GWEN TRIAY SAMUELS

Albuquerque, New Mexico

www.triayarts.com/triayarts@gmail.com

VISUAL ART EXHIBITION VENUES: 

Community Art Gallery, Truth. Memory. Joy Resistance: Black Expressions in NewMexico, Santa Fe, NM; Served on Artist Panel “Archiving Black Expression Across Mediums”, 2026.

Unitarian Universalist Church, Earth Web and Black History Month Art Exhibit, Albuquerque, NM; 2025/2026.

NM State Fair, Alice K. Hoppes African American Art Pavilion, Albuquerque; 2016-2025.

Fusion Art Gallery, Protest!, Albuquerque; 2024.

City Gallery, Celebrating Black Mermaids: From Africa To America, Charleston, South Carolina; 2023.

Sumter County Gallery of Art, All That We Carry, Sumter, SC; 2022.

NM Cancer Center, Gallery with A Cause, Anniversary Exhibition #1, Albuquerque; 2022.

African American Fiber Arts Festival, Black Gold and Sankofa, North Charleston, SC; 2019/2021.

Textile Center/Women of Color Quilters Network, We Are the Story, Minneapolis, MN; 2020-21.

NM Humanities Council, 400 Years (1619-2019)/Matters of the Heart: Black Art Speaks, Albuquerque; 2019/2020.

NM Cancer Center, Gallery with A Cause, The Art of Healing, Albuquerque; 2018/2020.

African American Performing Arts Center, Re-Emergence and Benin to Juneteenth, Albuquerque; 2016/2017.

Mancuso Quilt Festival of New Jersey, Somerset, New Jersey; 2013.

Rahway Savings Institution, RSI Annual Artists’ Contest, Renaissance, Rebirth, Revival, Rahway, NJ; 2012/2013.

The New Jersey Medical School, Fall Arts Festival: Art, Medicine and Life, Newark, NJ; 2009/2012.

Barronfest, Fine Arts and Crafts FestivalM Woodbridge, NJ; 2011.

 PUBLICATIONS (BY AND ABOUT):

The Fabric of Service, article on my project serving the homeless of Albuquerque, Fiber Art Now Magazine; Winter 2023.

Brookgreen 101, a book by Robin R. Salmon, Curator of Brookgreen Gardens, Pawley’s Island, SC, in which one of my quilts appears; Class Publishing; 2022.

We Are the Story: A Visual Response to Racism, a book by Carolyn Mazloomi, Founder, Women of Color Quilters Network, with The Textile Center (Minneapolis) documenting the exhibition of the same name in which two of my quilts appeared; Paper Moon Publishing; 2021.

“COVID Survivor Shares Journey of Illness, Recovery”, a review of my memoir, A Second Second Chance…; LA Wave Newspaper; February 2021.

“Black and At Risk,” a review of my memoir, A Second Second Chance…; Taos News; November 2020.

A Second Second Chance: A Black Woman’s Story of Recovery from COVID-19, Finalist, Indie Book Awards; my memoir published by Triay Arts; 2020.

Sharing African Culture through Fabric,” interview on ¡COLORES!, New Mexico PBS Television, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr6vjC4v6-c; February 2020.

9 Patch Life, my first poetry collection; published by Triay Arts; 2019.

Ghana EE-AH-AY!, my punch quilt chosen as logo for the KUNM radio station fundraiser button for their Train to Glory gospel show; 2017.

Leap and Dance, my art quilt chosen for the Rahway Savings Institute Calendar, distributed to 4,000 bank patrons; 2013. 

La Historia con Hilo y Aguja,” Nuestra Comunidad: La Voz Latina Desde el Corazon de Nueva Jersey; http://www.njcomunidad.com; Spanish language online article about my quilting project with my middle school students; December 2005. 

Quilting Their Way through History: Franklin Students Learn English and More;” an article featuring my quilting project with my middle school students; The Courier News; 2005. 

MEMBERSHIPS:

Member, Westside Artists Workshop, Albuquerque; current.

Member, New Mexico Live Poets Society; current.

Member, New Mexico African American Artists’ Guild; Served as Secretary 2016-18.

Cave Canem Poetry Fellow; 2007.  

EDUCATION:

Studied “Punch Quilting” with Cristina Diaz Arntzen at Manzano Mesa Multigenerational Center, a unique “no-sew” fiber art technique is that employs fabric, batting, foam board, tempered board, and a few tools, mostly homemade, to create works reminiscent of mosaics or stained glass; Albuquerque, NM; 2015-2018.  

Studied Long Arm Quilting classes at Ann Silva Sewing Center; Albuquerque, NM; 2017.

Studied “Pojagi”, the art of Korean Patchwork with Chunghie Lee at the Korea Society; New York, NY; 2009.

Attended “Quilters by the River”, a yearly summer quilting workshop retreat at Linwood Spiritual Center; studied hand quilting, machine piecing, color and fabric combining, applique, sandwiching, quilt binding, and more; Rhinebeck, NY; 2001-2009.

NYU, School of Professional Studies, Certificate in East Asian Languages; New York, NY; 2009.

CUNY, Graduate Studies in Translation; New York, NY; 1991-1994.

NYU, School of Professional Studies, Certificate in Translation; New York, NY; 1990.

University of Pennsylvania, MS in Education Linguistics; Philadelphia, PA; 1979.

University of Pennsylvania, BA Dual Major, Spanish/International Relations; Philadelphia, PA; 1973.