EIP: Memory and Myth – Out Now!

October 12, 2026

Surface Design Association is excited to announce Memory and Myth, SDA International Exhibition in Print, our Fall 2026 edition of Surface Design Journal. “Memory and Myth is about the ways we carry stories. Sometimes we carry them through objects. Sometimes we carry them through our bodies or through the spaces we return to. Sometimes we carry stories that are incomplete and fill in the missing parts ourselves. The works in this exhibition do not offer one definition of memory or myth. Instead, they show how differently these ideas can be understood through material practice. They ask us to consider what we remember and why. They ask what happens when memory becomes history, and what happens when history becomes something more personal. Memory is always changing, and so are the stories we tell about it. Through the labor of making, the artists in Memory and Myth give those stories another form. They create objects that hold onto something while still allowing it to shift. The past remains present, but it is never finished.” –Meli Bandera, Guest Juror

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Here’s a preview of what you’ll discover:

Guest Juror Award – Alexia Benavent-Rivera: “My work shines a light on the Banana Wars in Central and South America, a time of brutal greed and American imperialism that too often gets swept under the rug. The effects are still felt today by millions of people in Central and South America, so I work to create awareness and hold a space for the affected.”

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Modern Myth Award – Joyce Melander: “Unexpectedly, in my sixties, after decades of working in abstraction, I felt the need to create narrative work. However, when I set out to find an archetype for cultural topics, I was scrolling through random images and happened upon a stocky elderly woman who was the spitting image of my grandmother.”

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Storytelling Award – Giselle Restrepo: “Textiles—both functional and expressive—are a part of every family’s heritage, and mine is no exception. I remember watching my mother quilting with textiles gathered over a lifetime, admiring the precise work of my great-grandmother’s Hardanger embroidery, and puzzling out the reverse appliqué of the many Guna Molas brought from Colombia. These objects of cotton and thread transcend time and place and remain as both memory and artifact.”

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Analog Innovator Award – Charlie Dov Schön: “My art practice centers the creation of contemporary ritual objects whose forms are shaped by rigorous material culture exploration of historic textiles, talismans and amulets. I am fascinated by the overlaps between devotion and data collection. My work investigates science as an act of attention and religion/spirituality as a serious methodology.”

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Activated Nature Award – Freda Xinyue Xia: “My ongoing project, Negotiated Skin, began after my cervical surgery, when physical pain and emotional vulnerability became inseparable. I did not want to make a literal image of injury. Instead, I began asking how rupture could become a material condition: something that could stretch, soften, tear and be reinforced. From that question, I started building membranes and soft structures that move between skin, garment and environment.”

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Chromatic Award – Holly Wong: “The Nereids were sea nymphs in Greek mythology, fifty daughters who guided sailors through dangerous water and offered protection to those lost at sea. I am drawn to them as figures of transformation, moving between human and divine, between water and air. Each sea nymph was her own distinct figure, and together the fifty formed a single collective devoted to protection and guidance.”

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Spatial Fiber Award – Ashley Lian: “My work focuses on themes of identity, memory, perception, nostalgia and domestic spaces. Using quilting, weaving, design, color and sculptural forms, I meditate on memories and spaces, exploring how they can be transformed and reinterpreted. I draw on my own history and background. Through my pieces, I confront the perceptions and realities of my past by presenting familiar textile mediums and object representations in unfamiliar ways. I seek to recontextualize personal memories into moments of dreamlike and nostalgic contemplation for the viewer.”

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This year’s EIP includes 20 Featured Artists: Sophia Bassett, Heidi Bergstrom and Adryan Bergstrom-Borins, River Forest Berry, Anita Bracalente, Anna Chupa, Merill Comeau, Amber Dawn Coppings, Agnieszka Golda, Taylor Hanigosky, Jenny Judge, Youngmin Lee, Lei Carradine Maslian, Shuhei Matsuyama, Robin Romain, Lars Shimabukuro, Sok Song, Jennifer Tang Limon, Melanie Thompson, Sarah A. Uys, and Joan Wong.

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Outstanding Student Awards: Presented annually to students who have demonstrated excellence in fiber arts. This year, the SDA Education Committee selected four awardees to be featured in print: Sarah Ambrosius, Jules Dembinski, Eve Friday, and Jackelin Espinosa Moyotl. The work of these artists embodied inventive and innovative use of technique, materials and concepts not only in fibers and textiles, but in printmaking, sculpture, and more. It is an honor for the Education Committee to be able to see student work, review it, and learn more about the personal and societal issues they are tackling through their work.

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In Print: Queer Crafts: Material Practices and the Making of Identity, reviewed by Lauren Sinner: “Queer Crafts is a contemporary look at twelve craft artists and how their queer identities and histories inform their work. ‘Put simply,’ author Daniel Fountain explains, ‘This book focuses on objects made by, for, and about queer people.’ The book opens with a lovely introduction that contextualizes craft and queerness: identifying historical and contemporary uses, while also acknowledging the ever-fluid nature of both. Terms, descriptions and language are constantly evolving, and I appreciated the nuanced care Fountain used in this book.”

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To buy a copy of Memory and Myth, go to the SDA Marketplace, or you can check out a free digital sample on our SDA Journal page.