TULSA, Okla. –<\/p>\n
Tulsa textile artist Alex Crain-Hayes will debut a new wearable art installation this month that explores themes of vulnerability, protection and Black femme identity through crochet and sculptural fashion design.<\/p>\n
The exhibition, titled Soft Armor: A Woven Sanctuary for Black Femme Strength, will premiere Sunday, May 24, at the Tandy Garden inside the Tulsa City-County Library downtown.<\/p>\n
The project features 13 handcrafted crochet garments presented through a runway-style installation designed to immerse audiences in themes of softness, sensuality and resistance. Organizers say the exhibition combines slow fashion, fiber art and performance to challenge ideas surrounding vulnerability and strength.<\/p>\n
Each piece in the collection was constructed over several weeks using layered textures and open stitchwork intended to reflect both exposure and protection. According to the artist, the exhibition asks what it means to embrace softness as a deliberate and radical form of self-defense.<\/p>\n
Crain-Hayes is the founder of Crochet Haus, a Tulsa-based creative practice focused on handmade garments and textile sculpture. Originally from Chicago, she relocated to Tulsa in 2021 through the Tulsa Remote program and became involved in the city\u2019s fashion and arts communities as a model before transitioning into garment design.<\/p>\n
After teaching herself crochet in 2022, Crain-Hayes began creating original pieces that blend fashion, performance and storytelling. Her work has since appeared in multiple Tulsa arts and fashion events, including productions with Living Arts of Tulsa and the Oklahoma Fashion Alliance.<\/p>\n
Organizers describe \u201cSoft Armor\u201d as Crain-Hayes\u2019 most ambitious work to date and say the collection reflects a commitment to hand-crafted artistry, tactile design and the traditions of fiber arts as tools for transformation and cultural expression.<\/p>\n
The exhibition is supported through Thrive Grants, an initiative of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition in partnership with the The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.<\/p>\n
Preview events connected to the exhibition are scheduled during Tulsa\u2019s First Friday Art Crawl on May 1 at 108 Contemporary and during a creative community mixer May 3 at LaFortune Studio inside the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n
The May 24 unveiling will include a VIP social hour at 5:30 p.m., general admission at 6:30 p.m. and the runway presentation beginning at 7 p.m. Additional information and tickets are available through Soft Armor Event Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TULSA, Okla. – Tulsa textile artist Alex Crain-Hayes will debut a new wearable art installation this month that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-653907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}