Events

SMS: Semantic Textiles= Short message service. Forget small talk. Get straight to the point. With soft and familiar fibers, the messages are more digestible. As text messaging, tweets, and memes have become an increasingly pervasive method of communication, written language has transformed into increasingly abbreviated and ephemeral elocutions. Succinct proclamations can be read on protest signs at demonstrations. In a chorus of voices and short attention spans, brevity is compulsory. Some things just need to be said. Consequently, text has replaced imagery as a central subject for an accumulating number of Contemporary artists, hand-crafted for perpetuity. The variability of voices range from cynical and humorous quips to poetic and layered prose, celebrating text as enigmatic metaphors, representing a moment in flux. These are the textures of resistance.

This exhibition of textiles explores how communication and language have transformed into increasingly abbreviated and ephemeral elocutions mediated by social media, lost into an endless data stream.

Exhibition Events

Opening Reception will be held on Friday July 26 2024, click here to register.

About the Artist

Lisa Rockford (she/they), founder of Rockford Projects, is an independent curator, artist, and educator with a definitive interest in contemporary, interdisciplinary approaches, new media, and the re-invention of traditional media and techniques. She thoughtfully stages innovative artworks in thematic exhibitions that will spark dialogue, and act as catalysts for cultural exchange. Known to be a passionate arts advocate, working to offer more exhibition opportunities to underrepresented artists, she has organized multi-disciplinary exhibitions, public lectures, artist workshops, and interactive experiences, designed to be accessible to a broad audience. In 2013, she was dubbed a "Rising Star" in Gold Coast Magazine’s article, “40 under 40,” and named a “Change Agent” in local press for her community building art events. As an independent curator, and founder of Rockford Projects, she has working relationships with over 400 artists and has curated 23 exhibitions. Lisa born in Texas and raised in South Florida, before earning her BFA from Bowling Green State University in 1999, and MFA in 2001 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2007, after returning to South Florida, Lisa was among the first to be selected for a residency at Sailboat Bend Artist Lofts in Fort Lauderdale.

Exhibition artwork features the following artists: