliage, reimagines doggie poop bags as a cascade of whimsical tropical flowering vines. The foliage is made with Reflective Hollow Braided polypropylene cord, knotted plastic doggie poop bags, and yellow duct tape.

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Inspired by an Object

Exhibit On View: September 10, 2021 – October 15, 2021.

In-Person Opening Reception: Sunday, September 12, 11:00am-5:00pm

On Location: Studio Montclair Gallery. 127 Bloomfield Ave, Montclair NJ

Do you walk a sidewalk where your neighbors may or may not clean up after their dog? I do.

And when you are fortunate your more considerate neighbors leave green doggie poop bags piled up in and around the garbage can. A lovely cesspool.

My work, Natural Plastic Environment- Doggie Poop Foliage, reimagines doggie poop bags as a cascade of whimsical tropical flowering vines. The foliage is made with Reflective Hollow Braided polypropylene cord, knotted plastic doggie poop bags, and yellow duct tape.

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September Exhibitions: Next

FIF 2021: Future Is Female

On View: September 1, 2021 – September 30th, 2021

On Location: 175 Pearl St, 5th Fl Brooklyn NY

The 3rd annual Future is Female exhibit, curated by sk.Artspace, aims to shed light on black women visual artists who persevered and became activists through their personal choices. The exhibition will highlight women, like me who unapologetically live their lives through action, women who had no intention of being a person of influence, yet raised the bar to lead, even when no one was looking – the “Unsung Shereos.”

JC Friday : I Am My Hair

September 10, 2021 6:00pm – 9:00pm

On Location: Art 150; 150 Bay Street, 2nd floor Jersey City NJ

Of Friday, September 10, I’m hosting my first open studio session in 18 months. Audience participation encouraged. Wrap and hitch knot yarn onto rope to become a part of a hair installation and find a common denominator amongst us all, HAIR.

Inspired by an Object

Exhibit On View: September 10, 2021 – October 15, 2021.

In-Person Opening Reception: Sunday, September 12, 11:00am-5:00pm

On Location: Studio Montclair Gallery. 127 Bloomfield Ave, Montclair NJ

Threads That Bind: When The Fabric of Social Culture Unravels

Exhibit On View: September 12, 2021 – October 17, 2021.

In-Person Opening Reception:: Sunday, September 12, 12:00pm-6:00pm

On Location: 481 Van Brunt St Brooklyn, NY  11231

Recycle 2021

Exhibit On View: September 12, 2021 – October 17, 2021.

In-Person Opening Reception: Sunday, September 12, 12-6

On Location: 481 Van Brunt St Brooklyn, NY  11231

The Social Fabric: Black Artistry in Fiber Arts, An Exhibition in Homage to Viki Craig

Exhibit On View: June 4, 2021 – October 24, 2021

On Location: Morris Museum,  6 Normandy Heights Rd, Morristown, NJ

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Getting Rid Of Emotional Baggage

We all carry emotional baggage. This manifests differently for each of us. My Emotional Baggage Carts are vessels to dispose of racial trauma and grant access to grace.

My Emotional Baggage Carts are designed to draw people to look within and recognize and dispose of the emotional baggage they themselves are carrying too.

What emotional baggage are you carrying around that you wish to dispose of?

  • 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
  • Bottle caps, yellow 550 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, solar LED lights, recycled commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. Photo by April Tracey
  • I Can’t Breathe, night view
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Free Your Mind

Write a statement about implicit bias or a microaggression you have experienced and release this story from your personal narrative.

I will print your story on a ribbon, infusing your essence into the social fabric of a protective blanket.

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July Exhibitions

The Baggage We Carry

Public Art Installation On View:  May 2021 – May 2022

On Location: Summit Village Green, 356 Broad Street Summit, NJ 

Three Emotional Baggage Carts are on display for the next year.  I want to draw people in and spark their curiosity. Not only to discover what materials are used to create these sculptures, but to look within and recognize the emotional baggage they are carrying. Each cart is affixed with a solar panel. When the sun sets, the carts light up and take on a new meaning and form, glowing from within.

Hiding In Plain Sight

Solo Exhibit on View: June 10–August 23, 2021

On Location: The Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts (MoCADA)/ Nolan Park House 7A, Governors Island, NYC

Visit MoCADA’s Virtual Gallery here.

A dynamic presentation made up of a virtual exhibition and public art installation on Governors Island, Hidden in Plain Sight confronts the psychological impact of racial gaslighting as revealed in her everyday interactions.

The Social Fabric: Black Artistry in Fiber Arts, An Exhibition in Homage to Viki Craig

Exhibit On View: June 4, 2021 – October 24, 2021

On Location: Morris Museum,  6 Normandy Heights Rd, Morristown, NJ

Curated by Gwendolyn Barrington Jackson, Nette Forné Thomas, Onnie Strother, and Wannetta Phillips (Art in the Atrium, Inc.), with Ronald T. Labaco (Morris Museum).

Featuring 50 works by over 27 artists, including Aminah Robinson, Beverly McCutcheon, Bisa Washington, Carole Robinson, Clara Nartey, Denise Toney, Ellaree Pray, Faith Ringgold, Gladys Barker Grauer, Glendora Simonson, Janet O. Green, Jeanine Bowen, Katie Commodore, Kianga Jinaki, Michael Cummings, Minnie Melvin, Sharela May Bonfield, Sherry Shine, Shervone Neckles, Stephen Towns, Theda Sandiford, Tina Williams Brewer, Toni Thomas, Viki Craig, Wannetta Phillips, and Maureen Kelleher and The Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project.

NJ Arts Annual: Revision & Respond

Exhibit On View: June 17–August 22, 2021

Location: Newark Museum of Art,  49 Washington St, Newark, NJ

How did the pandemic, economic distress, and reckoning with racial injustice influence the artists? What emotions and perspectives do they express? How are they similar to or different from your personal experiences? We hope that these creative voices speak to you and offer a way to process the intense events of our current world.

Digital exhibition catalog here

Or make a reservation to see the show in person here

Be the Light 

Exhibit On View:  July 10, 2021 – August 22, 2021

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 10th 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm.

On Location: Bridge Art Gallery 199 Broadway, Bayonne NJ

Four structure, Vintage hat, shoes and bag, 3 ply cotton rope, pears, rhinestones, wrapped rope, yarn, trim, beading on steel structure

Fiber Arts X

On view: July 31 – September 12

Virtual Opening Reception or in person (To be confirmed): July 31, 1-3 pm 

On Location: SebArts 282 S. High St, Sebastopol, CA