Conceptual Materials Social Practice Artist
Thank you Tris McCall for the incredible review of my show at Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster until June 4th.
Theda Sandiford’s ’emotional baggage carts’ are highlights of her ‘Joyful Resistance’ show
I’m hosting two workshops at the Center at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on May 21. Contact the Center to buy tickets to the workshops.
Join me on Saturday May 21st for two mixed media workshops at the Center for Contemporary Art; 2020 Burnt Mills Rd, Bedminster, NJ 07921
Register for my class online by clicking here or call 908-234-2345.
Joyful Resistance… Create a self-portrait, an autobiographical composition unifying diverse materials to illustrate Joy. Consider what brings you joy and what may be standing in the way of you being joyful. With this as your guide, collect autobiographical images, sketches and textiles for your story that provide context and bring them to the workshop.
The visual fusion of diverse materials describes the mixed media process. The juxtaposition of “found” things (recycled fabric and plastic waste), mixed with art materials create visual tension.
We’ll explore diverse materials, memory and the processes used to create rich juxtapositions and powerful compositions.
Mixed Media processes enlist a variety of mediums to bind different papers, fibers, textured and 3D materials & paints together.
Use a mixture of color relationships, shapes and found images to create a figure with abstract pattern and color.
Consider the contrast of complimentary colors; Red/Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow/Violet…
And contrasting shapes: geometric against more organic shapes, rectangles, circles, squares, maps, stamps, music score…
Or the use of meaningful words laser printed in various fonts/sizes layered in the background.
Collage materials are important ingredient for your compositions- Bring a variety of images from different sources (magazines, old books, postcards, photos (laser prints work best in mixed media works).
Personal Objects: Please bring items that are unique to you and will help tell your story. Bring photographs, laser printed images or drawings in pen, pastel, charcoal, colored pencil to be incorporated into larger works.
Materials to Share: Please bring 10-15 scraps of paper, a magazines, fabric, plastic, or other materials to share with other members of our group. Bring things that are interesting, and things that are not so interesting for negative space. Recycle items from your everyday life.
Substrate: We will focus on 2D and 3D compositions. Layering and a denser relief will be demonstrated.
Paper: Please bring whatever paper, old books, torn maps, stamps, paper currency, tissue paper, newspaper, magazines or any other kind of paper that you might like to use. I use a lot of tissue paper to layer and obscure images.
Acrylic Paints: If you want special colors bring it with you.
Brushes: Please bring brushes. They do not need to be expensive. Two Home Depot 1”flat and 2” flat (soft, flexible brushes), and one nicer #7 or #8 round (also soft, flexible, white or gold nylon) are great tools for your mixed media kit.
Pencils: You may want to bring drawing materials, pencils, colored pencils, etc.
Pens: Bring a couple of your favorite pens. My favorites are Uni-ball Signo, Faber-Castell PITT, gel pens, acrylic markers, and Sharpies of various sizes.
Glitter & Confetti: Craft glitter, confetti or shredded paper can be interesting.
3-D Objects: Small beads, buttons, metal parts, plastic bottle caps, broken jewelry, small beads. shells, watches, found objects etc.
Glue: Regular matte medium (NOT FLUID) and YES paste.
5 Minute Epoxy: To apply heavier items, E6000 is my favorite. You can find this at Home Depot and Amazon.
Scissors & Knives: A pair of scissors and an X-Acto knife.
Rulers: Rulers, triangles and other drawing/drafting tools may also be useful.
Gloves: You may want to wear gloves. I use non-latex gloves.
Clothing: Old clothes or aprons may be in order. You know your own working style and comfort needs. Dress accordingly.
If there are specific tools or materials you do not have, do not stress. Someone will likely share what you need. I have a large tub of scrap paper, tissue paper, deli paper you can use. I will also prepare some other materials you can play with too.
Despite a revolving door of daily microaggressions reminding me I do not belong, I imagine a life free from the constraints of implicit bias. I CHOOSE to live a life of Joyful Resistance, finding solace in cherished memories attached to materiality.
Joyful Resistance is a celebration of the alchemy that occurs when disparate materials are assembled to create something new, more beautiful, and more purposeful.
All the work in my upcoming solo show was made while the Pandemic took me on a emotional rollercoaster of a journey through self inspection, loss, isolation and racial trauma.
While in lockdown during the first month of the Pandemic, I organized my closet and storage unit. While sorting through my vintage accessories collection, childhood memories of playing dress up in my mother’s clothes flooded my brain like serotonin.
I recreated that moment with All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go dressing the steel structure with Vintage hats, shoes and bags, 3 ply cotton ropes, pearls, rhinestones, wrapped ropes, yarn, trim.
I custom dyed the cotton rope a bright yellow using Jacquard ink, then wrapped it with ribbon, pom pom trim, yarn and vintage fabric from a block print tapestry that hung in my college dorm room.
These three emotional baggage carts explore the Middle Passage and its impact upon my cultural identity as a Caribbean American woman. I still have a lot to unpack here. Both Appropriation Mud Cloth Baggage Cart, on the right and Hi Yellow Mud Cloth Baggage Cart on the left are not covered in zip ties. These carts have unresolved emotional baggage connected to them.
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 backpack. 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.
In 2020 my artist residency with NOW Friends in Nairobi Kenya was cancelled due to Covid. I had spent 6 months preparing for this residency, studying Swahili, researching local artists, looking at basketry and beading techniques.
I used the time I would have been in Kenya to clean, drill and string thousands of bottle caps into larger than life strings of pearls with the help of the Jersey City arts community during JCAST 2021.
Thursday, March 4, 2021 at 7-8pm The Center for Contemporary Art virtual studio visit. Register here.
