Black Queer Fiber & Textiles Artists Explore Futurity, Spirituality, Sexuality, and Materiality in Queer Threads:

The San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles is currently showcasing its Queer Threads exhibition to the public, with a free public reception from 5:30-7pm. The traveling exhibition is among the first to spotlight how contemporary artists are remixing fiber and textile traditions to explore LGBTQIA+ identities and experiences. For its latest iteration at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, guest curator John Chaich has assembled an intergenerational,intersectional range of works from 37 emerging and established artists who are working in or rooted in the American West, Northwest, and Southwest, as well as work from the museum’s collection.

Exhibited artists include: AIDS Memorial Quilt, Indira Allegra, April Bey, Tammie Brown, Diedrick Brackens, Chiachio & Giannone, Craig Calderwood, Amanda Curreri, Greg Climer, Lola Corona,Ben Cuevas, Rakeem Cunningham, T.J. Dedeaux-Norris, Jovencio de la Paz, Erika Diamond, Ricki Dwyer, Andrés Payán Estrada, James Gobel, Harmony Hammond, Angela Hennessy, AlexanderHernández, Kang Seung Lee,Aubrey Longley-Cook, dani lopez, Richard Johnathan Nelson,Jasmine Nyende, Ramekon O’Arwisters, Joel Otterson, Maria E. Piñeres, Robb Putnam, RoCoCo,Erik Scollon, Sunny Smith, Molly Vaughan, Nathan Vincent, Angie Wilson, and Mikki Yamashiro.

Queer Threads transforms the Museum’s four galleries and activates the ceiling, floor, and beyond, through works that are intimate (such as Ben Cuevas’ knit sacral chakra), immersive (such as Nathan Vincent’s life-sized, crocheted and knitted men’s locker room), and expansive (such as April Bey’s 20- foot-wide woven work) in scale.

Notably, the exhibition serves as an early kick-off for Pride month in June. . Additional artist-led panels and workshops are planned in June and July. The exhibition closes on the cusp of Silicon Valley Pride in San Jose in August. Queer Threads is generously funded by Applied Materials Foundation, California Humanities, and many generous individual donors. Admission to Queer Threads is free to SJMQT members and $10/adult for non-members.