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Family, Memory, and an Ancestral Craft Converge in Daniela García Hamilton’s Tender Paintings

by Aurelia Butler 22 July 2025, 21:21

“La sala (The Living Room)” (2025), hand embroidery and oil on canvas (triptych), 27 x 60 inches. Photos by @ofphotostudio Yubo Dong. All images courtesy of the artist and Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, shared with permission

Family, Memory, and an Ancestral Craft Converge in Daniela García Hamilton’s Tender Paintings

July 22, 2025

ArtCraft

Kate Mothes

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Through a mixed-media approach combining oil paint with the soft definition of embroidery fiber, Daniela García Hamilton explores intergenerational bonds in tender, narrative canvases. A first-generation American from a Mexican family, the artist metaphorically links loved ones via thread, incorporating symbols of both Mexican and American geography and imagery of relatives drawn from photographs.

“García Hamilton investigates legacies of tradition, the inevitability of assimilation, and the ways in which family histories replay themselves over time,” says a statement from Charlie James Gallery, which is currently presenting the artist’s solo exhibition, Amanecer / Atardecer (Sunrise / Sunset).

“Toyota” (2025), hand embroidery and oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches

García Hamilton began incorporating embroidery into her work following the death of her grandfather, whose own experience with textiles and exuberance for storytelling deeply influenced the artist’s interest in the relationship between craft, lineage, and memory. Scenes range from memorable events like weddings to everyday moments in which people gather together at home or for a siesta in the back of a pickup truck.

Derived from photos in her family archive, García Hamilton’s figurative depictions are immanently relatable. Yet within the broader context of the U.S.’s socio-political climate, especially the current administration’s dubious approach to curbing immigration, there is an undeniable sense of precarity and protectiveness. We’re invited into nostalgic, tender, even vulnerable moments in which every individual’s personality radiates through what the gallery describes as an “inner glow,” emphasizing the significance of togetherness, resilience, and security.

Amanecer / Atardecer continues through August 2 in Los Angeles. Find more on the artist’s Instagram.

“El Temerario (The Daredevil)” (2024), hand embroidery and oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches

Detail of “La sala (The Living Room)”

“High Noon” (2024), oil on canvas, 56 x 36 inches

“Sueña (Dream)” (2024), oil and Sharpie on canvas, 30 x 24 inches

“En el Jardín de mi abuelo (In My Grandfather’s Garden)” (2025), oil on canvas, 30 x 36 inches

“Self-portrait as child with my Pa” (2024), colored ink on hot-pressed paper, 48 x 48 inches

“La boda de mi Tía Rosi (My Aunt Rosi’s Wedding)” (2025), hand embroidery on canvas, 30 x 36 inches

Detail of “La sala (The Living Room)”

