It is with hope, gratitude, friendship and joy that sitting with Mari in Texas last month, we came up with the notion of rekindling the idea of crafting a show for the embroidery workshops we created back in 2018.

We know times have been extremely difficult for everyone, perhaps more for some than others; I hope that you, everyone, your friends and all your loved ones are well.  What world we've been forced into, what world we have shaped and molded in recent times huh? What life we are living...

The show is planned for April 2022.  Hopefully we will feel different and more comfortable to be in the company of others by then.  But the way things are going, chances are we might be in a similar state even then.  Rest assured that for the show, we will make sure to follow all needed precautions to ensure everyone's safety and well being.

Thread in Motion will take place at the East Village Art View, an artist run space founded by artist friend Julia Justo.  "It is an inclusive exhibition space in a NYC apartment.  It uses the traditional format of a gallery setting to mitigate and confront systemic problems of exclusiveness in the arts.  It seeks to provide a platform for presentation of projects by overlooked and marginalized communities as well as to create dialogue between artists and audiences on a global stage."

East Village Art View / fb: @EastVillageArtView

Everyone who participated in the workshops is invited to be a part of this show; I also plan to invite the artists that shared the love for what they do and their skills with us.

May you and your loved ones be out of harm's way always.  I look forward to seeing everyone.  I feel and know it will be a beautiful gathering of family and friends.

Until then, please take care and be well.  — Blanka

pre-COVID-19: from benches within a cramped yet welcoming Soho community garden space where strangers practiced tai chi to lounging along the spacious steps inside the new-ish mid-town NYC library across the street from MoMA and then deep into a rapidly gentrifying area Brooklyn, an artist studio somewhere inside a Bushwick warehouse, such were a few of the intimate locales where we gathered once a week, as Thread In Motion, to learn various techniques of embroidery and to practice and support one another in artistic community.

each site served as a workshop where a guest artist introduced different kinds of stitches and helped us learn their use.  and we practiced, both during the workshop and while sitting at home.  it was inspiring, engaging, and a joy to create several embroidered ‘pieces’ in community with the workshop participants and guest artists: over stitching lessons and informal group check-ins, we connected and shared vulnerability with each other.   we threaded needles, sometimes accidentally stabbed fingers and thumbs, in and out of re-cycled fabric, old photos, and tattered clothes and witnessed the collective magic of embroidered corazones, abstract shapes, and words explode and dance in vibrant color and motion.

a sincere thank you to all of the workshop participants for being friendly, kind and inspiring; to the guest artists for your time, labor, & creativity; and for all of the behind the scenes support and labor that went into making all of this possible.

— rene valdez

My abuelita Aurora taught me how to embroider when I was ten.  The workshops were designed to share what threading thread was all about and how this simple gesture greatly inspires.  Once you learn to use thread and needle as drawing tools, the marveling of creating shapes and forms through embroidery never leaves you.

Thanks to everyone who participated and trusted this idea when it was still possible to truly share, walk together and assemble in public and private spaces safely... may we soon return to similar ways...

— Blanka Amezkua

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This exhibition is made possible by the kindness and support of East Village Art View, artist Julia Justo and the generosity of family/friends in Walnut Creek, CA.
East Village Art View is a wheelchair accessible space.

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