pacita abad retrospective sfmoma walker

Pacita Abad, a Filipino artist who fled political persecution in 1970 and went on to create over 5,000 works, is finally receiving her first career retrospective. Organized by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the exhibition is now on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), featuring roughly 40 pieces that showcase her vibrant trapunto paintings—quilted canvases embellished with materials like buttons, beads, and shells. The show will travel to MoMA PS1 in New York and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto next year.

Brushstrokes Transform into Beaded Topographies in Liza Lou’s Mixed-Media Paintings

Artist Liza Lou is presenting a new body of work that merges the legacy of Abstract Expressionist brushstrokes with intricate beadwork. Her solo exhibition, 'FAQ,' at Thaddaeus Ropac in London features mixed-media paintings where thousands of glass beads are meticulously placed atop fields of oil paint, creating textured, chromatic topographies that transform gestural marks into sculptural forms.

'It was my job to create the view': US artist Liza Lou on making colourful works in her windowless warehouse

American artist Liza Lou discusses her recent shift in practice, moving from her famous large-scale bead installations to a new body of work that fuses oil painting with glass beads. After years of collaborative work in South Africa and focusing on monochrome tones, Lou has returned to a solitary studio practice in a windowless warehouse in the San Fernando Valley. This new phase is defined by a "headlong love affair with colour," inspired by the hallucinatory palette of the Mojave Desert and a transition from logical drawing to a more intuitive, freestyle process.

‘There’s a bead connection to every place’: Wendy Red Star on exploring the real and symbolic currency of beads

Artist Wendy Red Star has launched a site-specific solo exhibition titled 'One Blue Bead' at Sargent’s Daughters in Tribeca, exploring the historical and symbolic weight of trade beads. The exhibition transforms the gallery into a simulated trading floor featuring monumental glass beads, over 100 watercolors, and Hudson’s Bay point blankets. The project originated from the artist's residencies at the Pilchuck School of Glass and the Tacoma Museum of Glass, where she researched the global circulation of glass beads from Europe to Africa and the Americas.

Denver Art Museum digs into its closet for fun fashion show

The Denver Art Museum has unveiled "Conversation Pieces: Stories from the Fashion Archives," an exhibition composed entirely of works from its permanent collection. Featuring approximately 60 mannequins, the show highlights high-fashion garments from the past century, many of which have never been publicly displayed. The curation includes iconic pieces by legendary designers such as Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Elsa Schiaparelli, alongside contemporary works by Alexander McQueen and Carla Fernández.

Exhibition Opening | Rina Banerjee: Take me, take me, take me . . . to the Palace of love at the Yale Center for British Art

The Yale Center for British Art is set to debut its 2023 acquisition, Rina Banerjee’s monumental sculpture "Take me, take me, take me . . . to the Palace of love," in a dedicated exhibition running from February to July 2026. The work is a translucent, pink cellophane reimagining of the Taj Mahal, suspended from the ceiling and filled with a mix of colonial relics and mass-produced consumer goods like plastic beads and foam balls.

Semiprecious Stones Coat Kathleen Ryan’s Oversized Sculptures of Rotting Food

Artist Kathleen Ryan creates large-scale sculptures of rotting fruit and food items, meticulously covering them with thousands of semiprecious stones and beads to mimic the textures and colors of mold and decay. Works like "Bad Lemon (Slice of Paradise)" and "Screwdriver" juxtapose luxurious materials like amethyst, turquoise, and serpentine with salvaged metal from vintage cars, creating a dual personality of hidden beauty and grotesque rot.

Jean-Michel Othoniel Opens His Paris Studio Ahead of a Citywide Exhibition in Avignon, France

French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel is preparing for his most ambitious project yet, a citywide exhibition titled "Othoniel Cosmos or the Ghosts of Love" in Avignon, France, opening June 28, 2025. The exhibition will feature some 250 works—including sculptures made of glass bricks and beads, plus paintings—displayed across ten museums and historical sites, including the Palais des Papes, Pont d’Avignon, Couvent Sainte-Claire, and the Lambert Collection. The project celebrates the 25th anniversary of Avignon being named a European Capital of Culture. Othoniel's Paris studio, a 40,000-square-foot former metal workshop in Montreuil that he shares with partner and artist Johan Creten, serves as the production hub for the works, with a team of 20 people on-site daily.

“So Fun! An Exploration of Maximalism” opens at Vision Gallery

“So Fun! An Exploration of Maximalism” opens at Vision Gallery in Chandler, Arizona, from August 23 to November 2, 2025. The group exhibition features five artists—including Lex Gjurasic, Sarah Hurwitz, and Sofie Ramos—who use plush emoji bean bags, flowers, Perler beads, and other media to create sculptures, drawings, paintings, and site-specific installations that celebrate the aesthetic of excess. Curated by Hanley Ange, the show counters Minimalist traditions and embraces color, pattern, and repetition to foster storytelling, self-expression, and empowerment.

