Libby Raab, "Emergence" (detail)
Permutations
Selections Spring 2026 Online Exhibition
Permutations explores the fundamental, often overlooked journey of fiber—from its raw source to its final, complex artistic form. While traditionally categorized as domestic craft, the works in this exhibition utilize interlacing techniques to push the boundaries of contemporary sculpture and digital presentation. Methods include knitting, weaving, and felting.
This online exhibition highlights the permutations and transformations inherent in fiber art. It champions the labor and intentionality embedded at every stage: the farming of raw materials, the processing of fleece or flora, and the meditative rigor of the final stitch, pleading with the viewer to view it as a tough softness, being able to hold itself up on its own. In an era of fast-paced digital consumption, this exhibition pauses to honor the undervalued yet indispensable human effort required to transform a single strand into a monumental structure, holding its shape with nothing other than itself.
By featuring artists who treat threads as a structural language, the show investigates how “soft” materials can occupy space with power, complexity, and modern relevance.
Alyssarhaye Graciano is a curator, practicing textile and public art artist, and published author. Her curatorial practice has focused on emerging and established artists of color, uplifting untold stories, and artistic expressions. An experienced arts administrator, she has held positions at Silicon Valley Creates, New Museum Los Gatos, and ran a small business, BlackSheepMade, offering textile workshops and selling her art. As an arts advocate, she volunteered on the GenArts Steering Committee, wrote for Content Magazine, and participated in the Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute (MALI), Class 14. Born and raised in San José, Alyssarhaye is trilingual with a BA in Languages and Literature with an emphasis in Spanish and French from the University of California, Riverside.
In Memorium: Evelyn Weissman Politzer
It was with heavy hearts that we learned that Evelyn Weissman Politzer passed away a few weeks before this exhibition opened. Evelyn was a SDA member and is one of our featured artists in Permutations. Her work spanned from small two-dimensional tapestries to monumental sculptural forms and utilized soft hand-dyed fibers to convey the interconnectedness of us all. It is fitting that an artist who celebrated and transformed raw fiber material was selected for an exhibition that highlights the ways in which soft materials can occupy a space with power. To learn more about Evelyn, you can visit her website or check out some of her writing below.
Through years of collaboration, exchanging ideas and working alongside other fiber artists locally and internationally, it has become clear that we share a common language. With the idea that there is nothing else in the world that we would rather be doing other than working with soft and malleable materials that pass through our hands.
The relationship between the fibers I work with and the place where I was born evokes the comfort of belonging. Regardless of whether I am physically “here or there,” the question is always … “but where do you come from?” …. I am lucky to come from a country whose natural resources are plentiful and even though I grew up in a city, trips to the countryside were enough to plant the seeds about the generosity of our Mother Earth.
My calling, every morning when I wake up, is the urgent need to create, to knit the impossible and give voice to the voiceless.
SDA’s biannual Online Exhibition series, Selections, supports and celebrates the work of our premium members. SDA members with Premium Membership are automatically included for consideration in Selections exhibitions. If you would like to upgrade your membership to be eligible for future exhibitions, please contact us at info@surfacedesign.org.