News
Reclaimed: The Art of Recology
July 1 — October 17, 2021
Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts / 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, CA
In collaboration with the Recology Artist in Residence (AIR) Program, Bedford Gallery presents a breathtaking survey of artists who have had the opportunity to participate in the program. Operating with the belief that art plays a unique role in educating and inspiring the public, Recology—San Francisco’s recycling and composting company—provides Bay Area artists with access to discarded materials via coveted scavenging privileges, a stipend, and studio space at the San Francisco Transfer Station and Recycling Center. This special exhibition of work created from unwanted materials encourages us to see our “trash” in a new light and reflect on our own consumption practices in a time of heightened concern and awareness for the future of our planet.
Since its founding in 1990, over 150 professional artists and 50 college student artists have completed residencies “at the dump.” The facility is a 47-acre site that includes the trash transfer station, the Household Hazardous Waste Facility, the Organics Wing, the Public Reuse and Recycling Area ("the dump"), and other recycling areas.
Participating Artists: Tamara Albaitis, Kathy Aoki, Michael Arcega, Miguel Arzabe, Terry Berlier, Val Britton, Beau Buck, Ed Clapp, Lauren DiCioccio, Ricki Dwyer, Rodney Ewing, Mike Farruggia, Amy Wilson Faville, Julia Goodman, Nemo Gould, Jeff Hantman, Jamil Hellu, David Hevel, Barbara Holmes, D. Cherie Johnson, Andrew Junge, Cathy Lu, Kara Maria, Mansur Nurullah, Ramekon O'Arwisters, Jenny Odell, Scott Oliver, Kari Orvik, Erik Otto, Alison Pebworth, Yulia Pinkusevich, Ferris Plock, Genevieve Quick, Nicole Repack & Isis Rodriguez, Kate Rhoades, Leah Rosenberg, James Sansing, Kathy Sirico, Chris Sollars, Stephanie Syjuco, Weston Teruya, Shushan Tesfuzigta, Sherri Lynn Wood, Victor Yañez-Lazcano, Imin Yeh.
SHINE TOGETHER: Southern Exposure's Annual Art Auction
On Friday, March 26, join us for a Livestream event featuring silent and live auctions (led by esteemed Bonhams Auctioneer Aaron Bastian) showcasing over 125 pieces of gorgeous artwork from some of the Bay Area’s leading new and established artists, entertainment from local performers, and a joyful online gathering of the SoEx community. Join us in celebrating the continued vitality and radiance of experimental art in the Bay Area.
UNTITLED, ART San Francisco
January 16—19, 2020
VIP and Press Preview: Thursday, January 16, 2-8 pm
Meet the Artists: Val Britton and Eric Siemens, booth conversation with Gallery Wendi Norris (Booth A1): Thursday, January 16, 5:30-6 pm
Pier 35 / 1454 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California
The Sheltering Sky
January 19—April 7, 2019
Opening Celebration: January 25, 2019, 7-10 pm
Palo Alto Art Center / 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto, California
“A black star appears, a point of darkness in the night sky's clarity. Point of darkness and gateway to repose. Reach out, pierce the fine fabric of the sheltering sky, take repose.” ― Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky
Taking its title from the iconic novel by Paul Bowles, this exhibition looks to the stars for comfort in the darkest of times. Our connection with, and attention to, the abstract concept we call the “sky” is binding, and contemplating its many facets provide rich subject matter for artists. This exhibition will explore a variety of artistic responses through works in a wide range of media.
The origins of the word “sky” are various and many. In Old Norse it was the word for cloud; in Old High German it comes from the words for shadow and mirror; in Middle English, it can mean heaven. These definitions reflect the mutability of the sky itself; it is the true and original shapeshifter, never static, always evolving, a storyboard onto which we project ourselves and our mythologies, and from which we gather information about our possible futures.
