As part of a communal art-building project, this quilt on climate change was coordinated by the City of Olympia. And "A1" tile has been completed by yours truly! It will be showcased for an Earth Day celebration on Friday, April 23, part the Spring Arts Month in the front windows of Olympia’s City Hall located at 601 E 4th Ave. 

"Join us for an innovative community display of art reflecting climate awareness and solutions. In this inspiring exhibit, over 100 community members painted quilt squares to express how we can lower our collective carbon footprint. Quilts have been used as a way to share messaging and create change in America for hundreds of years, from abolition in the 19th century to equality in the 20th. This year, we have compiled individual art pieces and constructed them into quilts to tell a story about climate action in Thurston County." 

https://streamteam.info/climate-quilt-exhibit/

A new mural by commission was created in October of 2020, located by Phoebes Bakery in Olympia Washington on the corner of Harrison and Division. The mural is approximately 85' long and 6' tall.

Artists to beautify the 700 block of Fourth Avenue in support of the City of Olympia during the COVID pandemic. Heidi Zarghami will be adding her monarch butterflies to bring awareness to this transformative time for the local community.

“The Olympia Artspace Alliance and the Olympia Downtown Alliance, using $9,000 from the city, has rolled out a plan to have artists beautify Downtown Olympia’s boarded-up exteriors with murals, said Todd Cutts, executive director of the ODA.
Cutts said the group has agreements with five storefronts: Exile Tattoo on Legion Way, Olympia Tattoo on Capitol Way, the former Mills & Mills Funeral Home location on Franklin Street, Cryptatropa on Fourth Avenue, and a space in the 700 block of Fourth Avenue that was once a cafe.”

​

"I'm very pleased to be able to offer you a summer residency at the Santa Cruz MAH's Art Works summer residency from Jun 1 to Jun 28, 2015. Congratulations! This was a highly competitive call and you were selected among a group of very talented, innovative artists."   -Wes Modes
​
http://santacruzmah.org/art-works-exhibition-callout/

A summer residency where artists engage museum visitors in their work and transform the museum into functioning artist’s studios.
During Summer 2016 artists will transform the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History’s (MAH) Solari Gallery into a series of artist’s studios. In each studio, museum visitors will meet artists and participate in art works in progress. All artists will be expected to engage visitors as part of their work and are invited to engage the theme of building stronger communities and neighborhoods

SFGATE: By Tony Bravo, Evan Sernoffsky, Emily Green and Kevin Fagan 

It was already going to be one whopper of a party. But with the U.S. Supreme

Court’s ruling that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry fresh off the presses, Sunday’s Pride Parade in San Francisco became a rainbow-colored, joyous celebration for the ages.

Hundreds of thousands of people lined Market Street to cheer, dance and wave the rainbow flag as floats, politicians and LGBT groups of every description paraded past. Friday’s court ruling was a landmark moment in LGBT rights history, and the significance was lost on no one. 

June 9, 2015—An eco-themed month at Studio Bongiorno is close-approaching. The series of environmentally-focused events will kick off June 12 with the Plastic Paralysis art show.

Hosted by artist and art curator Robin Lysne, the event will debut artwork inspired by the environmental harm caused by the Great Pacific Gyre, a collection of litter in the North Pacific Ocean.

The art will be on display at the Santa Clara gallery through July 11.

According to Lysne, artists are increasingly bringing this issue out through their work.

“I was really surprised at how many artists are using plastics in their artwork (partially) to raise awareness (of plastic dangers). It’s a new phase of art,” she said, adding that she learned that many such artists get their material off of the beach.

“We need to speak to nature,” she said. “We need to figure out how we can work in more compatibility with nature and ask ourselves why we’re doing this to our ocean.”

The Great Pacific Gyre, also known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, was discovered in 1997 by Captain Charles Moore. The marine debris cluster is two times the size of Texas and is surrounded by four currents that move clockwise around a 7.7 million square-mile area.

The currents move the trash to a central point in the ocean, where the garbage becomes trapped. That center is still, but the moving currents surrounding it makes access to the Gyre difficult. The Gyre endangers fish and wildlife as well as the ocean.

She said she hopes the show will inspire people and raise questions about alternatives and our culture.

Category: 

• Eco News

The Ebb & Flow River Arts Project is celebrating and enlivening the San Lorenzo River and the Tannery Arts Center uniting arts and river enthusiasts, and connecting the greater community.

