Naomi VanDoren
Letter of Interest
Emeryville Bus Shelter
From Fertile Ground Art & Innovation
Art Concept and Proposal:
Emeryville, a city marked by the fusion of technology and nature, has undergone a remarkable transformation from its industrial past to its thriving present. My public art proposal, "From Fertile Ground Art and Innovation," aims to capture the city s spirit by presenting four fictional settings that reflect its unique essence. Each artwork visually represents transformation, honoring the city s innovative and restorative spirit, and highlights a thriving mixture of nature within an urban landscape.
Approach:
As a fantasy and surreal artist, I strive to create immersive experiences that engage viewers imaginations while highlighting the real world context inspiring the work. In this project, I have blended abstract elements with subtle references to Emeryville s landmarks, native plants, and wildlife. Each fictional setting depicts the city s transformation from past to present, with concealed elements hinting at its evolution.
I was immediately drawn to this prompt, which inspired me to create the corresponding preliminary artwork. The four pieces for this proposal are still in a rough form and require a bit more polish before they can be considered finished and ready for release.
Attachment 1
Inspiration:
As a surreal and fantasy artist, my work is deeply inspired by nature and the seamless integration of technology with the natural world. Emeryville s ongoing revitalization and commitment to sustainable development greatly influence my art. I find inspiration in my daily walks through the city, appreciating its quiet natural spaces, convenient transportation options, and vibrant community. As a resident artist, I am excited to create pieces that celebrate the city s renewal, ignite the imagination, and reference real world experiences, merging the fantastical or surreal with the familiar.
Challenges:
A primary challenge is balancing abstraction and representation. While I wish to maintain creative freedom, honoring Emeryville s distinct identity is crucial. To achieve this, I have selected key references for each painting (e.g., mudflat artwork, overpasses, skylines, and rail lines) and included the many natural references to hint at our location. My daily walks around Emeryville have provided valuable observations and references from landmarks, wildlife, and native plants.
Conclusion:
"From Fertile Ground Art and Innovation" captures the spirit of Emeryville by presenting fictional settings that showcase its unique blend of technology and nature.
The artwork will invite viewers to explore the city s past, present, and future through visual storytelling, serving as a testament to the power of innovation and environmental resilience. I am eager to bring this vision to life, hoping the final artwork will inspire residents and visitors to appreciate Emeryville s transformative journey and enrich their lives by reminding them that creativity is everywhere, even in the day to day.
michele théberge
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
From Fertile ground – Art and Innovation
April 14, 2023
Dear Emeryville Public Art Committee,
In the 12 years I have been working from my Emeryville studio I have been inspired by the ample biodiversity even within its small urban boundaries. On a recent walk, I was able to catalog at least 13 different California species that have been planted nearby.
My proposal is to create four unique collages incorporating native California plants. Plants are so important to humans and I want to highlight, celebrate and express gratitude for them and their foundational importance to the biotechnology being innovated all around us here. Previously, I chose to approach the Temporary Bus Shelter project with naturalistic watercolor paintings of local bird species combined with hand painted inspiring quotes relating to avian species. I am so grateful to have had to opportunity to share my love of Emeryville, nature, and art 11 years ago and would be thrilled to undertake another project continuing sharing the local species with the public.
I have studied native plants for many years and have deepest respect for the intelligence of plant life and their essential and vital importance in our ecosystem. I have converted my own yard from invasive Bermuda grass and blackberries to over 50 species of native California shrubs, plants, and trees. I honor and respect the local Lisjan Ohlone people who lived in reciprocity with this entire ecosystem for so many thousands of years and continue to use our plant neighbors in their medicines and ceremonies.
The medium of collage itself is a fertile ground for experimentation, not bound by any one material.
Much like the innovation that happens in the biotech companies so close to me, in my studio I merge materials from the earth with the human made. I employ ochre and sienna pigments sourced from the earth with quinacridones and phthalocyanines synthesized in labs. I mix paper from trees and cotton plants with nylon and synthetic textiles. From these materials I cut shapes inspired by botanical forms, rocks, moon, sun, and mountains to combine with the collected natural materials.
