SFMOMA to Open Exhibition of New Work by Sheila Hicks
Featuring Installations of Fiber and an Outdoor Commission
August 9, 2025–August 9, 2026
Sheila Hicks’s first solo exhibition at SFMOMA features a site-specific installation in the museum’s New Work gallery. In this presentation, bundled, shaped and coiled threads reach into space, interacting with light and the surrounding architecture. Based in her historic Paris studio since 1964, Hicks draws inspiration from objects, textures and patterns from places with personal significance to her—the cobblestones of her courtyard or the stoic lighthouses of the rocky island of Ouessant (Ushant), in Brittany, France with its treacherous seas and rugged landscape.
For this exhibition, Hicks brings together new and repurposed elements from past and recent works. A towering suspension of tumbling cords anchors the gallery and recalls a soaring phare (lighthouse). The artist’s orbiting comets with vivid intersecting and multilayered lines evoke topographical terrains; panels composed of hand-inserted linen conjure perpetually moving clouds; and a selection of small works reveal ongoing discoveries. Reconfigured installations of the artist’s signature wrapped bâtons, which she also calls “talking sticks,” and mounds of tufted fiber in vibrant colors demonstrate Hicks’ propensity to continually evolve materials and forms in a process she describes as “walking the tightrope into the future.”
The exhibition continues with an expansive outdoor commission in the museum’s Jean and James Douglas Sculpture Garden on Floor 5 that brings surprising discoveries with changes of light and weather.
WHERE:
Floors 4 and 5
SFMOMA, 151 Third Street, San Francisco, CA
HOW:
Reserve tickets online at tickets.sfmoma.org. Guests 18 and younger always enjoy free admission to the museum. Current visitor information can be found at sfmoma.org/visit. SFMOMA members enjoy free admission. Visit sfmoma.org/membership for more details.
New Work: Sheila Hicks—Walking a Tightrope into The Future, a limited-edition book published by Colpa Press, San Francisco will be released in fall 2025.
ABOUT SHEILA HICKS:
Since the 1950s, Sheila Hicks (born 1934, Hastings, Nebraska) has created groundbreaking works that redefine the expressive possibilities of fiber as a sculptural medium. Based in Paris since 1964, she incorporates natural and synthetic materials at a range of scales, from intimate weavings made on handheld frames to monumental installations that integrate with architecture. She earned her BFA and MFA from Yale University and received a Fulbright scholarship in 1957–58 to Chile where her interest in working with fiber flourished. She has founded workshops around the globe and has featured in major international exhibitions including the 2014 Whitney Biennial and 2017 Venice Biennial. Recent retrospectives were organized by the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018), The Hepworth Wakefield, UK (2022) and the Josef Albers Museum, Quadrat Bottrop with Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany (2024). In 2022, Hicks was awarded the title of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in France and in 2023 she received a U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts.
ABOUT SFMOMA’s NEW WORK EXHIBITION SERIES:
Since 1987, SFMOMA’s New Work series has provided a platform for artists to experiment with a new idea or body of work. The series focuses on the innovative visions of living artists and has played a key role in shaping the breadth and character of the museum’s collection and programming.
Image details: Sheila Hicks, Rempart, 2016; private collection; © Sheila Hicks, courtesy the artist and galerie frank elbaz, Paris; photo: Oliver Roura
Lead support for New Work: Sheila Hicks is provided by Penny S. and James G. Coulter and Randi and Bob Fisher. Major support is provided by Katie and Matt Paige. Significant support is provided by Robin Wright and Ian Reeves. Meaningful support is provided by Alka and Ravin Agrawal, Dolly and George Chammas, Jonathan Gans and Abigail Turin, and Adriane Iann and Christian Stolz