Exhibitions
Textile-based art and artwork responsive to social change are gaining prominence across the region and the country. To reflect this confluence, Tacoma Art Museum is proud to present the work of 21 artists in Soft Power, featuring more than 40 textile-based works on view from October 14, 2023, through September 1, 2024.
Soft Power draws its name and inspiration from Joseph Nye’s theory of cultural heritage as a form of non-coercive power. Using traditional processes to create contemporary declarations of resistance, resilience, love, and rebuke, this work explores the dynamic contrast between soft materials and so-called “hard” ideas. This engaging and provocative exhibition explores cultural stereotypes, humanity’s impact on the environment, and healthcare access.
The artists on view express themselves in forms as varied as their ideas: A quilted call to action, meticulously knit abstraction, woven cenotaphs, a stuffed and stitched creature, a scattered gathering of embroidered ephemera.
“The energy created by the collision of material and immaterial elements amplifies the intention of the work. With stitches, purls, and pleats, these artists are creating an urgent and vital material language.”
– Ellen Ito, Curator
Soft Power is funded, in part, by Tacoma Creates, Propel Insurance and the Guendolen Carkeek Plestcheeff Endowment. With generous support from Ann Gosch.