Just got word that a piece of mine will be in this August show:
Axis Gallery
5th National Juried Exhibition
August 7 - 29, 2010
Juror, Joe Amrhein, artist and director of Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Axis Gallery
1517 19th Street, Sacramento, CA 95811
info@axisgallery.org 916.443.9900
Hours: Saturday & Sunday 12pm to 5pm or by appointment
I will post official PR when I have it
My work has been included in this presentation, and in the coming days I expect there to be additional links. Here's a link to the conference info including when, where, and what if you happen to be in Baltimore this Thursday.
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After reviewing ALL of the submissions and reading the narratives provided, my only question is this: What is the future of public art when great ideas are not realized? Can temporary site interventions now take a forefront to spur change and build a dialogue about art with communities? How can artists and vision be supported in new ways that might catapult the aesthetics of art in public space and help the jury process/curatorial choices become about amazing art? What about video and new media…not so new – yet, we are all new to the experience, and the viewers in all communities and neighborhoods value the same thing, to be thought of with a meaningful dialogue.
The presentation is a scrolling visual dialgoue with an introduction on the themes, the process and the value of the artist in public realm, and how to inspire invention for truly dynamic spaces.
Salon des Refuses will be presented by Stuart Keeler as part of the Americans for the Arts Public Art Preconference, Thursday, June 24, 7:45-9:00 PM at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront hotel.
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Borders:
Root Division is thrilled to exhibit work by 23 artists from 9 states, representing 9 ethnicities, exploring how we define and interact with the borders that surround us. Borders, an exhibition about lines and how we cross them, includes a range of art forms such as interactive sculpture, video, photography, installation, performance, and new media.
Borders form an edge that can define geographical, political, religious, biological, or aesthetic entities. They are places between things, places where one thing becomes another, places where identities shift and where an end becomes a beginning. Borders can be indistinct, such as those separating gender, or glaringly obvious, like those between warring countries. A border can be a place of control and limits, or it can present an opportunity for new unions. The simplest boundary might be a line drawn in the sand, the most complex: one that governs social behavior.
The artists in this show touch on a variety of these themes and encourage the viewer to re-evaluate the political, geographical, and moral divisions that define our current condition.
ROOT DIVISION GALLERY
3175 17th Street (at S. Van Ness)
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.863.766
www.rootdivision.org
Denizen
Date:
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Time:
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:
Lobot Gallery
Street:
1800 Campbell Street
City/Town:
Oakland, CA
Artists: G. Cole Allee, Barry Beach, Lisa K. Blatt, Christopher Burch, Ross Campbell, Matthew Cella, Brett Goodroad, Vita Hewitt, Elyse Hochstadt, Jeremiah Jenkins, Ken Jensen, Geraldine Lozano, John K. Melvin
DENIZEN is a group exhibition that will articulate historical filters, circumstance and perception, through form, material use, collaborative action and improvisation. Each artist invited to participate in Denizen wrestles with notions of fragility, guidance, upheaval and habit. Each work included reflects creative contemplation, empowered by shifting boundaries.
For Immediate Release
Media contact: Victoria Heilweil
(415) 642.1046; victoriaheilweil@gmail.com
High resolution images available.
Eidolon
(Illusion/Delusion/Allusion)
Friday, May 21st and Saturday, May 22nd
8pm-11pm
$5 admission
@ Climate Theater
285 9th St (at the corner of Folsom)
San Francisco, CA 94103
www.climatetheater.com
Eidolon, from the ancient Greek, connotes a "phantom double, an apparition, or an ideal; a mere image or semblance of something visible, but without substance".
On Friday May 21st and Saturday, May 22, Climate Theater will host MicroClimate's Eidolon: a two-night art exhibition, music and performance event. For these two evenings, a diverse grouping of Bay Area artists, musicians and performers respond in an array of genres to this illusionary theme.
