April 18, 2023 – Late 2023

Mining Mending: Rethink, Reuse, Revive explores and celebrates the many facets of mending as a part of creative practice. By stitching with conceptual and structural integrity, using recycled materials as art supplies, patching with purpose, and honoring of labor through repair, repurposing, and renewal, the powerful message and act of restoration and rejuvenation through mending serves as means for artists (and community activists) to express their positions on social, economic, and environmental justice.

A cohort of internationally recognized artists, writers, and historians has come together exhibit, teach, and talk about mending – rethink, reuse, revive — as both physical process and metaphor. Program exhibitions, discussions, and workshops are designed to focus on topics from healing practice to social practice, to economic and environmentally informed practice, and to building and maintaining bridges to textile traditions. Through a dynamic schedule of program activities, our intention is to engage a broad range of modalities and invest in new relationships to strengthen our fiber art community.

Join us for an event from our growing list! Registration links and activities will continue to be added for June – September.  Click on the tabs below for more details.

EVENTS:

  • Art Speaks: Judy Frater, Folk Embroideries of Kutch, Thursday, May 18, 12 pm CT on Zoom
  • Art Speaks: Asif Shaikh, Resurgence, Thursday, June 1, 11 am CT/9:30 pm IST on Zoom
  • Mining Mending- Reception for current exhibitions, Tuesday, June 6, 5:30 – 7 pm at Textile Center
  • Collective Mending Project: Community Mending Sessions, 1 – 4, and 6 – 9 pm, Wednesday, June 7 at Textile Center
  • Art Speaks: Gasali Onireke Adeyemo, Tuesday, June 13, 5 pm at Textile Center and on Zoom
  • Creative Mending Community Workshops – FREE and open to all (continuation of The Community Mending Project sessions), Wednesdays, June 14, 21, and 28, 5 – 7:30 pm at Textile Center
  • Art Speaks: Mining Mending and Social Practice with Rachel Breen, Amy Meissner, Celia Pym, and Winnie van der Rijn, Thursday, June 22, 12 pm CT on Zoom
  • Craft Night: Pride Patches and Pockets, Thursday, June 22, 5 – 7:30 pm at Textile Center
  • Art Speaks: “What is Kantha, Anyway?” with Pika Ghosh, Friday, June 23, 12 pm CT on Zoom
  • Art Speaks: Maki Aizawa, Tuesday, September 12, 5 pm at Textile Center

The events above are low-cost or free to attend. Related workshops can be found on the WORKSHOPS tab below.

(Header image: detail of Mended Pastry Bag by Celia Pym)

EXHIBITIONS

"Please Rate Your Experience" by Lisa Kokin

Mining Mending

April 25 – July 15, 2023 • Joan Mondale & Community Galleries

Artist reception: Tuesday, June 6, 5:30 – 7 pm

Featuring the work of Rachel Breen, Brooks Harris Stevens, Lisa Kokin, Amy Meissner, Mark Newport, Celia Pym, Catherine Reinhart, Winnie van der Rijn, and The Collective Mending Sessions

The metaphors of mending have been endlessly mined and continue to influence the ideas of generations of makers and artists. We are thrilled to present the work of these contemporary artists who explore the theme of mending as the conceptual and technical basis for their artistic practices. Materials are mined for reuse and repurposed; materials are dismantled and objectified; holes are both accidental and intentional, some left, some repaired; cloth acts like skin, to be cut or torn; stitches act to heal; scars remain; power is questioned; things are (re)made to live another day, often to serve another purpose. Join us to celebrate the work of these artists who inspired a spring and summer full of programming!

Resurgence: Revival of Indian Embroidery

April 18 – June 7, 2023 • Mary Giles Gallery

Asif Shaikh

Join us for this special exhibit of work by Asif Shaikh, from Ahmedabad, India. Shaikh’s incredible embroideries, research, and writing create a bridge between East and West, old and new, tradition and innovation. His intricate and labor intensive artisan stitching “mends” a historic gap in Indian craft through his revival of Mughal (court) embroidery. Textile Center is honored to share this work with our audience, from April 18 – June 7.

Thanks to Mary Anne Wise for introducing us to Asif’s work and to Shelley Wells for delivering, curating, and installing this exhibition.

Vintage Kantha Quilts

April 25 – July 20, 2023 • Library Gallery

Collection on loan from Cultural Cloth, Maiden Rock, WI

“Kantha, making whole again that which was fragmented or broken.”     Crafts Museum, New Delhi

This rotating exhibition of vintage kantha quilts from West Bengal, created using layers of soft recycled fabrics held together using small straight running stitches– mended with additional layers of fabric as necessary due to time and wear– is on loan from Cultural Cloth in Maiden Rock, WI. Also on view in the library is a collection of books on the subject of stitching and mending, in support of the Mining Mending program.

ART SPEAKS RECORDINGS

View recordings of some of our Art Speaks discussions a part of the Mining Mending program!

Art Speaks: Mining Mending – Social and Creative Practice

Art Speaks: Folk Embroideries of Kutch with Judy Frater

Art Speaks: Resurgence with Asif Shaikh

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Support for Organizations grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.