While the human stature may be small in comparison to the vastness of the atmosphere above and around us, we are inexorably linked to it, creating it and being created by it in every moment. We are burning, evaporating, decomposing, and breathing ― the results of which are taken up into the heavens and retuned to us as magnificent sunsets, roiling clouds, and acidic rain. Extreme weather events pound the planet; hurricanes, volcanic ash, flooding and drought all draw our gaze upwards. Yet no matter how surreal, how political, how dangerous it is, we still look to the sky for solace, and there is nothing like it to bring us back to earth.
In conjunction with our exhibition in the main gallery, we are presenting a new, site-specific installation by Val Britton. Her immersive work suggests fragmented, exploded landscapes, or in this case skyscapes. Britton received her MFA from California College of the Arts. She is the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships, and residencies and her work is included in many prominent collections across the country. She currently lives in Seattle, WA.
The Shape of Change
April 10 - 14, 2018
1275 Minnesota Street / Atrium, San Francisco, California
In honor of Equal Pay Day 2018, Gallery Wendi Norris has partnered with Hired, a job marketplace that matches tech talent with the world’s most innovative companies, to present a curated project that will foster creative problem solving and dialogue around wage inequality.
The Shape of Change presents a commissioned body of work by artist Val Britton, curated in direct response to Hired’s 2018 Women, Work, and the State of Wage Inequality Report, which calculates current trends in tech salaries, particularly highlighting the wage gap between men and women in the field, as well as gaps across race, sexuality and age.
The installation will transform the atrium with two mixed media paintings on paper and a sculptural installation made up of cut paper and string. The work stems from Britton’s interpretation of the statistical analyses which become transmuted into visual elements, i.e. shapes, forms, and colors. She extracts ratios and statistics from the report to be converted into concrete masses. These abstract, geometric visual elements are imbued with Hired’s report data, yet remain open for audiences to explore a multitude of potential meanings.
Britton creates a material representation of the state of wage inequality to be corporeally understood and acknowledged. Her work allows the data to take shape and occupy space, engaging the viewer’s visceral response in hopes of changing the way we move through our current socio-economic environment.
Val Britton is a charter resident of the Artist Studio Program at Minnesota Street Project.
ART DUBAI 2018
Gallery Hall 2 | Booth D9 March 21-24, 2018
Gallery Wendi Norris returns to Art Dubai and will present a curated exhibition titled Wanderlust, featuring rare 1970s folded paintings by Peter Young, new photographic abstractions by Yamini Nayar, and a site-specific suspended sculpture by Val Britton. Together, the installation explores the mysterious notions found in places unknown or unattainable.
Art Dubai - Building 7
Dubai Design District (d3)
PO Box 72645, Dubai, UAE
T +971 4 563 1400
GROUP HANG Public Exhibition of New Work by FB AIRs
Facebook's Artist in Residence Program (FB AIR) is pleased to announce its first major public exhibition, *Group Hang.* The show will take place at The Lab, a nonprofit art space located in San Francisco's Mission District, and will be open to members of the public of all ages.
*Group Hang* marks the fifth anniversary of the founding of the FB AIR program, and features new work by 50 artists who have since completed site-specific installations and/or special projects at Facebook's corporate headquarters in Menlo Park. *Group Hang* will launch with a public opening reception on Saturday, August 19 and will be on view through Saturday, September 16, with opening hours from Weds–Sun, 12–7PM.
Detritus
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
560 South First Street, San Jose, California
Exhibition: June 25 - September 10, 2017
Opening Reception: Sunday, June 25th, 2-4pm
Headlands Center for the Arts 2017 Benefit Art Auction
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
VIP Preview 5:30PM
General Admission 6:30PM
Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason
Center for Arts & Culture
2 Marina Boulevard, San Francisco
Seeking Civilization: Art and Cartography
Gallery Wendi Norris
161 Jessie Street, San Francisco, CA
Exhibition: March 23 - May 6, 2017
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