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“Thread Count,” a textile artwork exhibit, was on display at The Hole in New York City, N.Y., celebrating artists’ attention to detail in creating multimedia pieces with different surfaces, textures, dyes and other complexities.
Curated by Charlotte Grüssing, the exhibit’s name was inspired by the thread count of bedsheets, serving as “a reminder of how inadequate such quality measurements are for describing the complexity of textile work,” according to a press release.
The exhibit, which ran from Nov. 20, 2025, to Jan. 11, 2026, honored Anni Albers (1899–1994), an influential 20th-century textile artist whose 1965 book On Weaving remains the primary manifesto of the field.
The artists’ works were made from materials such as linen, ropes and cords, cotton, nylon, wool, polyester, upcycled and recycled jeans/denim, silk and discarded clothing, with mediums ranging from abstract sculptures to mixed-media paintings.
Homeland Reimagined, by Vietnamese American artist Kenny Nguyen, features the artist’s favorite material—silk, which pays homage to his heritage. “For me, silk has become the connector tying both cultures together,” he says on his website.
The mixed-media painting measures 12.5 by 8.5 feet and is made of multicolored hand-cut silk fabric pieces that are dipped in acrylic paint and affixed to a canvas.
Textile Score by Desire Moheb-Zandi features a woven mix of linen, Lurex®, rope cord, cotton, nylon, wool, thread, PVC and wood. Her artwork includes natural fibers and upcycled yarns that create abstract, visually striking projects that “explore identity, memory and cultural heritage,” Moheb-Zandi says on her website.
Malaysian artist Anne Samat uses Pua Kumbu weaving, a technique from Southeast Asia, and incorporates materials that she collects from dollar stores. In Kalambi 4 (A), 2024, she included hand-painted rattan sticks, recycled and upcycled jeans/denim, a wooden horse harness, multiple types of yarn, washers, wooden beads, and metal and plastic ornaments.
Jacqueline Surdell’s artwork features knotted layers and dramatic draping and is inspired by her experience growing up in Chicago, Ill. “I developed a practice where art and craft, life and work, body and labor, industry and artistic vision, live in unity,” says Surdell on her website.
Constellation Of Bridges, 2025, is made of nylon cord, cotton cord, polyester fabric and steel, creating a constellation held together by a single thread.
The Hole is a contemporary art gallery that opened in 2010, with locations in New York City, N.Y., and Los Angeles, Calif. The gallery presents monthly solo and group exhibitions and represents 25 artists from the U.S. and abroad.