HEY, ARE YOU FREE?
SOLO EXHIBITION: WU YU JUNG
NEW TERRAINS: MIGRATION AND MOBILITY PROJECT
NOVEMBER 28 – JANUARY 13, 2019
PORCELLA GALLERY

Wu Yu Jung’s Solo Exhibition depicts mended cloth as metaphor for how clothing shapes the identity of the wearer, but also reveals our histories, scars and growth. Her exhibition will document the participants of the mended clothing through artifact, video and photograph, and feature the artist’s experience of visiting her Sister City of San Jose.

EXCELLENCE IN FIBERS, IN COLLABORATION WITH FIBER ART NOW MAGAZINE
OCTOBER 19, 2018 – JANUARY 13, 2019
TURNER AND GILLILAND GALLERIES

Fiber Art Now Magazine highlights innovative, contemporary textile art in the Excellence in Fibers issue. An exhibition of the same name, the work shows current trends in the categories of vessel forms/ basketry, installation, wall/ floor works, sculptural works, and wearables.

SEEING THE THRESHOLD: JAYOUNG YOON
OCTOBER 19, 2018 – JANUARY 13, 2019
HALLWAY GALLERY

Born in Korea, Jayoung Yoon is a New York based artist known for using human hair in her art. She focuses on using hair as a medium for exploring systems of thought, perception and sensations of the body. Her use of hair connects the viewer’s visual perception of the work to the physical form of the body. Her creations of 2 dimensional work, of both woven forms and geometric shapes, represent the limbo between conscious and unconscious states.

SUTURE AND STITCH: MARK NEWPORT
OCTOBER 19, 2018 – JANUARY 13, 2019
FINLAYSON GALLERY

For Mark Newport, textile and skin are intimately connected. Physical proximity causes sweat and strength, dirt and fear, love and cologne to move from flesh to cloth indiscriminately. While cloth protects skin, either can be cut or torn. Stitches are the means to aid healing and measure the intensity of the wound. 

These works begin by cutting a hole into the cloth. The hole is then filled by weaving with needle and thread. The repairs are made using traditional textile darning and mending techniques learned from studying European and American mending samplers. Whether the area of repair is immediately visible or camouflaged, mending holes leaves a scar that speaks of vulnerability, intimacy, and futility.

MIRIAM AT MOMA: MIRIAM NATHAN-ROBERTS, PERSONAL AND PUBLIC
OCTOBER 19 – NOV 25, 2018
PORCELLA GALLERY

SJMQT commemorates Miriam Nathan-Roberts, the late Bay Area art quilt pioneer.  The exhibit includes several of her iconic works as well as quilts and personal articles never before shown.  Nathan-Roberts was well known for illusions of 3D shapes on a 2D surface.  Her later work was distinguished by striking, digitally-printed images.  The title piece imagines a radical departure for the Museum of Modern Art in New York --- as a venue for art quilts. 

HONORING THE HEROINES OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT: PATRICIA A. MONTGOMERY
SEPTEMBER 5 – OCTOBER 14, 2018
PORCELLA GALLERY

Patricia A. Montgomery's swing coats illustrate African America women's contributions to the Civil Rights Movement.  Each coat represents one unsung heroine such as Ella Josephine Baker, who mentored young civil rights leaders, or Claudette Colvin, a teenager who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama nine months before Rosa Parks’ arrest.

The combination of African American quilting traditions, digital images, pastel drawings and thread work are designed into a wearable object, detailing the stories of the Civil Rights Movement heroines.

THE ART OF LABOR, SDA MEMBERS JURIED EXHIBITION 2018
JULY 22, 2018 – OCTOBER 14, 2018
TURNER AND GILLILAND GALLERIES

Members of the Surface Design Association are invited to submit work for the 2018 International Juried Members exhibition, The Art of Labor. The exhibition will be held in partnership with the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles (SJMQT) at their location in San Jose, CA, July 22, 2018 – October 14, 2018. The exhibition includes awards. Entries may be submitted online January 8, 2018 – April 6, 2018.

Click here for more info.

VANTAGE POINT: MAGGY ROZYCKI HILTNER
JULY 22, 2018 – OCTOBER 14, 2018
HALLWAY GALLERY

Embroidery artist,  Maggy Rozycki Hiltner presents a multi-panel project by designing an idealized landscape with a big blue sky, green grass, and puffy white clouds.  Upon closer inspection the viewer finds the ways in which humans impact the natural landscape through pollution, coal mining, and industrial waste. Vantage Point is a fabricated world that simultaneously displays potential beauty, and the silent, destructive effects of waste and human consumption.