A few highlights of the evening will include: Elyse Hochstadt's sculptural installation "half truths and uncertain realities" which deals with the construction of memory with it's aspects of myth and fantasy; Philip Greenlief's solo saxophone performance of the original composition, "Mirrors," with which he will "seek to destroy the security blanket of western harmony;" Vita and Bryan Hewitt's scanned x-ray photographs, which allude to the collective memory of place, specifically, of San Francisco, in all it's true and fictive transience; Pantea Karimi’s prints, which combine iconic imagery from her homeland of Iran and the U.S. in a metaphoric layering that alludes to cultural identity, societal restriction, corporate hegemony, and political censorship; Terrance Graven's performative installations which use ritual materials to explore mortality, loss, and the frailty of the body; and John Melvin’s site-specific installation exploring the idea of transitional states.
trompe de l’oueil/mirage/apparition/ignuus fatus/after image/ figment/chimera
pipe dream/flim flam/distortion/camouflage/mimicry/monkey business
sleight of hand/legerdemain/duplicity
We hope you will join us for this unique event!
Participating Artists, Musicians and Performers:
Brendan Aanes: video and audio installation
Elisheva Biernoff: painting
Terrance Graven: performative installation
Philip Greenlief: solo saxophone performance
Vita and Bryan Hewitt; photography
Elyse Hochstadt: sculptural installation
Pantea Karimi: printmaking
Honey McMoney: sculptural installation
John Melvin: site specific sculptural installation
Sarah Ratchye: painting
Elizabeth Stark: reading/performance
Parker Tilghman: handmade book
Jeong Im Yi: painting
MicroClimate Collective is a team of artist-curators committed to creating opportunities for Bay Area artists to share experimental, collaborative and ephemeral projects in all genres. MicroClimate is currently: G. Cole Allee and Victoria Mara Heilweil.
G. Cole Allee is a photo-based artist whose work explores landscape as cultural iconography and addresses the shifting relationships between place, myth and memory. She holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and a BA from Reed College. Her work has been exhibited in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland Oregon, and Tokyo.
Victoria Mara Heilweil is a nationally exhibited photographic artist, educator and curator. She received her MFA in Photography from California College of the Arts in 1995. Victoria was the curator and co-owner of Points of Departure, a cooperative art gallery in New York City. Victoria is also an Adjunct Professor at City College of San Francisco and California College of the Arts. http://www.victoriaheilweil.com
Climate Theater is an alternative arts space in San Francisco's SOMA district that encourages the development of non-traditional performance and experimental work with a focus on collaboration and exploration. Established in 1985, Climate is known for such innovative landmark programs as the Solo Mio Festival, which presented such prestigious performers as Spalding Gray, David Sedaris, Allen Ginsberg and Margaret Cho. Climate is currently home to a monthly music series, MicroClimate Collective, and a wide variety of new circus and other theatrical events, including a thriving resident artist program. Climate is run by artistic director Jessica Heidt.
CALENDAR LISTING
What: “Eidolon”
A Two Night Art and Performance Event, curated by MicroClimate Collective
Where: Climate Theater
285 9th St (at the corner of Folsom)
San Francisco, CA 94103
www.climatetheater.com
When: Friday May 21st and Saturday May 22nd, 8pm-11pm
Cost: $5
> Recommendations. . . .
>
>
>
> Colby Claycomb, White Picket Fence, linoleum, plastic edging, at Root Division. RAW features mixed-media works that assert their materiality and overt identity as artifacts "made in an honest manner," according to curator/artist John K. Melvin. One of the ten artists, Barry Beach, writes of "constructing nature. . .from organic and synthetic forms, mixing and experimenting salvaged and new materials. . .not knowing exactly what will emerge," inspired by the hybrid areas "between city and country, urban and rural, nature and culture." Memorable works embodying this post-conceptual/DIY aesthetic stance (some of which incorporate the gallery's architectural elements) include: Colby Claycomb's "White Picket Fence," a wall relief composed of black linoleum shards arranged concentrically, like a fingerprint, from whose center erupts a floral spiral of coiled plastic faux-fence edging; Ruth Hodgins' "Sword in the Stone," a surrealist bat-and-ball sports (and testosterone?) parody; Brandon Truscotts's "Made by Memory," a recumbent baby doll wrapped by and suspended from strands of glossy brown audiotape; and Jesse Walton's "John Deere and the Last Frontier," a "construction detritus" installation symbolizing the industrial domestication of the wilderness. RAW anticipates, with humor and imagination, a coming era of higher-priced energy and "lowered expectations" (California's Zen governor Jerry Brown is back, after all); of creative re-purposing and applied bricolage (at Root Division, San Francisco, California).
