Collaborator /

Dance Exhibit / Lauren Simpson / Movement with objects and architecture

A collaboration between Lauren Simpson Dance. I contributed thin steel rebar sculptures. The material was excavated from the building during it’s construction years prior. Their rigid form was balanced by Dana Hemenway’s woven and illuminated extension cord weavings.

Role: Collaborator /

Dance Exhibit. Choreographer: Lauren Simpson / Sound: Shanna Sordahl / Lighting: Jack Beuttler / Movement scenes performed by: Arletta Anderson, Virginia Broyles, Lydia Clinton, Marlie Couto, and Cauveri Madabushi Suresh / Photography: Robbie Sweeny

Producer /

How do you draw community, every name that told a story

Amanda Eicher founded the Adobe Books Backroom Gallery. It was located, as the name suggests, in the backroom.

In the bookstore, Eicher painted a single line high above the book shelves, around the perimeter of the store.

The line represented our shared horizon—individuals standing with the genius of many

A decade later working with curator collective “The Folks”, we invited Amanda Eicher to return to this work. With the single prompt: where do we stand now?

The result was a relationship map articulated from collective memory—it included every name that had contributed to the culture at Adobe Books.

After Adobe Books re-location from their original 16th Street location, in a vastly expanded form, “Genealogy” was recreated for the Oakland Museum and SFMOMA’s jointly organized “Fertile Ground: Art and Community in California”.

The work was later acquired by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

Related coverage:
Brooklyn Rail

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Producer / Curator / Community Engagement /

Amanda Eicher at work on Genealogy (2014) for the exhibition Fertile Ground: Art and Community in California, Oakland Museum of California. Photo by Scott Moulton.

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What can be achieved in 24 hours?

The framework was simple: an artist was invited (for one day) to explore shared interests in our creative practices. During these extended, lazy studio visits—conversation occurred while preparing food and within this comfortable setting potential collaborations were addressed. In many cases nothing was made, rather varied points of view provided clarity around our shared interests, making these informal meetings productive. The results were documented via website + printed matter distributed at local book stores.

The one day artist residencies led to exploring similar concepts as a contributor to SFMOMA’s Open Space 

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Producer / Collaborator /

Drawing from memory after looking at iconic cartoon characters online for 3 minutes with artist Chris Coy

Producer /

Unconventional use of a large institution

With an open door to the SFMOMA, I explored an unofficial “residency” within the sacred Botta building.

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Producer / Writer / Editor / Collaborator /

Various works made by participating artists prompted to respond to specific works in the collection: Chris Sollars, Brad Troemel, David Kasprzak, Charlene Tan, James Sterling Pitt, Jon Rafman, Julie Cloutier, and Jason Metcalf

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