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Anatomy and Ancient Sea Creatures Converge in Hiné Mizushima’s Felt Sculptures
by Aurelia Butler 22 July 2025, 13:24
Group of anatomical felt brooches. All images courtesy of Hiné Mizushima, shared with permission
Anatomy and Ancient Sea Creatures Converge in Hiné Mizushima’s Felt Sculptures
July 22, 2025
ArtCraftNature
Kate Mothes
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From the spiral shells of prehistoric ammonites to uncanny depictions of organs and fish, Hiné Mizushima has a knack for combining cuteness and humor with the unusual and unseen. The Vancouver-based artist (previously) continues to create vibrant dioramas and wall sculptures that toy with textiles, anatomy, and taxidermy.
Using felt, sequins, embroidery thread, and yarn, Mizushima builds colorful displays of coral, animals, and botanicals. A mounted moray eel, for example, mimics a natural history display, showing a cutaway of its belly revealing a—rather lively—baby eel.
“Squids”
Recently, the artist also sewed a series of brooches in the form of microscopic organisms like Daphnia and Paramecium and anatomical human organs. Nerves and blood vessels extend along the root and crown of a tooth, complete with a filled cavity.
Mizushima is currently preparing for a group show at Ranbu Gallery in Osaka this fall, plus another group exhibition at Beinart Gallery in Melbourne in early 2026. The artist looks forward to experimenting with some new craft techniques and focusing on her Etsy shop, where original pieces and prints are available for purchase. Explore more on her website, Instagram, and Behance.
Anatomical felt brooch
“Anatomical Moray Eel”
Detail of “Anatomical Moray Eel”
“Phantom Squid”
“Ammonite”
Anatomical felt brooch
“Turtleback Twin Beasts”
Anatomical felt brooch
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Site-Specific Textiles by Rachel B. Hayes Radiate Within Vast Landscapes and Sunlit Interiors
by Aurelia Butler 7 July 2025, 17:29
Mirror Lake, Bottomless Lakes State Park, New Mexico, 2015. All images courtesy of Rachel B. Hayes, shared with permission
Site-Specific Textiles by Rachel B. Hayes Radiate Within Vast Landscapes and Sunlit Interiors
July 7, 2025
ArtCraftDesign
Kate Mothes
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From myriad swaths of vivid, translucent fabric, Rachel B. Hayes conjures striking installations that transform our experiences of both interior spaces and expansive natural landscapes. The Tulsa-based artist suspends large-scale patchwork compositions in spaces ranging from barns and greenhouses to open fields and lakes, experimenting with scale, color, pattern, light, and movement in joyful installations.
Hayes’ works have been exhibited extensively around the U.S. and Europe, often stretched like quilted sun sails over courtyards. Her recent piece “Horizon Drift,” in collaboration with Black Cube in Denver, comprises a series of overlapping triangular elements that cast colorful shadows onto the pavement, similar to “A Moment in Time” in Capri.
“Horizon Drift” (2024) Denver, Colorado. Photo by Third Dune, courtesy of Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum
Usually installed for just a few weeks or months, Hayes’ installations temporarily merge with their surroundings, a nod to Jeanne-Claude and Christo’s monumentally ambitious fabric interventions. Richly patchworked or woven, the pieces also emphasize a joyful experience of light, breeze, and time-honored American quilting practices.
Hayes always enjoys looking back at earlier works and in situ experiments to inform new pieces. “I still get so much inspiration and energy from my temporary experiments…I keep coming back to my favorite sites that I know like the back of my hand but also learn and see new things every time I visit,” she says. She often returns to various sites in South Dakota, Missouri, and New Mexico to document work multiple times. The light, weather, and changes in the landscape always “read” differently, and she thinks of many of these pieces as part of a “long vision” within her practice.
Sometimes, Hayes’ works remain installed for a while longer, and she has embraced becoming something of a “fabric engineer.” Several long-term projects will likely be installed outdoors for at least five years, challenging the artist to select materials that will be both visually effective and endure the elements. “It is truly exhilarating to try and find ways to make my outdoor experiments last for longer periods of time,” she says.
Light, especially sunlight, plays a significant role in Hayes’ compositions and site selection, particularly indoors where architecture and prescribed routes influence how people move around and can view the work. “I am usually chasing the sun to see where it peeks through the space and plays with reflections and color-casted shadows, so it’s really important that I make the appropriate choice for the site,” she says. While the artist uses software like Photoshop or Procreate to compose the overall pattern, she primarily focuses on the physicality of the material and its unique interactions with different places.
Installation at Foreland, Catskill, New York. Photo by Adam T. Deen
