Fiber & Form: Tactile Acts of Threading Space
SDA’S 2026 Online Symposium
February 7 – 12
Fiber artists are no longer confined to the wall. They are weaving, knotting, binding, and constructing works that refuse to be flattened or silenced. As artists across disciplines reach for the language of fiber, to speak of memory, justice, and belonging, fiber artists are stepping boldly into three dimensions.
This moment demands space, and fiber is taking it. This is a moment of construction and disruption. Across the field, artists are threading together histories and futures with fiber as their scaffolding. No longer “soft” in the pejorative sense, these materials are being used to build, to challenge, to take up both physical and conceptual space. Artists are shaping new terrain—and fiber is the foundation.
Join us online Saturday, February 7 as we hear from internationally renowned artists, curators, and academics leading the field of fiber. Our main presentations and speakers are highlighted in our Saturday programming with opportunities for further connections and small group sessions through our meetups on Sunday, February 8 through Thursday, February 12.
This symposium will be held over Zoom and will be recorded and available to attendees until the end of April 2026.
Use the following links to navigate the symposium webpage.
PRESENTATIONS & SPEAKERS
SCHEDULE
REGISTRATION & FEES
MEETUPS & STUDIO VISITS
SPONSORS & PARTNERS
Presence as Power, with Keynote Speaker Kandy Lopez
Saturday, February 7, 12:10PM EST
Celebrated for her innovative “fiber paintings,” Lopez has developed a practice that transforms textile into a medium of presence and testimony. Through works such as Hispaniola (2024), Paperwater 2.0 (2024) and the landmark America Does It (2019), she articulates resilience, dignity and visibility, positioning handwoven portraiture as a repository of cultural identity and collective memory.
Kandy Lopez
Kandy Lopez explores cultural identity, representation, and power through her large fiber portraits. Curiosity is core to her work as she creates work that inspires dialogue, embraces materiality, and celebrates culture.
Fiber Forward: New Dialogues in Tactility and Form
Saturday, February 7, 1:15PM EST
Fiber and textile artists have long understood the soft power of their chosen materials. As we progress into the 21st century, more and more makers, curators, and academics are appreciating the framework fiber can provide to create works of art that expand beyond labels to challenge conventionality, encourage conversation, and spark innovation in form.
Sarah Urist Green of The Art Assignment
With over 40 million views, Sarah Urist Green’s PBS web series The Art Assignment has made an indelible mark on how we view and practice creativity. Her book, You Are an Artist along with her work as a curator and public art advocate, positions her as an instrumental force in shaping the way we view creative spaces and practices.
Erika Diamond of The Chautauqua Institution
As a textile artist, curator, and educator, Erika Diamond positions materiality and the politics of queer safety and visibility at the forefront of her practice. She creates innovative exhibitions that blur distinctions between the genres of art, design, and craft while centering diverse voices and practices.
Monumental Threads: The Sensation of Scale in Contemporary Fiber
Saturday, February 7, 2PM EST
Artists have been experimenting with scale since creativity’s inception. From miniscule to colossal, scale offers opportunities for intimacy and awe. We’re speaking with three artists who take up large footprints - both conceptually and physically.
Amanda Browder
Amanda Browder creates enormous installations around the world based in and dependent on local communities. Striving to create connection, her work illustrates the ways in which art is not confined to a single individual but rather an expression of a social collective.
Carmen Mardonez
Carmen Mardonez channels resistance through large-scale embroideries exploring intimate spaces. Her sculptures and forms witness repression and indoctrination while also serving as an embodiment of liberation and sisterhood.
Holly Wong
Holly Wong transforms grief and trauma into forms that inspire resilience. Through painting, drawing, and sewing, she pursues wholeness by mining memories to rewrite history and seek empowerment through personal and mythological lenses that vary in scale from intimate to colossal.
Blurring Boundaries: Rethinking Material and Meaning
Saturday, February 7, 3:25PM EST
The SDA community is comprised of makers who are constantly thinking through “problems” in the studio. We’ll dig in deep to the physical, conceptual, and spiritual with assemblage sculptor, vanessa german as she walks us through her process of making - construction, problem solving, and collaboration.
vanessa german
Working primarily with assemblage, vanessa german creates large sculptures that she adorns with physically and metaphysically important objects such as prayer beads, doll parts, handmade quilts, rope, and cowrie shells. Her unique sculptural vocabulary transmits healing energy, affirming the power of love as an infinite human technology.