> - Dewitt Cheng
Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Art lovers,
I am pleased to announce that an art exhibition I have been working on for a year now, will be opening to the public this coming Saturday, November the 14th. The exhibition will feature a particular and unique range of material oriented sculptors from the Bay Area. If you are in town, please feel free to stop by. Details from the press release are included below.
Thanks for all your continued support,
Best,
John K Melvin
Visual Artist
http://raw-rootdivisionsf.blogspot.com
http://www.johnkmelvin.com/
http://johnkmelvin.blogspot.com/
--
ROOT DIVISION PRESENTS: Second Saturday November 2009
RAW
An exhibition of new Bay Area sculpture and installation
Curated by John K. Melvin
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Root Division is proud to present our November Second Saturday event, an exhibition of new Bay Area sculpture and installation, guest-curated by local artist and curator John K. Melvin.
The work in RAW has a distinct materiality, and each of the artists is uniquely aware of its presence. Whether assembled from found objects or crafted from items not typically associated with fine art, the sculptures and installations featured in this show work to declaim the fundamental appeal of objectness.
Artists like Colby Claycomb, Brandon Truscott, and Sarah Willis evoke their own personal narratives by exploiting the built-in meaning of used materials. Others, like Barry Beach, John K. Melvin, and Kit Rosenberg take a more detached approach, boiling down a conceptual premise to its most essential material elements. But regardless of how each artist approaches their work, there is a shared enthusiasm to maintain the integrity of the chosen medium.
Details are on-line at http://raw-rootdivisionsf.blogspot.com
Artists:
Barry Beach
Colby Claycomb
Benjamin Echeverria
Sean Olson
Christophe Piallat
Kit Rosenberg*
Brandon Truscott
Jesse Walton
Sarah Willis
*Root Division Resident Artist
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 14th, 7-10 pm
Sliding Scale Suggested Donation: $2-$20
Exhibition Dates: November 11th-December 5th, 2009
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays- Saturdays, 2-6 pm (or by appointment)
ROOT DIVISION
3175 17th Street (at South Van Ness & Shotwell)
San Francisco, CA 94110
www.rootdivision.org
415.863.7668
ABOUT ROOT DIVISION:
Root Division is an arts and arts education non-profit located in the Mission District of San Francisco. Root Division's mission is to improve appreciation and access to the visual arts by connecting personal inspiration and community participation. We provide subsidized studio space to working artists in exchange for their service in creating shared learning opportunities for the community. Artists develop creatively and professionally by teaching art to underserved youth, leading adult education classes, and producing exhibitions that showcase local emerging artwork. By combining multiple opportunities for creative exchange, Root Division cultivates an artistic ecosystem that enriches life throughout the Bay Area.
Root Division is supported in part by grants from Grants for the Arts: SF Hotel Tax Fund, The San Francisco Foundation, and the Walter & Elise Haas Fund. The Second Saturday Exhibition Series is sponsored by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Commission through a Cultural Equity Grant/Organizational Project Grant, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.
wonderland got covered today on the local ABC news!
follow the link below:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7069365
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 3, 2009
ROOT DIVISION PRESENTS: Second Saturday November 2009
RAW
An exhibition of new Bay Area sculpture and installation
Curated by John K. Melvin
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Root Division is proud to present our November Second Saturday event, an exhibition of new Bay Area sculpture and installation, guest-curated by local artist and curator John K. Melvin.
