Tag: Blackity Black Blanket

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Blackity Black Blanket Ladders

Interpretations 2025 

Dates: October 17, 2025 -January 10, 2026

Location:  Visions Museum of Textile Art; 2825 Dewey Rd #100, San Diego, CA 

Blackity Black Blanket, ladders and emotional baggage cart installation Blackity Black Blanket Library Drape 10 ‘x 5’ Recycled commercial fishing net and black 4″ zip tie blanket on antique library ladders. 96 x 24 x 16 in 2023

Blackity Black Blanket, Ladders is part of a larger installation composed of handwoven blankets made from over 500,000 zip ties. These sculptural blankets envelop every piece of furniture in a studio apartment—transforming a chaise lounge, dining table, and four chairs into tactile monuments of resilience, resistance, and protection. In this piece, ladders wrapped in dense layers of zip ties become symbols of aspiration burdened by the weight of bias and systemic friction.

This work explores implicit bias and the complexities of unproductive dialogues around sensitive “isms.” Implicit bias is a universal human experience—not a moral failure, but an invitation to self-awareness. Recognizing bias doesn’t make someone bad; the key lies in what we choose to do with that awareness. This body of work viscerally portrays the relentless impact of microaggressions. The ladders—tools meant for climbing—are draped in heavy, fur-like armor that both conceals and reveals the tension of attempting to rise while being held down by invisible assumptions.

The blankets themselves are not vessels of rest or softness; they are armor. A second skin. Bristling with a fur-like texture, they warn as much as they protect. Constructed from a material commonly associated with containment and restraint, the zip ties are reclaimed and reworked into something that defends, disrupts, and demands to be seen.

The installation reimagines what it’s like to live with microaggressions—so persistent that their sting becomes disturbingly familiar. In this space, even pain is woven into the fabric of daily life. The irony is that the discomfort, the tension, begins to feel like home. This work doesn’t offer easy comfort; instead, it challenges viewers to sit with that discomfort, to confront their own biases, and to join in the collective work of empathy, equity, and healing.

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Still Time to Catch FIBER 2025 at Silvermine Galleries

Blackity Black Blanket, ladders and emotional baggage cart, ladders only

If you haven’t made it to FIBER 2025 yet, there’s still time. The exhibition runs through June 19, 2025 at Silvermine Galleries in New Canaan, CT, and it’s a must-see for anyone interested in the power and politics of fiber art today.

My work in the show, Blackity Black Blanket Ladder, offers a visceral reflection on the cumulative weight of microaggressions. Zip tie blankets draped over a ladder suggest an attempted ascent—each rung a moment of resilience—but the comfort one might expect is absent. Instead, the piece confronts the viewer with the tension of trying to rise while carrying the heaviness of daily indignities.

FIBER 2025 features an incredible lineup of artists redefining what fiber can do and say. Don’t miss your chance to experience it.

📍 Silvermine Galleries
📅 On view through June 19, 2025
🧶 More info here

—Theda

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Blackity Black Blanket Library Drape Invited to FIBER 2025

I’m honored to share that Blackity Black Blanket Library Drape has been invited to exhibit at FIBER 2025, a prestigious international contemporary fiber art exhibition. The show runs from May 10 – June 19, 2025, at Silvermine Galleries in New Canaan, Connecticut. If you’re in the area, I invite you to the Opening Reception on May 17.

This body of work holds deep meaning for me. It explores the often unspoken terrain of implicit bias and the exhaustion that can come from navigating unproductive conversations around “isms”—racism, sexism, classism, and more. These dialogues can often feel circular or emotionally draining, especially when participants aren’t fully self-aware or willing to acknowledge the biases they carry. And let’s be real—implicit bias is a universal experience. It’s not a moral failure. But how we respond to it—that’s the real work.

Each zip tie in this installation is a micro-marker, a fragment of memory and tension, a moment where something was said, done, or left unsaid. The 12,000–15,000 zip ties that make up each blanket aren’t just numbers. They are reminders of the daily weight of microaggressions—small, often invisible cuts that compound over time.

The piece is anchored by two 8-foot antique library ladders, their rungs obscured by cascading black zip tie blankets. These ladders symbolize ambition and ascension—but weighed down, they speak to the difficulty of rising when systemic bias clings to every step.

Blackity Black Blanket Library Drape asks: What are we carrying? And what do we ask others to carry, often without even noticing? This work doesn’t claim to have answers, but it insists on holding the question in view, and hopefully opens a door toward deeper awareness, mutual accountability, and healing.

If you’re in or around Connecticut this spring, come see the work in person. Stand beneath it. Feel the texture of the conversation it invites..

FIBER 2025
Exhibition Dates: May 10 – June 19, 2025
Opening Reception: May 17, 2025
Location: Silvermine Galleries, 1037 Silvermine Rd, New Canaan, CT 06840

Blackity Black Blanket, ladders and emotional baggage cart installation
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Radical Reimagining

When I learned that this year’s Newark Arts Festival theme was Radical Reimagining, I immediately knew that my Blackity Black Blanket belonged in the exhibition. The concept of Radical Reimagining challenges us to envision a world where art, culture, and connection shape everything we do. It’s a call to deconstruct the systems of oppression we know and to co-create communities based on equity and justice. Blackity Black Blanket fits right into this narrative by addressing the very real, yet often invisible, impact of racial gaslighting.

Blackity Black Blanket speaks to my personal experiences of racial gaslighting—those subtle, undermining comments that push me to doubt my own understanding of racism. Phrases like, “Are you sure it was about race?” or “You’re being overly dramatic,” are attempts to dismiss my reality and avoid difficult conversations. Over time, these interactions have weighed heavily on me, resulting in insomnia, anxiety, and emotional baggage that feels impossible to carry alone.

In creating this piece, I am reclaiming my power and crafting an aesthetic armor. The blanket, woven from recovered commercial fishing nets and adorned with thousands of black zip ties, acts as a shield—both literally and symbolically. It’s a form of self-protection against the weight of gaslighting, and through this work, I exorcise the demons of doubt that these interactions have instilled in me.

In the spirit of Radical Reimagining, Blackity Black Blanket embodies the idea of using art to confront uncomfortable truths and to build a world where marginalized voices are honored, heard, and protected. Just as Radical Reimagining calls us to reshape society, my work pushes for the acknowledgment and dismantling of racial gaslighting as we strive for a more just future.

Radical Reimagining

Dates: October 9 – December 1

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

https://newarkartsfestival.com