upcoming:

NEON AS SOULCRAFT

MUSEUM OF CRAFT AND DESIGN, SF
July 20th - November 24th 2024
An inquiry into the significance of manual trade skills and their impact on our connection to the material world. This exhibition focuses on neon bending for its embodied engagement and the diverse knowledge base demanded by this craft, spanning physics, chemistry, and spatial abilities. How does exposure to such skills among young adults nurture innovative approaches to sustainability, social responsibility, and creative problem-solving?
The exhibition showcases collaborative artworks crafted during three neon residencies held across the United States. Through a community-driven selection process, teaching artists were matched with emerging student artists in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Seattle. These residencies offer a platform for teaching artists to hone their pedagogy and for student artists to pursue their exploration of neon, answering to the scarcity of resources available for these synergistic learning environments in this trade.

Past shows:

Courtesy of artist, Angelina Almukhametova

First LIght: Rituals in Glass and Neon Art

December 2023 | Contemporary Jewish Museum, SF

explores mastery in craft as a devotional pursuit, presenting breathtaking artworks that connect both artists and viewers to spirituality, wonder, and universal questions of human existence. The exhibiting artists utilize both science and art as equally noble methods to explore the mysteries of the universe and its reflection in their consciousness. The artists gain an intimate understanding of light as a profound and transformative force. Experience awe, make spiritual connections, and discover the science and craft of neon and glass artwork.

December 2023 - April 2024

Redefining neon legacy

February 2023 | Museum of glass, tacoma

Featuring 9 artists from around the country comprised of historically under-represented communities in neon alongside the women who taught them. The exhibition explores how the evolution of teaching methodologies over the past two decades has affected neon as a process-driven fine art form.

february - October, 2023

january 2020 | Loveland Museum

Loveland Museum

We are so excited to have been invited be the Loveland Museum for a She Bends exhibition featuring a wide selection of She Bends artist both nationally & internationally. 12 artists traveled to the opening week to participate in live bending demos, an artist talk and a film screening featuring one of our She Bends members.

january 25 - May 24, 2020

image courtesy of CRU Creative — Courtesy of CRU Creative

November 2019 | San Francisco

Mission Pop Up

Our November San Francisco edition was a big success, highlighting select California She Bends artists and focusing on programming such as our salon dinner, neon demos, film screening, & panel talk.

We worked with amazing womxn across music, culinary, writing and craft industries and welcomed an electrified crowd night after night.

November 13 - 24, 2019

January 2019 | Milwaukee

Var West Gallery

23 artists exhibiting address a variety of topics from social constructs, language to current events. Glass tubes of pulsating electricity will be bent into abstract shapes, written phrases, or woven through a sculptural installation. Each bender transcends the tradition of the commercial neon sign while masterfully maintaining the delicate craft and science of neon, an art that dates back to the 1850s. The women of She Bends bring a resurgence to the medium while claiming a space for themselves and others in the trajectory and rich history of neon art.

January 19th - Feb 24th, 2019

April 2018 | San Francisco

The Midway Creative Complex

32 neon artists with over 75 works in their 2000 square foot space. Programming alongside the exhibition included bending demonstrations, on-site neon bending workshops, salon dinners and music events.

April - October 2018

September 2017 | Los Angeles

The Museum of Neon Art

She Bends: Women in Neon at the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale offers 29 women artists working in rich, glowing, lustrous colors, in abstract and figurative forms, in curves and lines and varying textures of light and types of gasses.

These are not mass produced works, nor are they devoted to the edification of an entity or business; rather the artists are working in a specific medium to create a diverse selection of artworks both ethereal and grounded. They come from the U.S. and from international locations such as Australia, Argentina, Japan, the U.K., and Germany.