The MAH will join this celebration in the Kinetic Sculpture Parade with collaborative sculptures made by Heidi Cramer and Luke Wilson.

The parade will travel down the Santa Cruz Riverwalk, which will be transformed into the Ebb & Flow River ArtWalk with ten temporary public arts projects along the river. We’ll end at the Tannery Arts Center for the River Arts Celebration.

The Ebb & Flow River Arts Project brings attention to the San Lorenzo River with two days of art celebrations

When Coho salmon die, their bodies decompose and release nutrients back into the water, supplying the algae that feed insects—which in turn, circle back into the stomachs of newborn Coho as their primary food source.

“It’s this wonderful circle of life that they give up their bodies to be able to provide for the next generation,” explains local artist Heidi Cramer, who pays homage to the San Lorenzo River Coho with her sculpture in the Ebb & Flow River Arts Project celebrations starting June 5.

The idea behind Ebb & Flow is to engage locals in celebrating, remembering and revitalizing the river. For months, artists fro
m all different media have been working toward the June 5 debut, which will unveil riverfront sculptures, local film works, an aerial dance off the Soquel Avenue bridge, Bay Area group Bandaloop performing off the Tannery walls, talks on local wildlife and a lighting ceremony.

Creating a cycle of her own, Cramer scavenged local fish markets for Coho parts and mixed them together with silt from the San Lorenzo to make into smaller fish models, as part of her kinetic sculpture for the Ebb & Flow Kinetic Sculpture Parade on June 6. At the end of the parade, she’ll gift the fry back to the San Lorenzo—continuing the nutrient cycle to encourage future growth of the endangered species.

“I thought it was very poetic to take these bodies that were going to be consumed by us and blending them, drying them, mixing them with clay and then offering it back to the river. It’s an exercise for people to feel the joy in giving back to our river—like a rain dance for the return of the next generation of fish.”

According to the 2012-2013 report from the Nature Conservancy’s California Salmon Snapshots, Coho numbers were at a mere 16 for the entire river compared to the “target population” of 3,800.

“They’re the canary in the gold mine, saying that something is terribly wrong,” says Cramer. “We need to pay attention, or the species will be gone forever as a direct result of our interactions with the San Lorenzo and our misuse of this beautiful and natural resource.”

Cramer’s kinetic sculpture features a 4-by-4-foot Coho fish head made of recycled newspaper, flour and water, with its river tail made of colorful fabric to be carried, danced (it’s kinetic, after all) and brought to life by local volunteers. As part of the First Friday Ebb & Flow, volunteers will be invited to put the whole sculpture together in preparation for Saturday’s Kinetic Sculpture Parade along the river to the Tannery, throughout which 10 new temporary sculptures will be unveiled along the waterfront.

Brainchild of Michelle Williams, the Art Council’s director, Ebb & Flow began as a way to get locals reinvested in the river, not only with conservation efforts but also to reclaim it as an enjoyable space.

“The arts can be used to address a lot of the things that go on in our community in a way that brings our community together. We’re a town of uniqueness, but sometimes the uniqueness gets in the way of coming to the table to work on things together, and I think this project has really done that,” says Sally Green, the Development and Communications Director for the Santa Cruz Arts Council which is behind Ebb & Flow.

Info: Ebb & Flow begins Friday, June 5, 5 p.m., Cooper St., Santa Cruz. artscouncilsc.org/ebb-flow. PHOTO: Heidi Cramer with her fish head statue for this weekend’s Ebb & Flow celebration. CHIP SCHEUER

The ocean represents anything from womb to tomb. We personify it as a wrathful god, a seductive spirit, or an indomitable force. The four oceans of the world cover 71% of the Earth’s surface and link us to primordial pasts. The ocean is a living, shared space and one of the greatest unexplored mysteries of the world.  Everybody interprets the ocean in different ways. Your work has unique inspiration. Let’s share it with each other.

Fifty Artists from 5 decades
Curated by Shelby Graham and Mark Shunney

50/50: 50 + Artists from 50 years. UCSC's 50th Anniversary Alumni exhibition features local and visiting alumni artists from Santa Cruz to New York City at the Faculty Gallery at UCSC’s Porter College and on the Westside of Santa Cruz at the R. Blitzer Gallery. This exhibition is a kick-off arts celebration for UCSC’s 50th Anniversary. We thank all the artists and our additional sponsors from the Alumni Association, University Relations and private donors for their support.