Hayes’ installations are on view in Patterned by Nature at the Chicago Botanic Garden throughout the summer. You can also see her work in Soft Structures through August 8 at Jane Lombard Gallery in New York City and Body’s First Architecture through August 10 at Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven, Connecticut.
Her semi-permanent exhibitions can be seen at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, and The Gathering Place in Tulsa. And if you find yourself in West Texas, Hayes’ flag is currently flown outside Ballroom Marfa during the gallery’s opening hours. Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
You might also enjoy Wally Dion’s translucent quilts that honor Indigenous traditions.
Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, Massachusetts, 2023
“Garden Loom” (2015), Roswell, New Mexico
Menlo Park, California
“A Moment in Time” (2022), Capri, Italy. Photo by Istanbul’74
Detail of installation at Mirror Lake, Bottomless Lakes State Park, New Mexico, 2015
“Cloud Report” (2021), South Dakota
South Dakota
Fairfield, Iowa
Flint Hills, Kansas
Greenwood, Missouri
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From Velvet and Vintage Textiles, Larysa Bernhardt Embroiders Otherworldly Moths
by Aurelia Butler 7 July 2025, 14:47
All images courtesy of Larysa Bernhardt, shared with permission
From Velvet and Vintage Textiles, Larysa Bernhardt Embroiders Otherworldly Moths
July 7, 2025
ArtCraftNature
Kate Mothes
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“Mythology and folklore surrounding moths and butterflies carries complex and sometimes contradictory symbolism,” artist Larysa Bernhardt says. “I was always attracted to their paradoxical nature.” While on one hand, she dreads certain types of the winged creatures turning up in her house because of the risk they pose to textiles, she is fascinated by their variations and loves to see them thrive.
Dualities abound in Bernhardt’s sculptural, embroidered textile moths. Her creative process begins outdoors in a seemingly unrelated aspect of the studio—her garden. The artist tends to a “moon garden” every summer, comprising fragrant botanicals like tobacco, moonflower, datura, and jasmine that perfume the air and blossom with small white flowers that “glow in the dark like stars,” the artist says. Sphinx and luna moths often visit, accompanied by thousands of fireflies.
When the sun comes up, the garden transforms into a riot of color, with zinnias, poppies, and roses attracting daytime pollinators like butterflies and bees. “It’s the duality of it—night and day, sun and moon, moths and butterflies” that fascinates Bernhardt. She adds, “It’s an incredibly complex balancing act I am forever mesmerized by.”
Mirroring the supple fuzziness of the insects’ wings, the artist enjoys working with velvet to achieve the moths’ elegance and whimsy. It’s a challenging material because the pile can be unforgiving; make a mistake and the ghost of the stitch will remain as a mark on the fabric. Bernhardt stitches freehand when applying motifs to the wings, starting with a loose sketch but allowing intuition to guide her in creating star-like patterns and symbolic objects like vases or eyes.
Bernhardt also loves working with vintage needlepoints and old tapestries. “I find textile pieces in dusty corners of antique stores; I love these discoveries,” she says. “And I love giving them another chance to go back up on a wall and be admired again, cherished.”
The artist’s work is currently included in Daughters of Eve at Quirky Fox in Taranaki, New Zealand, and Beyond the Sea at Nanny Goat Gallery in Petaluma, California. In August, Bernhardt will be part of a show with Beinart Gallery in Melbourne, and she’s currently working toward a solo exhibition at Haven Gallery in Long Island, New York. Find more on her website and Instagram.
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Elodie Blanchard Revitalizes Fabric Scraps into Vivid Patchworks of Trees, Bouquets, and Goddesses
by Aurelia Butler 30 June 2025, 16:17
“Goddesses 11, 8, 9, 10.” Image © Randy Duchaine. All images courtesy of Elodie Blanchard, shared with permission
Elodie Blanchard Revitalizes Fabric Scraps into Vivid Patchworks of Trees, Bouquets, and Goddesses
June 30, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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The garments we wear often hold stories about our lives. A hole in the knee of a well-loved pair of jeans recalls hours spent bent down to tend to a vegetable garden, while a greasy oil stain condemns a T-shirt once worn to a family barbeque.
For Elodie Blanchard, textiles hold boundless narrative potential. Working with fabrics gathered from friends, stoops around her Brooklyn neighborhood, and secondhand shops, the French-American artist and designer stitches patchwork sculptures that transform materials otherwise destined for the landfill into vibrant forms. When searching for something more specific—say, Lycra, leather, or fur—the artist taps her friends in the industry and organizations like Materials for the Arts and FabScrap.
“Forest.” Image © Randy Duchaine
The resulting pieces take many shapes. There are Blanchard’s spindly trees that layer stripes of fabrics upward, creating visible rings encircling the trunk. Stretch is essential in these arboreal constructions, and the artist shares that she tends to alternate the amount of give a material has, allowing for small bulges and curves that resemble organic life.