The work in RAW has a distinct materiality, and each of the artists is uniquely aware of its presence. Whether assembled from found objects or crafted from items not typically associated with fine art, the sculptures and installations featured in this show work to declaim the fundamental appeal of objectness.
Artists like Colby Claycomb, Brandon Truscott, and Izumi Yokoyama evoke their own personal narratives by exploiting the built-in meaning of used materials. Others, like Barry Beach, John K. Melvin, and Kit Rosenberg take a more detached approach, boiling down a conceptual premise to its most essential material elements. But regardless of how each artist approaches their work, there is a shared enthusiasm to maintain the integrity of the chosen medium.
Details are on-line at http://raw-rootdivisionsf.blogspot.com
Artists:
Barry Beach
Colby Claycomb
Benjamin Echeverria
Sean Olson
Christophe Piallat
Kit Rosenberg*
Brandon Truscott
Jesse Walton
Sarah Willis
Izumi Yokoyama
*Root Division Resident Artist
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 14th, 7-10 pm
Sliding Scale Suggested Donation: $2-$20
Exhibition Dates: November 11th-December 5th, 2009
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays- Saturdays, 2-6 pm (or by appointment)
ROOT DIVISION
3175 17th Street (at South Van Ness & Shotwell)
San Francisco, CA 94110
www.rootdivision.org
415.863.7668
ABOUT ROOT DIVISION:
Root Division is an arts and arts education non-profit located in the Mission District of San Francisco. Root Division's mission is to improve appreciation and access to the visual arts by connecting personal inspiration and community participation. We provide subsidized studio space to working artists in exchange for their service in creating shared learning opportunities for the community. Artists develop creatively and professionally by teaching art to underserved youth, leading adult education classes, and producing exhibitions that showcase local emerging artwork. By combining multiple opportunities for creative exchange, Root Division cultivates an artistic ecosystem that enriches life throughout the Bay Area.
Root Division is supported in part by grants from Grants for the Arts: SF Hotel Tax Fund, The San Francisco Foundation, and the Walter & Elise Haas Fund. The Second Saturday Exhibition Series is sponsored by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Commission through a Cultural Equity Grant/Organizational Project Grant, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.
Friendly promotion:
Fung Collaboratives has updated their website. Check it out below.
One of the many new additions is the FC Community page!
Subject: TONIGHT @ CLUB SIX :THE OTHER SIDE OF A SMILE
:THE OTHER SIDE OF A SMILE PRESENTS :CHROMA FREAKS
@ CLUB 6
(60th 6th street between Market and Mission)
SEPTEMBER 19th
doors open at 10pm and the party goes until 2am
free give aways by MISHKA NYC
The nights line up features amazing works by:
Robert Burden
Sandra Garcia
Shaun Robertsand design by MISHKA NYC
Musical Performances by:
ELLUL
THANK YOU JULIUS
Dj IMpekabl
Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. See how.
some of the comments are quite interesting:
Ranu Mukherjee Says:
As part of one of the artist teams in Wonderland, I want to mention that this blog opens up an interesting and important conversation to a public, which has been going on within the various agencies involved with the project for some time, starting with the Tenderloin’s Community Benefit District who are its fiscal sponsors.
We are considering the terms of our engagement here constantly. My experience thus far has been anything but distanced and disengaged. We have been working and talking with many amazing people of all ages who live, work and/or go to school in the neighborhood. I would consider these to be sustainable affective relationships. Art is not a new presence in the Tenderloin by any stretch of the imagination and out of respect to those who have contributed their voices to this project, I hope that the questions raised here will not overshadow the ability of visitors to connect.
The opening for this show will be during the day and include a block party in Boedekker Park on Ellis Street. There will be a symposium the following day during which, hopefully this conversation can go live!"
read the original article here. I have more to say on this article but am deep in the midst of organizing other aspects of Wonderland. Hopefully soon I will post something more in depth.
5. "Wonderland" Lance Fung's curatorial idea to bring together 52 artists (43 from San Francisco and nine from other countries) for 10 site-specific projects in the Tenderloin has greater potential than any standard museum or gallery show. Oct. 17-Nov. 14, various sites, www.wonderlandshow.org
...