Gala Opening on Westside @ R. Blitzer Gallery First Friday: Feb. 6, 6-9pm with live music
Music performances by:
6-7pm Swirly Girls  
7-8pm Carl Atilano (Porter '09) 
8-9pm Live DJ by Kiko Kolb with Porter students on ukelele and banjo

Blitzer Gallery exhibition dates:  February 6 – February 28, 2015


R. Blitzer Gallery info:
Gallery Hours are Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 5pm
located at the Former Wrigley Gum Factory at 2801 Mission Street - Santa Cruz, Ca 95060

https://www.facebook.com/events/809813739092120/?notif_t=plan_user_invited

The visual language of art communicates across the barriers of verbal and cultural distance. Twenty-seven young artists from eleven different countries investigate the geographical, political, social, and metaphorical constraints that divide us; explore our understanding of the other—whether unknown or misconstrued; build bridges of communications across cultural differences. This Cruzando Fronteras crosses geographical and cultural boundaries, creating a mosaic of visual voices and stories of separation, obstacles, breaking barriers, findings, and relationships.


Opening reception 6.13.20147-10 P.M.live music & refreshments

The Cradle Project is an art installation designed to engage and inspire local art communities (artists, viewers, and collectors) while raising awareness about the plight and potential of orphans and vulnerable children in Africa. This exhibit brings together new cradles created by 21 Bay area artists with selected cradles from past exhibitions in New Mexico (2008) and Washington D.C. (2012).


http://www.firelightfoundation.org/fund/cradle-project/ utm_content=5569317&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

/ / / Featured Artists / / /
Amanda Karlsson (Sweden)
Ann Le (USA)
Alejandro Morales (Mexico)
Heidi Cramer (USA)
이준아 Lee Juna (South Korea)
巧仔 Li Xiaoqiao (China)
Lindsey Allgood (USA)
문경의 Moon Kyung Eui (South Korea)
박민우 Park Minu (South Korea)
Rachel Marks (France)
Ramon Blanco Barrera (Spain)
서찬석 Seo Chanseok (South Korea)
VS force (South Korea) 

Crossing Borders: Seoul Edition presents the artwork of 13 emerging artists from 7 countries, who embody the diverse and experimental undertaking of young artists today. The show explores and transcends the limitations of medium, concept, and locality, presenting a collection of work that challenges traditional definitions of borders through dislocation and exaggeration. Working with a variety of mediums, the artists respond to social, political, and personal issues that resonate beyond the borders of their local environments.


OPENING PERFORMANCE
Featuring DAMIRAT 5.24 @ 6PM 

More info + Artist descriptions: 
http://emergentartspace.org/crossingborders/seoul/

The Cradle Project is an art installation designed to engage and inspire local art communities (artists, viewers, and collectors) while raising awareness about the plight and potential of orphans and vulnerable children in Africa. This exhibit brings together new cradles created by 21 Bay area artists with selected cradles from past exhibitions in New Mexico (2008) and Washington D.C. (2012).


Presenting "Heirloom Seeds: The Earth as Cradle" by Heidi Cramer.

The Cradle ProjectAlter Space
1158 Howard St
San Francisco, CA
Gallery hours: Wednesday to Sunday 1-6pm

http://www.firelightfoundation.org/fund/cradle-project/

New MAH exhibit gives voice to orphans in sub-Saharan Africa

It’s been more than a decade since artist and activist Naomi Natale traveled to Kibera, one of the largest slums in Kenya. It was there where she caught a glimpse of some of the estimated 48 million orphan children in sub-Saharan Africa. 

“It was a life-changing experience,” says Natale. “You go with all these statistics and information in your head, and when you come back, you think in terms of faces and real-life stories.” 

Natale hoped to photograph some of those faces, in order to draw attention to the plight of orphaned children across Africa. But after arriving home, still haunted by what she had seen, Natale decided she wanted to do something more. Art seemed like the best option for sharing her experiences and depicting the emotional loss felt by orphaned children and their communities.

“I decided to use the symbol of an empty cradle to represent the lost potential of these orphan children,” explains Natale. “I imagined a space full of empty cradles, stacked on top of each other, each one with its own personal story—it would be a way to overwhelm people, the way I was overwhelmed, the way we should all be overwhelmed by how many children are orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa alone.”