At Kohei Nawa’s studio, the world is seen through glass bubbles

Japanese sculptor Kohei Nawa has launched his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles at Pace Gallery, titled "Photon Camp." The show features 20 new works from his renowned "PixCell" and "Prism" series, which utilize glass beads and light refraction to transform everyday objects—ranging from taxidermied animals to consumer electronics—into pixelated, magnified sculptures. The artist operates out of Sandwich, a sprawling Kyoto-based creative hub housed in a former sandwich factory that employs a team of 50 across art, design, and architecture.

Artist Tiff Massey's "Baby Bling" exhibit to become permanent collection at Detroit Institute of Arts

Detroit-based artist Tiff Massey's artwork "Baby Bling" (2023) has been acquired as a permanent collection piece by the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), following the success of her temporary exhibition "7 Mile + Livernois." The sculpture, made from steel beads, woven rope, and brass, reimagines childhood hair accessories known as "bobos" worn by Black women and girls, celebrating Black hair culture and identity. Massey, the youngest artist to have a solo exhibition at the DIA, saw her "7 Mile + Livernois" show attract over 220,000 visitors from May 2024 through May 2025. "Baby Bling" will be installed in the museum's newly reimagined Modern and Contemporary wing when it reopens in 2026.

In a new exhibition, Turkey displays the success of its heavyweight heritage drive

Turkey has opened a new exhibition titled "The Golden Age of Archaeology" at a national library in Ankara, showcasing 570 ancient artifacts—most unearthed in the past two years and displayed for the first time. Highlights include 11,500-year-old Neolithic vessels, a Bronze Age tablet revealing a previously unknown language (Kalasma), and a repatriated bronze statue of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, which was smuggled out of Turkey in the 1960s and recently returned from the Cleveland Museum of Art after a legal battle. The exhibition is part of the government's Heritage for the Future project, which spends around $150 million annually on excavations, visitor centers, and museums, with active digs rising to about 800.

FORGING PATHS: AFRO-BRAZILIAN ANCESTRY AND FEMININE POWER IN THE WORK OF NÁDIA TAQUARY

FORJAR CAMINOS: ANCESTRALIDAD AFROBRASILEÑA Y PODER FEMENINO EN LA OBRA DE NÁDIA TAQUARY

The exhibition "Ònà Irin: caminho de ferro" by artist Nádia Taquary has opened at Sesc Belenzinho in São Paulo, featuring large-scale sculptures and an immersive video installation. Curated by Amanda Bonan, Ayrson Heráclito, and Marcelo Campos, the show centers on a massive installation of iron rails that symbolize the Yoruba deity Ogum, the opener of paths. The works integrate traditional Afro-Brazilian materials such as cowrie shells, beads, and metals to explore spiritual protection and the historical significance of jewelry as a form of resistance and identity for enslaved and freed Black women.

Katara hosts exhibition on Compositions of Art

The Cultural Village Foundation (Katara) in Doha, Qatar, opened an exhibition titled "Compositions from the Spirit of Art" by Qatari visual artist Dania Tariq, running until next Monday. The show features 34 artworks across four collections that explore human and national identity, geometric abstraction, and color harmony, using mixed media such as plaster, fabric, "sadu" weaving, burlap, metals, and beads. Tariq, who is hearing-impaired, transforms silence into a vibrant visual language, blending visual art with musical sensation.

Iowa Art Quilters Association and Fiber Artists exhibit opens May 1

The Fairfield Art Association is opening a new exhibition titled "Iowa Art Quilters and Fiber Artists" on May 1st at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center. The show features eight recognized Iowa artists—Karen Anne Babcock Grimes, Sue Kluber, Judy Ludwick, Wendy Read, Barbara Riggs, Kathryn Roe, Jean Taft, and Patricia Weber—displaying up to 50 original art quilt works in various sizes and styles, many of which are available for purchase. A reception for the artists and guests will be held from 6 to 9 p.m.

Printmaking exhibition opens at UOG

The University of Guam Isla Center for the Arts has opened a new exhibition titled "Island Voices: UOG Alumni & Student Printmaking Exhibition & Paper Boats Project Portfolio," featuring over 180 works created by students, alumni, and faculty. The show includes a variety of printmaking techniques such as linocut, woodcut, screen print, intaglio, lithography, monotype prints, and monodrawings, alongside two video works. The second half of the exhibit, the Paper Boats Project Portfolio, includes contributions from artists across North America, Europe, China, and Guam, exploring the theme of water through printmaking. The exhibition runs through Nov. 28.

Karin Skiba’s 50-Year Retrospective at the Hi-Desert Artists Gallery holds opening reception tonight (5/17)

Karin Skiba's 50-year retrospective, titled "Tapestries, Paper, and Paint," opens May 17 at the Hi-Desert Artists Gallery in Yucca Valley during the Yucca Valley Artwalk. The exhibition runs through June 16 and features large-scale collages of Detroit's decaying architecture, fictional portraits of women, and works layered with beads and symbolic feathers. Skiba, who spent over 20 years teaching in the community college system and helped establish the gallery at Norco College, describes art-making as integral to her identity.