Tag: Interpretations 2025

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Fall 2025: A Season of JOY and Reflection

This fall, my work is on view across Newark NJ, White Plains NY, and San Diego CA, each exhibition exploring resilience, transformation, and the power of joy.

At the Newark Museum of Art, Classic LBD and Boa Quill appear in Newark Arts Festival: JOY (Oct 8 – Nov 2) reimagining the “little black dress” as armor against microaggressions. Nearby at Express Newark, Power Puff with Black Racing Stripe turns bad news into joyful resistance in Pure Joy (Oct 8 – Nov 26).

My work also joins Meltdown: A Changing Climate at ArtsWestchester (Oct 12 – Jan 11, 2026, a collective reflection on ecological and emotional endurance and Interpretations 2025 at Visions Museum of Textile Art in San Diego (Oct 17 – Jan 10, 2026), celebrating the expressive language of fiber.

From Newark’s vibrant energy to the quiet tides of St. Croix, this season is about finding JOY in resistance, beauty in change, and meaning in every thread.

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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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October Exhibitions: Newark & San Diego

October is shaping up to be a joyful, art-filled month, and I’m thrilled to share that I’ll be participating in three exhibitions that hold deep meaning for me. Each show invites us to consider resilience, transformation, and the many ways art can be a vessel for joy and collective healing.

Newark Arts Festival 2025: JOY

📍 Newark Museum of Art, 49 Washington St, Newark, NJ
🗓 October 8, 2025 – November 2, 2026

At the Newark Museum of Art, two of my pieces will be on view: Classic LBD and Boa Quill.

  • Classic LBD reimagines the iconic little black dress as armor against microaggressions.
  • Boa Quill asks the question: If I adorned myself in a feather boa of zip ties, would you still come for me in the same way?

Both works embody my ongoing exploration of how everyday objects and adornments can be transformed into protective talismans.

Newark Arts Festival 2025: Pure Joy

📍 Express Newark – Paul Robeson Galleries, Main Gallery, Hahnes Building, 54 Halsey St, Newark, NJ
🗓 October 8, 2025 – November 26, 2026

At Express Newark, I’ll be showing Power Puff with Black Racing Stripe Emotional Baggage Cart. Covered in bright pom-poms, this work transforms heaviness into play, using joy itself as a form of resistance and resilience.

Meltdown: A Changing Climate

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 11, 2025, 4–6pm
Dates: October 12, 2025 – January 11, 2026
Location: ArtsWestchester Galleries, 31 Mamaroneck Ave, White Plains, NY
Learn More

Curated by Patricia Miranda, Meltdown addresses the urgent realities of climate change through the lens of ice as both resource and warning. My work Polyurethane Paradise: Rainforest Rhapsody reflects on the lush vegetation of my rainforest property, reimagining single-use plastics as woven blossoms to mirror the vibrant forms of heliconias and birds of paradise.

Interpretations 2025

📍 Visions Museum of Textile Art, 2825 Dewey Rd #100, San Diego, CA
🗓 October 17, 2025 – January 10, 2026
🎉 Festival Days: October 17–18, 2025

I’m honored to be part of Interpretations 2025 at the Visions Museum of Textile Art in San Diego. This exhibition celebrates innovation in textile art and brings together a remarkable community of artists. My Blackity Black Blanket Ladders will be on display. Blackity Black Blanket Ladders are woven monuments of reclaimed materials that honor Black resilience, transforming the weight of microaggressions into visible, collective testimony.

October will be a month of celebration, connection, and, most importantly, JOY. If you plan to attend Newark Arts Festival or Interpretations 2025, let me know, I’d love to see you there and share in these moments together.