That vision became the basis for The Cradle Project. On display now through March 23 at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, the exhibit features 22 empty cradles handcrafted from reclaimed materials.

Some cradles are traditionally shaped, while others evoke a more abstract idea of cradling. Some are as small as a thimble, while others are about the size of a shopping cart. Old buttons, recycled metal, fabric scraps, prescription bottles, twine, plastic flowers, and umbrellas are just a few of the many materials used.

“We asked artists to make their cradles out of discarded materials to show that if we can see the potential for scraps to be used to cradle a child, then certainly we should be able to see the potential in our world’s orphaned children,” explains Natale.

She isn’t the only one who sees potential in the orphans of sub-Saharan Africa. The Firelight Foundation—a Santa Cruz organization that financially supports African community groups aiding orphaned children—is the main supporter and beneficiary of The Cradle Project.

“There has been wonderful synergy between us,” notes Kerry Olson, the founder of Firelight, which first teamed up with Natale in 2006. “[Natale] had the artistic vision and her cradle metaphor fits so well with what we do. We help build community safety nets for African children in need, and those communities are, in essence, a cradle.”

Natale’s outreach efforts across the country pulled in more than 500 cradle submissions, each with a $100 sponsorship. All of those cradles were shipped to Albuquerque, N.M., in 2008 for the project’s first major exhibit, and then auctioned off. The more than $70,000 raised went directly to Firelight’s partner organizations in Africa.

“The funds from the first exhibit made a tremendous difference to the people we work with,” says Olson. “It helped hundreds of children stay in school, it helped many families start small businesses so they could support their children, it facilitated really important life-changing community work.”

Olson feared that once the cradles had been auctioned off it would mean the end of the entire project. And so she personally bid on 24 cradles to create a permanent, private collection for Firelight. Those cradles are the foundation of the Santa Cruz exhibit. Olson carefully chose pieces that used a wide range of materials and also told a compelling story—including one made out of refuse from Hurricane Katrina, and another made by a group of homeless artists.

“My vision is that the exhibit will go on tour in different communities,” explains Olson. “Everywhere the project goes, there will be a cradle from that place. Every community we go to will be invited to bring their own vision with their own cradle.”

In Santa Cruz, local artists Wes Modes, Heidi Cramer and Luke Wilson were invited to contribute cradles for the MAH exhibit and auction. Museum visitors are also encouraged to make their own cradles with reclaimed yarn and twigs at a craft station located just outside of the exhibit.

“We don't want the exhibit to live in a detached corner, we want people to interact with it,” explains Robin Dixon, Firelight’s communications manager.  “We want them to experience what the cradles mean, what our organization does, and what our partners in Africa do.”

Dixon notes that the exhibit has sparked new conversations about Africa, poverty, war and HIV/AIDS—the core message being a hopeful one.

“We’re aware that it’s a hard topic with a lot of emotion attached to these issues,” says Dixon. “But we want people to walk away [from the exhibit] feeling that those communities there are making a difference in Africa and that there’s a way to support them.” 

The Cradle Project is on display now through March 23 at the Museum of Art & History, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. For more information, visit santacruzmah.org or call 429-1964. To learn more about The Firelight Foundation, visit firelightfoundation.org.

Join us for an afternoon of talks and workshops connected to The Cradle Project exhibition in our 3rd Floor Gallery.

From 2-5PM jump into ongoing cradle making workshops.  Three local artists, Wes Modes, Heidi Cramer and Luke Wilson will lead drop-in workshops with visitors to make collaborative cradles from recycled materials. These cradles will then become part of the exhibit on the 3rd Floor. They will later be auctioned off and the proceeds will go directly to the firelight foundation.

http://www.santacruzmah.org/event/the-cradle-project-workshops-pop-up-and-lectures/

705 Front Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060, United States

http://emergentartspace.org/exhibitions/crossing-borders-live-show/

by Christina Waters
During the past school year Arts students distinguished themselves in many creative ways, from winning awards and performing recitals, to building art installations and screening digital films.

This year's artists were deeply engaged in creating their own learning environments and in creating the blueprints for their futures as inventive entrepreneurs. As interns and tutors, collaborators and role models, they generously mentored each other and collectively raised each other's academic expectations. Here are some of those who made this year's Arts scene at UCSC bold and remarkable.