CUT IT OUT! EXPLORATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY PAPER CUTTING
JULY 22, 2018 – OCTOBER 14, 2018
FINLAYSON GALLERY

With reference to printmaking, sculpture and illustration, the subtractive art of paper cutting is going through its own Renaissance. As society moves into the digital age, paper, which was once part of our everyday lives, is fading out to more environmentally friendly alternatives. This exhibition pays homage to the art of paper cutting, an activity that has been celebrated since the 4th century.

FRAU FIBER VS. THE MACHINES
JULY 22, 2018 – SEPTEMBER 2, 2018
PORCELLA GALLERY

The works in this exhibition document Frau Fiber's on-going battle with contemporary apparel manufacturing. In video, photography and artifacts, the exhibition makes space to witness Frau Fiber's attempt to spin yarn, knit a tube sock and knit a sweater as fast as a machine. This series of textile productions are inspired by the folk lore of the ultimate working-class hero: John Henry. Henry, who was immortalized in verse and myth in the 1800’s, fought and lost a valiant battle against the drill machine that took his life and ultimately replaced the jobs of tireless railroad workers. 

The exhibition is curated by Frau Fiber’s archivist and biographer, Carole Frances Lung.

GUNS: LOADED CONVERSATIONS
APRIL 22, 2018 – JULY 15, 2018
TURNER, GILLILAND AND FINLAYSON GALLERIES

An enormous divide exists between people who cherish their heritage of gun ownership and others who are concerned that guns contribute to the rising tide of gun violence. The pieces presented in this exhibition spark conversations relating to this important societal issue.

The work explores heritage and current cultural norms reflected in gun ownership and consider how people's personal experience with guns may influence their opinions. The exhibition plans to engage those of differing opinions to listen to each other in a thoughtful manner; and to investigate and encourage community initiatives that may inspire action in seeking solutions.

This Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) exhibition plans to engage those of differing opinions to listen to each other in a thoughtful manner; and to investigate and encourage community initiatives that may inspire action in seeking solutions.

This exhibition is supported by East Bay Heritage Quilters.

GENERATION OF CHANGE: A MOVEMENT, NOT A MOMENT
APRIL 22, 2018 – JULY 15, 2018
Hallway Gallery

Social Justice Sewing Academy’s mission is to inspire students to be aware of social injustices and turn them into leaders and organizers who believe that change can happen when they try and take action. By learning a strong foundation in sewing and textile art expression, SJSA's goal is to prepare students to solve the issues in their communities by their innovative thinking. Each quilt on display is an act of social justice, created by a teen, revealing that equality is a concern, regardless of age.

SJSA Instagram

INTIMACY AND SUBVERSION
THOMAS KNAUER
JUNE 6, 2018 – JULY 15, 2018
PORCELLA GALLERY

Artist Thomas Knauer is interested in the social and cultural implication of making a quilt. For him the decision to make a quilt is already a type of activism, a reflection of a desire for something more personal, a refutation of the generic and the disposable. The quilts on display stem from that fundamental premise, and translate specific concerns into material form, specifically quilts that are actually used on a daily basis; they explore the implications of addressing a wide range of issues within the intimate space of the bedroom, what it means to bring global concerns to the home. These quilts then become less about public expression and more about insuring that one’s personal ideals do not slip away into the abstract, perpetually overwhelmed by the endless cycles of crisis that surround us. Through these quilts the political is tied to the personal, ideals are made concrete; each quilt becomes an everyday reminder of the manifold challenges confronting us, and as a prompt to advocate for a world we hope to make better.

COLOR PERCEPTION: PILAR AGÜERO-ESPARZA
APRIL 22 – JUNE 3, 2018
PORCELLA GALLERY

In her recent body of work, Pilar Agüero-Esparza presents the viewer with abstractions created using the skin tone palette of the Color Your World: Crayola Multicultural Crayons set. Referencing Joseph Albers’ color theory in the title of the exhibition, Agüero-Esparza’s leather, fabric and paper works explore the idea of a “racialized abstraction” connecting her mixed media works to colorism and the personal experience and representation of one’s color.

Originally from Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles, Agüero-Esparza received her BA in painting and printmaking from UC Santa Cruz and an MFA in sculpture from San Jose State University. She is a local artist and art educator and has exhibited her work widely throughout the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

SHOJI TABUCHEESE: CHUCK STOLAREK
FEBRUARY 28 – APRIL 15, 2018
PORCELLA GALLERY

SHOJI TABUCHEESE is the 2017-2018 textile-based projects of Chuck Stolarek. Chuck is interested in context and the perfect spot between fiction & non-fiction. When possible, the medium is massively time-consuming and the subject matter is light and unexplained. The effect is laughter and confusion. Chuck is a 2002 graduate of Rhode Island School of Design’s furniture design program. His work has been seen in Sportswear International, LA Weekly, Surface Magazine, and on MTV.