For her sprawling bouquet series, Blanchard finds inspiration from Green-Wood Cemetery near her home. She scours the trash cans for polyester scraps, tattered flags, and other materials that once honored the dead. “Remembrance Happy Birthday,” for example, came to fruition after the artist found a balloon bearing those words.
Whether creating a figurative goddess or a three-dimensional vessel, the material guides the form. “It may look spontaneous, but I carefully consider color and pattern when sewing the strips together,” Blanchard says. “If I want to make a ‘fancy’ tree, I’ll seek out haute couture fabrics; if I’m creating a trophy urn meant to show excess, I’ll look for bright gold poly materials.” Whatever the form, though, Blanchard has a central goal: “Each time, I try to create a unique universe or personality.”
If you’re in New York, you can see some of Blanchard’s works in Soft Structures, on view through August 8 at Jane Lombard Gallery. She’s currently working toward an open studio and exhibition as part of New York’s Textile Month, and you can find more from the artist on her website and Instagram.
“Portraits,” installation view at SEEDS
“Remembrance Happy Birthday.” Image © Randy Duchaine
Detail of “Goddess 11”
“Urn VI” (2024), fabric, leather, Mylar balloon, 18 x 16 x 22 1/2 inches
“Bouquet 5.” Image © Paul Plews
“Bouquet 23”
Detail of “Remembrance Happy Birthday.” Image © Randy Duchaine
“Urn I Love You” (2025), fabric, leather, mylar balloon, 28 x 19 x 17 inches
“Remembrance Ninja Turtles.” Image © Randy Duchaine
Detail of “Remembrance Ninja Turtles.” Image © Randy Duchaine
Elodie Blanchard with trees (2022). Image © Randy Duchaine
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Explore Storytelling Through 300 Years of Quilts in ‘Fabric of a Nation’
by Aurelia Butler 25 June 2025, 18:38
Bisa Butler, “To God and Truth” (2019), print and resist-dyed cottons, cotton velvet, rayon satin, and knotted string, pieced, appliquéd, and quilted; 117 1/2 x 140 5/8 inches. Photos © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All images courtesy of Frist Art Museum, shared with permission
Explore Storytelling Through 300 Years of Quilts in ‘Fabric of a Nation’
June 25, 2025
ArtCraftHistory
Kate Mothes
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While we often associate quilts with their function as bedspreads or an enjoyable hobby, the roots of the craft run very deep. The art form has long been associated with storytelling, and numerous styles have enabled makers to share cultural symbols, memories, and autobiographical details through vibrant color and pattern.
African American quilters have significantly influenced the practice since the 17th century, when enslaved people began sewing scraps of fabric to make blankets for warmth. Through artists like Harriet Powers in the 19th century or the Gee’s Bend Quilters, this powerful mode of expression lives on in rich tapestries and textile works being made today.
Civil War Zouave Quilt (1863–64), wool plain weave and twill, cotton plain weave and other structures, leather; pieced, appliquéd, and embroidered with silk. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
A new exhibition titled Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston opens this week at the Frist Art Museum, surveying nearly 50 quilts from the MFA’s collection. Works span the 19th through 21st centuries, with bold textiles by contemporary artists like Bisa Butler included alongside Civil War-era examples and commemorative album quilts.
Stories play a starring role in Fabric of a Nation, which delves into the socio-political contexts in which the pieces were made and how narrative, symbolism, and autobiography shaped their compositions. For example, a unique Civil War quilt completed by an unknown maker in 1864 repurposes fabric from Zouave uniforms. Small panels featuring birds, soldiers on horseback, and the American flag transport us to a time when the U.S. had been at war for three years.
Another fascinating piece is another flag composition in which the stripes have been stitched with dozens of names, including Susan B. Anthony near the top of one of the central columns. Known as the “Hoosier Suffrage Quilt,” it’s thought to chronicle suffrage supporters.
More recently, Michael C. Thorpe’s untitled work features the bold appliquéd words “Black Man” over pieced batik fabrics. Butler’s large-scale “To God and Truth” is a colorful reimagining of an 1899 photograph. She transforms a black-and-white image into a vibrant, patterned portrait of the African American baseball team of Morris Brown College, Atlanta.
Fabric of a Nation opens on June 27 and continues through October 12 in Nashville. Find more and plan your visit on the museum’s website. You might also enjoy exploring more quilts by Black Southern makers or Stephen Townes’ embroidered tableaux of leisure in the Jim Crow South.
Michael C. Thorpe, Untitled (2020), printed cotton plain weave and batting; machine quilted, 20 x 16 inches