Studio Visit with AiR Meli Bandera
Tuesday, February 10, 7PM EST
Join SDA Artist in Residence, Meli Bandera, in their studio! We'll learn how their residency is progressing, get a behind-the-scenes look at their studio and works in progress, and learn more about what they're currently researching and learning.
Meli Bandera
Meli's work focuses on the interaction of ancestral fiber techniques and contemporary practices, such as Chicano Tattoo traditions to investigate cultural shifts and the effect migration and place contribute to a cultural identity. Through black and gray linework, bold saturated color, and story driven narrative, Meli explores Mexican and Catholic histories, and family legacy.
Holding Space: Five Years of a Creative Return
Thursday, February 12, 7PM EST
Celebrating its fifth year, Holding Space honors the power of dialogue, reflection, and creative community within the fiber arts. For this special anniversary gathering, we welcome back two visionary artists from the inaugural 2020 event—Shenequa and Fabiola Jean-Louis—to reflect on growth, transformation, and the threads that continue to connect us.
This program is open and free to all regardless of symposium registration. Please use the button below to sign up.
SHENEQUA
SHENEQUA shares her stories with the world, one thread at a time, through the traditional craft of weaving, her familial background, conversations with others, and her experiences in Ghana. Her artwork serves as a mode of complex storytelling highlighting the many experiences of black womanhood.
Fabiola Jean-Louis
Fabiola Jean-Louis crosses material boundaries with work inspired by her profound love of Afro-futurism, science and science fiction, pre and post-industrial eras, rich history, and captivating folklore. Her work defies limitations and spans across fields of photography, paper, sculpture, and costume design.
Schedule
Times shown are Eastern Time. Convert to your time zone.
| Saturday, February 7, 2026 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 pm | Welcome | |
| 12:10 pm | Presence as Power with Keynote Speaker, Kandy Lopez | |
| 1:10 pm | Break | |
| 1:15 pm | Fiber Forward: New Dialogues in Tactility and Form with Sarah Urist Green of The Art Assignment and Erika Diamond of the Chautauqua Institution | |
| 2:20 pm | Break | |
| 2:25 pm | Monumental Threads: The Sensation of Scale in Contemporary Fiber with Amanda Browder, Carmen Mardonez, and Holly Wong | |
| 3:20 pm | Break | |
| 3:25 pm | Blurring Boundaries: Rethinking Material and Meaning, with Vanessa L. German | |
| 4:10 pm | Closing | |
| Sunday, February 8, 2026 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2:00 pm | Studio Visits | |
| Monday, February 9, 2026 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7:00 pm | Hanging by a Thread: The Physics of Displaying Fiber Art | |
| Tuesday, February 10, 2026 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2:00 pm | Fiber Therapy: Untangling Creative Problems | |
| 7:00 pm | Studio Visit with SDA AiR: Meli Bandera | |
| Wednesday, February 11, 2026 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7:00 pm | Fiber Therapy: Untangling Creative Problems | |
| Thursday, February 12, 2025 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7:00 pm | Holding Space: Five Years of a Creative Return with SHENEQUA and Fabiola Jean-Louis | |
Registration + Fees
- Member: $105
- Non-Member: $130
- Student: $55
- Institutional group pricing upon request. Please contact us for details.
SDA is working hard to remove barriers to participating in our programming. If the cost of attendance presents an issue, please complete and submit our brief scholarship application. This opportunity is open to both members and non-members through Saturday, January 31, 2026.
Meetups & Studio Visits
We’re excited to meet all of you! Meetups and Studio Visits are casual, moderated Zoom Meetings and are a great way to connect with fellow participants while working on a lap project. Take advantage of this real-time opportunity to network and take the conversation further after what you learned during the week. All are welcome!
Studio Visits
Sunday, February 8, 2PM EST
Join us for a behind the scenes look at the studios of two SDA members – artists coming soon!
Meetup | Hanging by a Thread: The Physics of Displaying Fiber Art
Monday, February 9, 7PM EST
We’ll share resources on the ins and outs of hanging complex forms while collaborating with you all on your hanging challenges and questions.
Meetup | Fiber Therapy: Untangling Creative Problems
Tuesday, February 10, 2PM EST and Wednesday, February 11, 7PM EST
Collectively we’ll troubleshoot creative challenges. Bring your most difficult projects, perplexing problems, and frustrating obstacles – we’re figuring them out together! Come to one or both meetups!
Sponsors & Partners
Coming soon!