Friday, March 5, 2021 6-9pm Weave Weird Baggagecarts JC Friday. Register here.
Please save these dates. Registration links forthcoming.
Thursday, May 27, 2021 7-9pm Microaggressions MoCADA Artist Talk
Saturday, June 12, 2021 3-5pm Microaggressions MoCADA Workshop
I am the third prize & solo exhibition winner in the International Juried Exhibition, Victor Davson, juror.
Join me for a virtual studio visit to see what Ive been up to this past year on Thursday March 4th @ 7:00pm ET.
Registration fee is free for members of The Center for Contemporary Art and $15 for non-members.
Take a break from the dank and drink in the color, whimsical line play and personal stories at 5 Points Art Gallery + Studios in Milwaukee, WI at “Color, Cuts, and Contour Delineations” Exhibition.
The exhibition runs from February 5, 2021 until March 28, 2021.
The Empowering: A social justice show was curated by Danielle Scott featuring sculpture, video, painting, drawing, fiber art, and photography.
The gallery will be open by appointment only every weekend Sat. and Sun. 1-4pm.
Appointments can be made on Eventbrite via this LINK.
The exhibition runs from February 6 – March 21, 2021
Join me, Blond Jenny and Preksha Kapadia for our closing talk with Kristin DeAngelis about the works in Pieces of Me.
The Artist Talk will be hosted on Zoom – Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 7:00pm. Register for Zoom link HERE
Join me as I share images of recent work while discussing my process and how the double pandemic has influenced my recent work.
Tuesday, February 16 at 3:00pm. Register for Zoom link HERE
Exhibition Dates: February 14, 2021 – March 12, 2021
Reception: Sunday February 14, 2021 from 1:00-4:00PM
Location: The Gallery Space Rahway, 1670 Irving Street, Rahway, New Jersey
I have two works of the 51 pieces in the show, selected from more than 740 entries from 259 artists by juror Victor Davson.
The exhibition runs through February 27, 2021.
See the virtual show on the The Center for Contemporary Art website HERE.
Virtual online exhibition on view on New Bedford Art Museum’s website HERE through March 2021. I am in the Sculptural artist group.
The next JC Fridays is March 5, 2021.
Virtual JC Fridays will take place on Zoom! There will be one online event showcasing all that Jersey City has to offer, hosted by Art House Productions. I’ll be showing my baggage carts.
Free, advance registration is required to receive the Zoom link. Register HERE
I have two works of the 51 pieces in the show, selected from more than 740 entries from 259 artists by juror Victor Davson.
AND I won 3rd prize and a 2022 solo show at for The Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster, NJ.
Victor Davson had this to said about my piece…
The hanging/sculpture, Caribbean Friendship Bracelet, made of cotton rope, yarn, chenille and sari silk is a power object encoded with histories of cultural hegemony, indentureship, racial violence, the fight for freedom and solidarity fomented in the crucible of colonial rule.
Victor Davson
Exhibition Dates: 1/15/21 – 2/27/21.
See the virtual gallery HERE.
Learn how I developed my artistic self-expression as a means of art therapy.
Get inspired to embrace your creativity and your art, in whatever form feels right to you while enjoy an intimate tour of my art studio and current works in progress.
See you on Sunday, January 10, 2021, for a journey into personal creativity.
Sunday January 10, 2021 12:00 PM in Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Register for this Zoom Here
Please mark your calendar on Friday, January 15, 2021 for my curator talk about with Studio Montclair. I’ll be talking about the works selected for the show and how art can encourage dialog about implicit bias and stereotypes.
The Exhibit Dates are January 15 – February 19, 2021
I will share the link to the Zoom Registration link and virtual gallery link as soon as I get the links
I have two works of the 51 pieces in the show, selected from more than 740 entries from 259 artists by juror Victor Davson.
The Exhibition Dates are January 15, 2021 – February 28, 2021
The exhibition opening reception will take place virtually via Zoom on Friday, January 22, 2021 at 6pm. Registration Link to follow
The Center for Contemporary Art is located at 2020 Burnt Mills Road Bedminster, NJ.
My work Caribbean Friendship Bracelet was selected for Fiber Art Now’s Excellence In Fibers VI.
View the virtual online exhibition on New Bedford Art Museum’s website HERE through March 2021. I am in the Sculptural artist group.
Featuring the Works of:
Preksha Kapadia, Blond Jenny, and Theda Sandiford
Curated by Kristin J. DeAngelis
On view at The Majestic located at 222 Montgomery Street in Jersey City, New Jersey through end of February 2021.
To schedule a viewing, please contact curator, Kristin J. DeAngelis: (201) 280-4821 or kd@107bowersgallery.com.
Rewatch the Jersey City Arts Awards on YouTube
I have two works of the 51 pieces in the show, selected from more than 740 entries from 259 artists by juror Victor Davson.
Exhibition Dates: 1/15/21 – 2/27/21
The exhibition opening reception will take place virtually via Zoom on Friday, January 22, 2021 at 6 pm. Registration Link to follow
The Center for Contemporary Art is located at 2020 Burnt Mills Road Bedminster, NJ
Out of nine hundred entries from over three hundred artists from across the United States, Canada, Italy, France, Japan, Korea and Singapore, Side Eye won one of 40 spots in 2018 International Juried Exhibition curated by Dr. Midori Yoshimoto at The Center for Contemporary Art this November.
The exhibition dates are November 8th-December 22nd. Please join me for the opening reception.
OPENING RECEPTION: November 8th, 6:00-8:00PM
LOCATION:Â The Center for Contemporary Art;Â Â 2020 Burnt Mills Rd, Bedminster Township, NJ 07921