Hoosier Suffrage Quilt (before 1920), cotton plain weave, pieced, embroidered, and quilted. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Unidentified maker. Peacock Alley Chenille Bedspread (1930–40s), cotton plain weave, embroidered with cotton pile; 99 x 88 1/2 inches. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Baltimore album quilt (c. 1847–50), cotton plain weave, pieced, appliquéd, quilted, and embroidered ink. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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Guardians of Time and Transformation Commune in Jeanne Vicerial’s ‘Nymphose’
by Aurelia Butler 28 May 2025, 18:00
Installation view of ‘Jeanne Vicerial: Nymphose’ at TEMPLON, Beauborg. Photos by Laurent Edeline. All images courtesy of the artist and TEMPLON, Paris – Bruxelles – New
York, shared with permission
Guardians of Time and Transformation Commune in Jeanne Vicerial’s ‘Nymphose’
May 28, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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From lengths of black cord, thread, and fine metals, Jeanne Vicerial summons the ageless, transformative power of armor and protective garments in a new series of sculptures. Drawing on her body of work titled Armors, the artist continues to create enigmatic sculptures that question the nature of presence, consciousness, and change.
In the artist’s current solo exhibition, Nymphose, at TEMPLON, darkly mysterious figures stand in silent, contemplative observation. Some works, like “Persephone n°3” or “Présence, Amnios,” portray semblances of human faces, while others like “Mue n°9, Nymphose” may be inhabited by something more like a spirit or an otherworldly deity than a physical person.
“Présence, Amnios” (2025) ropes and thread, with copper and brass gilded with fine gold 110 1/4 x 43 1/4 x 27 1/2 inches
Vicerial has recently introduced metals like copper and gold into bodily cavities in her works, emphasizing feminine power and internal energy, which the gallery describes as “objects-as-offerings.” For the artist, these works center around the nature of metamorphosis, both in the process of translating a single length of rope into a fully-formed sculpture and in the biological and emotional ways that women transform over time.
Like her Armors, the figures in Nymphose possess individual strength that heightens when gathered together. Vicerial employs words like “Gardienne” in her titles, French for “guardian,” to imply protection. “Mue” translates to “molt,” like the way an animal might shed its feathers or skin to make room for new growth.
Delicate and soft, Vicerial’s figures are simultaneously tall, elegant, timeless sages. The artist positions their vulnerabilities as strengths, tapping into the societal taboo of women aging and the inevitable cycle of life.
Nymphose continues in Paris through July 19. Explore more on Vicerial’s website and Instagram.
“Nymphoses” (2023-2025), ropes and thread, 76 3/4 x 33 1/2 x 28 1/4 inches
“Mue n°9, Nymphose” (2024-2025) rope, thread, and copper and brass gilded with fine gold, 74 3/4 x 32 1/4 x 29 1/4 inches
“Trâmes, Ex voto” (2020-2024), rope, thread, and metal, 19 3/4 x 13 1/2 x 3 1/4 inches
“Gardienne n°4, Nymphose” (2025), bronze, rope, and thread, 70 3/4 x 21 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches
“Persephone n°3” (2025), bronze, rope, and thread, 17 3/4 x 14 1/4 x 8 3/4 inches
Detail of “Présence, Amnios”
“Sex voto orné n°9” (2024), rope and wire with handworked copper and brass prints, gilded with fine gold
“Mue n°10, Nymphose” (2024-2025), rope and thread, 68 1/2 x 39 1/4 x 39 1/4 inches
“Sex voto orné n°13” (2024), rope and wire with handworked copper and brass prints, gilded with fine gold
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Floral Quilted Portraits by Maria A. Guzmán Capron Cultivate Care and Love
by Aurelia Butler 14 May 2025, 18:53
Detail of “Otra Vez.” All images courtesy of Lyles & King, shared with permission
Floral Quilted Portraits by Maria A. Guzmán Capron Cultivate Care and Love
May 14, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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For thousands of years, flowers have been a rich source of symbolism. Dating back to the Ottomans, floriology, or the language of flowers, blossomed in the Victorian era when a bouquet functioned as a nonverbal code. The delicate sweetpea, for example, might have been given as a thank you to a particularly generous host, while buttercups would tell the recipient that the sender thought them childish and immature.
Maria A. Guzmán Capron (previously) references the timeless expressions of flowers for Solo Pienso en Volver a Verte, which opens this week at Lyles & King. Translating to “I only think about seeing you again,” the solo exhibition comprises the artist’s signature textile portraits of opulently patterned fabrics in a layered patchwork. Soft and plump with batting, the quilted characters are each unique, although Capron sometimes uses the same secondhand material on several pieces.
“Déjame Llevarte”
Encircled in hand-dyed fabrics, the figures in this body of work are often doubled or conjoined, as in the embracing women of “Otra Vez” or the two-faced subject of “Echa de Pedacitos.” Love, warmth, and protection feature prominently, as hands grasp for one another or emerge as a three-dimensional gesture. Capron envisions these layered, hybrid forms as a way to visualize the various identities, experiences, and memories within all of us.
