For centuries, the distinction between fine art and craft has shaped how we value creative work. Practices rooted in utility, domestic labor, and inherited tradition have often been separated from the realm of contemporary art. SoftEdges invites us to reconsider those boundaries.
Bringing together six regional women artists working across fiber, ceramics, basketry, broom-making, textiles,
embroidery, and natural materials, the exhibition celebrates artistic practices grounded in patience, skill, and material knowledge.
These artists embrace processes that are slow, tactile, and deeply connected to place—transforming traditional techniques into powerful forms of contemporary expression. Working with plant dyes, reclaimed textiles, clay, wool, broomcorn, hides, and locally harvested fibers, the artists reveal how materials carry memory, culture, and ecological relationships.
Their work reflects a shared commitment to sustainability, regional identity, and the preservation of knowledge passed from one generation to the next. Rather than looking backward through nostalgia, they reimagine these traditions as living practices capable of addressing urgent questions about labor, environmental stewardship,
community, and belonging.
The title SoftEdges speaks not only to the tactile qualities of many of the works, but also to the dissolving boundaries between art and craft, utility and sculpture, tradition and innovation. Here, softness becomes a space of resilience rather than fragility—a place where careful making offers an alternative to speed, consumption, and disposability.
Curated by Devan Horton, SoftEdges honors the enduring relevance of handwork while demonstrating that craft is not a peripheral tradition, but an evolving artistic language—one that connects us to history, to the natural world, and to one another.
