Mid-Summer Update: Shows, Studio Time & Liminal Rites

This summer has been a gentle stillness—a season of rest, reflection, and quiet becoming.

I’m honored to have work currently on view in Fiberart International 2025, a juried biennial exhibition showcasing contemporary textile art from around the globe. If you’re in Pittsburgh, you can catch the show at Brew House Arts (711 S 21st St #210) through August 30, 2025. The depth and diversity of work in this show is incredible, it’s worth the visit.

Looking ahead, I’ll be showing work in Interpretations 2025 at the Visions Museum of Textile Art in San Diego. The exhibition opens October 17 and runs through January 10, 2026. I’ll be in town for the Festival Days, on the 17th and 18th. If you’re in Southern California, I’d love to connect while I’m there.

In the meantime, I’m taking the next three months to dive deeply into the development of Liminal Rites, a new immersive installation exploring the thresholds between this world and the spirit world. This body of work has been slowly gestating since the beginning of the year, guided by dreams, rituals, and research.

I’ve been gathering foraged materials, weaving textures of memory and transformation, and building what will become a ritual altar table layered with intention. Video, soundscapes, and scent will round out the sensory experience, designed not just to be seen, but felt.

This is sacred, slow work. A season of inward focus. I’m allowing the process to unfold in its own rhythm, trusting the liminal space between inspiration and manifestation.

Stay tuned. More to come soon.

Theda

July And Beyond

What’s Now & What’s Next with Theda Sandiford

Fiberart International 2025

June 20 – August 30, 2025
Brew House Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
Work on view: Polyurethane Paradise: Rainforest Rhapsody
Size: 79 x 12 x 72 in
Medium: Woven bottlecap vines on blue and white polyurethane rope and paracord, draped on a rolling Z rack

Inspired by the lush vegetation of my rainforest home in St. Croix, this piece transforms discarded bottle caps into flowering vines—evoking the tangled beauty of orchids, heliconias, and Birds of Paradise. It’s a meditation on plastic, color, and reclamation.

Coming Soon: Interpretations 2025

October 17, 2025 – January 10, 2026
Visions Museum of Textile Art, San Diego, CA
Festival Days: October 17–18

Next up: Blackity Black Blanket, Ladders travels to California.
Part of a larger zip tie installation that covers a full studio apartment in over 500,000 handwoven strands, this work transforms ladders into bristling, burdened monuments of aspiration. Wrapped in dense armor, they symbolize the weight of implicit bias and the tension of trying to rise while being held down.

These blankets aren’t cozy—they’re confrontation. They resist softness. They hold the sting of microaggressions and reclaim the materials of containment into shields of truth and visibility.


More updates soon from the studio and the garden. Stay tuned, and thank you for walking this journey with me.

Theda

May Exhibitions & Beyond

2025 is shaping up to be a powerful year of storytelling, connection, and expansive visibility for my work across the U.S. and beyond. From New York City to San Diego, and even home on St. Croix, I’m honored to present a range of projects that explore collective memory, material transformation, and healing through fiber. Here’s where you can find me:


1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair
Dates: May 8–11, 2025
Location: Halo, 28 Liberty Street, NYC
I’m thrilled to return to 1-54, the leading fair dedicated to contemporary African art, presenting new work that bridges ancestral narratives with present-day urgency.


The Future Belongs to the Loving
Dates: May 3 – July 31, 2025
Location: MAPSpace, 6 N Pearl St 4th Floor, Port Chester, NY
More Info
I’ll be sharing Free Your Mind, a participatory installation unpacking microaggressions and offering a communal space for release and reflection.


FIBER 2025
Dates: May 10 – June 19, 2025
Opening Reception: May 17, 2025
Location: Silvermine Galleries, 1037 Silvermine Rd, New Canaan, CT
My Blackity Black Blanket Library Drape will be featured—an expansive textile work exploring Black identity, protection, and cultural memory.


Sky Garden Studio Tour & Ecopark Walk
Date: June 19, 2025, 11am–2pm
Location: Sky Garden Gallery Retreat, Kingshill, St. Croix, USVI
Come experience where the magic happens. I’ll be hosting an intimate studio tour and a guided walk through the ecopark—sharing process, stories, and island-grown inspiration.


Fiberart International 2025
Dates: June 20 – August 30, 2025
Location: Brew House Arts, 711 S 21st St #210, Pittsburgh, PA
This juried exhibition celebrates innovation in contemporary fiber art—an honor to be included among such dynamic global voices.


MidAtlantic Fiber Association Conference: Emotional Baggage Cart Parade
Dates: June 26–29, 2025
Location: Millersville University, Millersville, PA
Details Here
My interactive Emotional Baggage Cart Parade installation will invite participants to name, confront, and ceremoniously discard emotional burdens.


Interpretations 2025
Dates: October 17, 2025 – January 10, 2026
Location: Visions Museum of Textile Art, 2825 Dewey Rd #100, San Diego, CA


If you’re near any of these locations, I would love to see you! Each exhibition is an invitation to engage, reflect, and participate in the stories woven into my work. Stay tuned for more details and behind-the-scenes updates.

With gratitude,
Theda