The artist also stitches and screenprints a wide array of flowers on faces, garments, and throughout the lush surroundings. Sometimes abstract and often indeterminate, the blooms share stories and messages of desire that might be unspeakable or better communicated through a symbol of affection. Tending to love in all of its forms is the thread that runs through each work, as Capron welcomes us into a world in which compassion and care are the most beautiful gifts.
Solo Pienso en Volver a Verte runs through June 21 in New York. Find more from Capron on Instagram.
“Otra Vez”
“Echa de Pedacitos”
“Para Que Me Mires”
“Te Dejé Quererme”
Detail of “Y Comencé”
“También Allí”
“Algo Escondido”
Detail of “Otra Vez”
“Y Comencé”
Detail of “Te Dejé Quererme”
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Celeste’s Immersive Textile Installations Embrace the Warm Intimacy of Home
by Aurelia Butler 9 May 2025, 21:18
“Contra el miedo y la oscuridad, la fiesta colorida y feliz” (2024), pigments and acrylic base on dyed cotton canvas, 4.5 x 7.5 meters, installation view at Escuela Primaria Maestra Antonio Caso, Mexico City. Photo by Israel Esparza. All images courtesy of Celeste, shared with permission
Celeste’s Immersive Textile Installations Embrace the Warm Intimacy of Home
May 9, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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When María Fernanda Camarena and Gabriel Rosas Alemán aren’t in their Mexico City studio, you might find them pulling weeds or chopping vegetables. “We love cooking and gardening—practices rooted in care, and ones we’d love to weave into our work someday,” they say. “There’s a quiet mindfulness in both that aligns perfectly with what we aim to express.”
This desire to care roots much of the artists’ practice, which they present together under the name Celeste. Thinking of themselves as hosts, Celeste transforms galleries and museums with large-scale textile installations. In warm shades of pinks, oranges, and reds, the translucent cotton often allows light to filter through and cast tinted shadows around the space. Each work becomes a sort of mise-en-scène as viewers are invited to lounge with friends, enjoy a meal, or perform among the textiles.
Installation view of “Melons Covered in Willow Leaves” at the artists’ studio. Photo by Anna Pla Narbona
The earthy color palette—originally inspired by natural dyeing materials like avocado pit and turmeric root—began after the onset of COVID-19, when the artists wanted to create “an atmosphere that felt like an embrace, a much-needed warmth after the isolation of 2020,” they say. “This concept of solace stayed with us, and today, the palette has come to symbolize safe spaces, with the womb as a recurring motif: a protected, intimate interior.”
Projects include “Contra el miedo y la oscuridad, la fiesta colorida y feliz,” or “Against fear and darkness, the colorful and happy party,” made in collaboration with a 4th-grade class from Mexico City’s Granada neighborhood. After adding their own drawings to the cotton panels, the students used the vivid installation as the backdrop for a school festival.
The monumental “Melons Covered in Willow Leaves” is even more immersive, as viewers were invited to wander underneath a tent of draped fabric. And in their most recent exhibition at Rebecca Camacho Presents in San Francisco, the artists have installed a trio of suspended works that bisect the gallery, with arched openings that allow visitors to pass through. Referencing Diego Rivera’s “Agua, el origen de la vida” mural, the triad explores the connections between water and the impact of Mexico City’s colonial history on its landscape.
Later this month at The Bentway in Toronto, the pair will also present “Casting a Net, Casting a Spell,” a quilted canopy of 100 individual panels created as both a suncatcher and a necessary repreieve from the summer rays. It’s their largest project to date.
Installation view of Hacer brotar / To sprout at Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco. Photo by Robert Divers Herrick
With each work, Celeste hopes to “invite the spectator not only in the sense of contemplation but rather in the involvement with the ceremonial… In this setting, the sensorial and emotional realms are recognized as legitimate sources of knowledge and an experience of hospitality and acknowledgment can take place without restrictions.”
Celeste’s Hacer brotar / To sprout is on view through June 14 in San Francisco. Explore much more of the duo’s practice and process on their website and Instagram.
Detail of “¡Qué llueva, qué llueva!” (2025), pigments and acrylic base on dyed cotton canvas, 66 x 109 inches
Installation view of Hacer brotar / To sprout at Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco. Photo by Robert Divers Herrick
“Contra el miedo y la oscuridad, la fiesta colorida y feliz” (2024), pigments and acrylic base on dyed cotton canvas, 4.5 x 7.5 meters, installation view at Escuela Primaria Maestra Antonio Caso, Mexico City. Photo by Israel Esparza
“Hacer olas” (2023), pigments and acrylic base on dyed cotton canvas, 2.7 x .25 x 12 meters, installation view at The Contemporary Austin, Austin, Texas. Photo by Alex Boeschenstein
“Mellons Covered in Willow Leaves” 2024), scale model of the project in the artists’ studio
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