Stories have a way of gathering people. Shared around dinner tables, campfires, family gatherings, and gallery spaces, they grow with every retelling, carrying pieces of the people, places, and traditions that keep them alive. For Laredo native and San Antonio-based artist Angelica Raquel, storytelling is both inheritance and invitation, a living tradition that continues to connect generations across the borderlands and beyond.
From January 29 through July 5, 2026, the McNay Art Museum presented Angelica Raquel: Mystic Threads, a solo exhibition featuring fiber sculptures, tapestries, and paintings displayed against a gradient blue backdrop evoking the shifting space between night and day. The exhibition marked a thoughtful evolution in Raquel’s practice by centering the act of storytelling itself. Drawing from the rich oral traditions of South Texas, family memories, regional folklore, and childhood wonder, Mystic Threads explored the ways narratives shape identity through the experiences that define us.
Within this world, Raquel’s materials became a language of their own. Her vibrant colors, whimsical forms, and richly layered textures welcomed visitors into a space where leyendas, dreams, memory, and imagination intertwined. Familiar figures from border folklore appeared alongside deeply personal narratives, transforming the gallery into a space where the familiar and fantastical existed side by side. Through fiber, Raquel creates a living archive that continues to unfold with each encounter.
That spirit of exchange came to life in Howl Together, a collaborative fiber sculpture that invited museum visitors to create their own felted symbols and contribute them to the work. As each addition became part of the sculpture, the piece grew into a collective record of shared experiences. Each contribution became a continuation of the conversation, transforming the artwork into a visual gathering of many voices. The title Mystic Threads extends beyond the materials that shape Raquel’s practice, embodying the unseen connections that bind us.
Through her work, Raquel reveals the power of storytelling as an evolving practice, one shaped by the voices that preserve, transform, and continue it.