For those of you who know, this is a show that several artists including myself have been working on for a year.
American Qur'an
http://cclarkgallery.blogspot.com/2009/08/press-sandow-birk-in-new-york-times.html
Was at the gallery installing Al Farrows work and check out the rest
of the show. Definitely worth a peak.
Finally getting around to this, its some documentation of a collaborative installation I did back in May 2009.
"In May 2009, Izumi Yokoyama and John K. Melvin were invited to participate in Stephanie Dodes "Everything or Nothing or Something" group exhibition at Ever Gold Gallery in San Francisco. Izumi and John collaborated on a room sized installation approximately 5' x 10' x 8'. Their installation was intended to take the viewer into an outer/inner space environment. Materials used were reflective mylar, yarn, plastic tubing, and flourescent lights."
check out the images here.
Three arts commissioners have submitted their letters of resignation. Dede Wilsey, Alexander Lloyd, and Jeannene Przyblyski, wife of Eric Jaye, who until last week was Newsom's longtime political adviser.
Wilsey is president of the board of the Fine Arts Museums, Lloyd is an avid art collector and Pryzblyski is an associate professor at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Wilsey's letter is short and sweet and gives no reason for her departure. Przyblyski's describes in great length her frustration with Supervisor Chris Daly's recent move to require far more financial disclosure of arts and film commissioners, moving from requiring disclosure only about income related to the arts or city business to all income.
A Friendly Promotion:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday August 7, 2009
Contact: Geoffrey Grier – Director, Crisis Intervention SF Recovery Theatre
415-643-6011 www.sfrecoverytheatre.org <http://mail.researchdatagroup.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.sfrecoverytheatre.org/>
***Press Release***
SF Recovery Theatre Host Venue at the SF Theater Festival
San Francisco, CA – On July 29, 2009 SF Recovery Theatre hosted the Screening Room venue at the SF Theater Festival in Yerba Buena Gardens and brought the house down. The crew kicked off at 11:45 with a world premiere of Grier’s new work, “Jet, a portrait of a nicotine addict”, followed by The Lower Bottom Players, L.A. Recovery Theater, Colored Ink and Ayodele Nzinga. All outstanding in their individual performances. The audience was standing room only from 12 noon until closing at 4:30
Grier stated, “I want to take a moment to thank my friends actors that made this what is was, braved personal adversity and completed the circle by channeling and rekindling the Bay Area Black Theater experience.”
SF Recovery Theater has been invited to provide one of the instillations in the up and coming Wonderland exhibition by internationally known artist and curator, Lance Fung. The opening will take place October 17, 2009 in the Tenderloin, with performances to follow. More information is available by viewing - http://wonderlandshow.blogspot.com/ <http://mail.researchdatagroup.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://wonderlandshow.blogspot.com/>
“San Francisco Recovery Theatre looks forward to providing the vital links in the cultural chain to reestablish the Black Arts scene in San Francisco. This critical mission is near and dear to our hearts and we would really encourage the community to be a part of this renassaince effort.”
Location: San Francisco Recovery Theatre, Scene from "The Spot" <http://mail.researchdatagroup.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VjwV78lpCc>
Geoffrey Grier heads the Company and also host the Mr. Geoffrey’s Show, a local cable television show that focuses on the issues, concerns and events of the Tenderloin community. Grier feels that the theatre’s productions is the only safe place that people of different cultures, races and religious backgrounds can experience the lifestyle of another without feeling threatened.
While many people are still battling substance abuse, mental health, or housing problems, it becomes a formidable task for Recovery Theatre to assist those in need, to transcend them to a healthier, progressively positive life.
San Francisco Recovery Theatre is out to make a difference!
Story covered by TLTv Community Access News Service
http://studycenter.org/test/cce/issues/92/ccx.92-cp3.pdf
A great article from a local paper focused on the tenderloin. A sign
of more to come!
http://studycenter.org/test/cce/index.html
Article in this months issue, page 3 & 8.
