Katrina Sánchez’s vibrant contemporary fiber sculpture hangs on the wall in the Art of the Ancient Americas gallery at Mint Museum Randolph.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | IMAGES AVAILABLE HERE
Charlotte, North Carolina (October 29, 2025) — The Mint Museum is proud to present Weaving Joy, Woven Resistance, a new installation by Charlotte-based artist Katrina Sánchez on view at Mint Museum Randolph. Weaving Joy, Woven Resistance is the latest installation in the Mint Museum’s ongoing Interventions series, which places contemporary works in dialogue with the museum’s permanent collection.
In a celebration of her Panamanian American heritage, Sánchez has created works that layer memory and identity into visually striking works of contemporary textile art. Using materials, including yarn, ribbons, beads, and fish scales in vibrant colors, she pays homage to the brilliant colors and textures she remembers from her childhood.
A series of wall weavings is also included in the installation. New to her practice, the weavings are created using a flatbed knitting machine—a tabletop device that merges knitting and weaving with more than 200 barbed needles guided by punch card patterns. Sánchez adapts this tool to reimagine grassroots political posters and workers’ rights flyers as woven fiber works. These weavings honor Panama’s long history of protest, shaped by ongoing negotiations of colonial and postcolonial power in a country deeply intertwined with the United States.
“Katrina’s work transforms traditional materials into vibrant expressions of identity and belonging,” says Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, chief curator and curator of Contemporary Art at The Mint Museum. “By weaving together elements of craft, memory, and resistance, she invites us to reflect on the threads that bind communities across generations.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Craft was a constant in Sánchez’s family life. Her great-grandmother was known for her prolific crocheting, which adorned every surface of her home. Annual visits to Panama reinforced these traditions, while the objects she brought back to North Carolina became cherished reminders of place, culture, and belonging.
In her current practice, Sánchez works with fiber to create soft sculpture and murals. By combining knit and woven patterns, she introduces vibrant color and rich textures into three-dimensional works while playing with scale to build a sensory effect of playful confrontation and power in her work.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in fiber, Sánchez is a member of the Goodyear Arts collective. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the VOLTA Art Fair in Basel, Switzerland, and in String Theory at Hodges Taylor x Jamila Brown in Charlotte. She has created commissioned works for Lowe’s, Credit Karma, Truist, and Ally Bank. In addition to her exhibition at The Mint Museum, she is preparing for a solo show at Abigail Ogilvy Gallery in Los Angeles.
ABOUT INTERVENTIONS
Designed to spark conversation between past and present, the Interventions series invites visitors to reconsider familiar objects through new cultural and personal perspectives—broadening the stories represented within the museum’s galleries.
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ABOUT THE MINT MUSEUM
Established in 1936 as north Carolina’s first art museum, The Mint Museum is a leading, innovative cultural institution and museum of international art and design. With two locations — Mint Museum Randolph in the heart of Eastover and Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts — the Mint boasts one of the largest collections in the Southeast and is committed to engaging and inspiring members of the global community.
For more information, please contact:
Michele Huggins, associate director of marketing and communications
michele.huggins@mintmuseum.org | 704.564.0826
Clayton Sealey, senior director of marketing and communications
clayton.sealey@mintmuseum.org | 704.534.0186