Chuck Stolarek at RISD

A GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY: THE PAUL J. SMITH TEXTILE COLLECTION
JANUARY 19 – APRIL 15, 2018
TURNER AND GILLILAND GALLERIES

Director Emeritus of the Museum of Arts and Design in NY, Paul J. Smith is most noted for his groundbreaking curatorial works in the America Studio Craft Movement. During his career, he collected traditional and ethnographic textiles during his world travels that have never been exhibited before.

TALISMANIC TRESSES: VIEN LE WOOD
JANUARY 19 – APRIL 15, 2018
Hallway Gallery

Award wining British textile artist and designer, Vien Le Wood is the founder of Gold Spink Studio, a fashion embellishment concept house based in Brooklyn, New York. Vien has ten years’ experience in the fashion industry. Vien’s exhibition, Talismanic Tresses is based on her view of human hair which she believes it acts as a conductor to our higher consciousness and intuition.In this exhibition she intimately crafted, stitch-by-stitch, piece-by-piece, and layer-by-layer the act of embellishment with an artistic expression. Le Wood believes that through the process of being gifted precious hair and buying discarded hair, an energy exchange is created that sends the message of mortality.

Image: Talismanic Tresses , 2017, Staples, copper, naturally dyed mohair yarn,  tie dyed and screen printed human hair. 

WITHOUT A NET: SUSAN ELSE
JANUARY 19 – APRIL 15, 2018
FINLAYSON GALLERY

As a fabric sculptor, Santa Cruz-based artist Susan Else pushes the boundaries of the studio art quilt movement by integrating sound, light and motors with colorful, stitched figures. In her solo exhibition Without a Net, Else explores the theatrical awe and dark underbelly of the circus. 

A CAMBODIAN JOURNEY: STORIES TOLD BY TEXTILES AND COSTUMES OF THE CAMBODIAN CULTURAL DANCE TROUPE
JANUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2018
Porcella Gallery

A journey to preserve the traditions and culture of the Cambodian people began in 1975 with the fall of Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge. The exhibit shows classical and folk dance costumes brought from Cambodia, from hand sewn silks to painted canvas. All costumes are used by the Cambodian Cultural Dance Troupe to keep the ancient traditions of the Khmer people alive in San Jose.

JUNCTURE 2: 40TH ANNIVERSARY SJMQT MEMBER'S EXHIBITION
NOVEMBER 29, 2017 – JANUARY 14, 2018
PORCELLA GALLERY

Now in its fortieth year, the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles is at a juncture in time, where we can both reflect on the past and look forward to the future. A juncture can also be an intersection of place or events, often one laden with symbolic potential: In many folk traditions, junctures as represented by crossroads are a potent metaphor for transition. Though a juncture can be a time for reflection, the word can also describe a critical moment or crisis that demands immediate action. With the concept as their point of departure, artists may take the exhibitions theme for "juncture" where it leads them.

EXPRESSIONS OF IDENTITY: 40TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
OCTOBER 20, 2017 – JANUARY 14, 2018
ALL GALLERIES EXCLUDING PORCELLA GALLERY

Inserting one's identity is inherent in the process of an artist and their body of work. As San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles celebrates its 40th year, we reflect on our own identity and highlight pieces from the permanent collection acquired in the last five years. 

IDENTITY TAPESTRY: MARY COREY MARCH
OCTOBER 15, 2017 – JANUARY 14, 2018
HALLWAY Gallery

Through a variety of mediums, artist Mary Corey March explores questions of individuality, humanity, data, and expression. March’s participatory installation Identity Tapestry will enlist SJMQT visitors in creating a portrait of our community.  

Participants choose a ball of yarn to trace along the framework of statements pinned to the wall. These statements begin with basic biographical information, such as “I am a woman,” but splinter off into more complex facets of identity: “I have seen someone dying,” “I stop to enjoy a beautiful moment,” “I am fortunate.” Connecting point to point with their yarn, participants trace out the paths of their identities, making visible the ways in which we are the same and different from one another. In each of its locations, including San Francisco, Pepperdine University, Southern Vermont College, and Pfäffikon, Switzerland, Identity Tapestry thus becomes a work of art as unique as the people who contribute to it.