Diedrick Brackens

Experience Diedrick Brackens’s exhibition in a new way—as musician Willie Alexander III performs an intimate solo set of voice and piano among Diedrick’s woven artworks. A multi-genre composer and performer, Alexander has collaborated with artists including Kanye West, Vanessa Beecroft, and Alicia Keys, bridging experimental and popular forms. The free show starts at 6p on Wed. May 20, as part of Free Wednesdays at YBCA. Come for the art, stay for the music, and don’t forget to stop by the bar. “Little Prayer” written by Danez Smith.

Meet our Jurors for Introductions 2026 👋 Diedrick Brackens, Artist @deedsweaves // Diedrick Brackens is an acclaimed textile artist whose intricate hand-dyed cotton weavings are held in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum, The Met, and LACMA. Based in San Francisco, his MFA-backed practice has garnered prestigious honors including the United States Artists Fellowship and the Joyce Alexander Wein Prize. With major solo exhibitions spanning from the New Museum to international stages like the Kestner Gesellschaft, Brackens continues to redefine contemporary craft through narratives of identity and history. His solo exhibition gather tender night is currently on view @ybca . Candace Huey, Curator and Founder, @re.riddle // Art historian and curator Candace Huey is the owner of San Francisco’s re.riddle gallery and Head Curator at Edge on the Square. With degrees from The Courtauld and UC Berkeley, she is on the SECA Council at SFMOMA and the San Francisco Art Dealers Association. Her work continues to shape the contemporary landscape through international exhibitions and local advocacy. Harriet Salmon, Director, Art Partnerships, @CreativityExplored // Harriet Salmon is an MFA graduate of Yale University whose sculpture is held in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A former Artforum photo director and MacDowell Colony and Socrates Sculpture Park EAF resident, she has built an influential career as both a practitioner and advocate, exhibiting at prestigious New York venues like Postmasters Gallery and Klaus von Nichtssagenden Gallery. She currently leverages her extensive expertise as the Director of Art Partnerships for Creativity Explored, while bridging the gap between industry and artistry as the creator of the Craftsmanship Podcast. 👉𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟴 Apply today. Deadline is approaching fast. Link in bio.

Seen in Hyperallergic: “Diedrick Brackens: gather tender night” is a “homecoming exhibition (which) unfolds as a meditation on personal memory, myth, and the natural world.” In the review, Natasha Boas says “Brackens constructs stories, illustrated and embedded in the medium itself…and past traditions are reworked through the present and projected toward imagined futures.” Read the full article and then spend time with these works in person Wed from 11a–8p or Thu–Sun from 11a–5p. Photos by Natasha Boas, Charlie Villyard, and Mahelly Ferreira for Drew Altizer Photography.

Performing at @ybca May 20th at 6pm free to the public with rsvp

Opening tonight Everybody’s a stranger until they’re your friend a fundraiser for our dear friend Tosha Stimage Alicia McCarthy Angela Hennessy Ben Quinn Chris Martin Christopher Duncan Robin Diedrick Brackens Dionne Lee Esteban Samayoa Kalani Cecaci Kico Le Strange Leah Rosenberg Luis Pinto Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo Muzae Sesay Nicole Shaffer Pedro Fequiere Sahar Khoury Soleé Darrell Wardell McNeal Zachary Hart Baker Opening Reception April 18th, 2026 at 6pm On view until May 31, 2026 pt.2 1523b Webster St. Oakland, CA 94612 Pictured above: Diedrick Brackens invocation blue 6 color screenprint with nylon flocking 31.5 x 35 inches 2025 This is a limited edition of 38, with each piece signed, dated and numbered. To learn more contact [email protected] @deedsweaves #diedrickbrackens #pt2gallery

✨Call for submissions✨ INTRODUCTIONS 2026 Root Division invites Bay Area artists working in all genres to submit work for INTRODUCTIONS 2026, our annual juried exhibition. JURORS: Candace Huey, Curator and Founder, @re.riddle Diedrick Brackens, Artist @deedsweaves Harriet Salmon, Director, Art Partnerships, @CreativityExplored Exhibition Dates: August 5-September 19, 2026 Artist Reception: September 12, 2026 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟴 Applications are now open. Apply in our link in bio.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the opening celebration for “Diedrick Brackens: gather tender night” and “Conjuring Power: Roots & Futures of Queer & Trans Movements.” It was an incredible night filled with dazzling art, gorgeous energy, and our vibrant Bay Area community. If you missed the opening, the exhibitions are now on view during our regular gallery hours Wednesday–Saturday. Please note that we’ll be closed next week for a private event starting Sunday 3/22, so plan your visit soon! Photos by Mahelly Ferreira for Drew Altizer Photography.

This Friday, March 13 from 6–9 PM, celebrate the opening of two remarkable new exhibitions, “Conjuring Power: Roots & Futures of Queer & Trans Movements” and “Diedrick Brackens: gather tender night.” “Conjuring Power” explores how queer and trans communities harness creativity to build culture, sustain one another, and strengthen movements across generations. Diedrick Brackens's first Bay Area solo show features new and recent woven artworks, at times monumental in scale. Be the first to see the new shows, and dance to sets from La Femme Papi and Juanita MORE! Image credits: Sofía Fabio Mendieta, “Trans Tonantzin/ Trans ppl are Divine.” Courtesy of Katie Gilmartin, Queer Ancestors Project Archives. Diedrick Brackens, “soft, dark, demigod,” 2021. Courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

Opening March 13, 2026, “Diedrick Brackens: gather tender night” will be the artist’s first solo exhibition in the Bay Area. The exhibition will feature fifteen tapestries created since 2020, including three new works that consider tenderness, migration, and connections with the natural world. Executed on the loom in hand-dyed, cotton fiber and acrylic yarn, Brackens's works convey a masterful and meditative process of physical discovery and storytelling. “gather tender night” is organized by guest curator Eungie Joo. Tap the link in our bio to learn more about the exhibition, Brackens’s work, and RSVP for the free opening night celebration on Friday March 13, featuring music by DJs La Femme Papi and Juanita MORE! Image credits: Diedrick Brackens. “commitments,” 2025. Diedrick Brackens. “soft, dark, demigod,” 2021. Diedrick Brackens. “undergrowth, understory,” 2025. All work © Diedrick Brackens. Courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

Im so heartbroken that my alma mater CCA is closing in 2027. It has been one of the greatest privileges of my life to teach and work at CCA these past two years. Im grieving for the Bay Area and arts education at large.

blessed are the mosquitoes, 2020 Remember when IG was just photos?

Hard to pin down what 2025 was, but it was full of friends and family. It was a year of letting y’all see the hot girl behind the glasses. A year I let the veil between personal and professional slip thanks to the encouragement of my dear @olu.seye 💞. It brought tremendous change; moving my whole life to SF, stepping into new challenges in my academic career, growing into a life beyond art, etc. What’s next?