My art also reveals the unseen world – this fertile ground of energy and spirit from which the physical world springs forth. The inspired forms, shapes, textures seek not to imitate life but to and reveal patterns and relationships that extend beyond what our logical right brains can comprehend.
Each artwork is a packet of understanding and knowledge to be uniquely decoded by the heart of the viewer, just as our DNA is a richly encoded structure from which our physical bodies are developed.
The layering of transparent, translucent pours of acrylics with sheer or loosely woven textiles refers
to the depth of ways of perceiving and processing reality from the micro to the macro, from physical reality to the realms of consciousness.
Plant life is so essential to our well-being most essentially to our existence – they generously create the oxygen we breathe. Yet so few of us can identify the plants that surround us by name. We walk by an abundance of food and medicinal plants daily without realizing what they have to offer.
My intention is to not only pay homage to these important plants but to invite Emeryville residents, workers, and visitors to become more familiar with the local plants by naming them and highlighting them in these works. I hope to title the works with their Chochenyno names, thereby honoring not only the plant’s significance but our gratitude to the original people of this land. My wish is share with others the joy and appreciation for the rich abundance that surrounds us each day.
Thank you for this opportunity and taking the time to hear my ideas.
Respectfully,
Michele Théberge
michele théberge
selected public commissions, awards, residencies
2022 Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, All Together Now 2019 University of California, San Francisco Precision Cancer Medical Building, three paintings commissioned
San Francisco Arts Commission Prequalified Artist Pool
In Cahoots Artist Residency, Petaluma, California
2014 City of Emeryville Temporary Bus Shelter Project, Public Art Commission, California Center for Cultural Innovation Grant, San Francisco, California 2006 Morris Graves Foundation Residency, Loleta, California 2000 Judge’s Choice Award, California Small Works, Sonoma Museum of Visual Arts
selected solo exhibitions
2019 You Are My Heaven, Fourth Wall Gallery, Oakland, California 2017 Seeds of Hope: A Project in Support of Immigrants, New Museum of Los Gatos, California & The Laundry Gallery, San Francisco, California
2014 The Sky Touches Every World, a.Muse Gallery, San Francisco, California 2013 This Quiet World, Butte College Art Gallery, Oroville, California 2007 Harmony in My Head, Bocana Gallery, San Francisco, California 2006 Breathing Room, Works/San Jose, San Jose, California 2005 Into the Open, Lisa Coscino Gallery, Pacific Grove, California 2004 A Certain Tiny Ecstasy, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California
selected group exhibitions
2023 Spiritual Visions, Fontbonne University Art Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri 2022 Positive/Negative 37 National Juried Art Exhibition, Slocumb Galleries, Johnson City, Tennessee
selected group exhibitions, continued
2022 Art Bridge, Dotouan, Sakai, Japan
Emeryville Celebration of the Arts, Emeryville, California 2021 Art Bridge, Irohani Gallery, Sakai, Japan
2021, Flat File Gallery, New York, NY (online exhibition) Emeryville Celebration of the Arts, Emeryville, California 2020 Bird, Nest, Nature, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, California Gatherings, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, Washington Gatherings, Gail Severn Gallery, Sun Valley, Idaho
Emeryville Celebration of the Arts, Emeryville, California 2019 Recent Works on Paper, Avenue 64 Gallery, Emeryville, California International Art Bridge, Irohani Gallery, Sakai, Japan Emeryville Celebration of the Arts, Emeryville, California 2018 Introductions 2018, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, New York Emeryville Celebration of the Arts, Emeryville, California 2017 Art Bridge, Sakai City Museum, Sakai, Japan
Art Bridge, Irohani Gallery, Sakai, Japan
About Abstraction: Bay Area Women Painters, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, California Emeryville Celebration of the Arts, Emeryville, California 2016 Pacific Bridge, Irohani Gallery, Sakai, Japan
2015 A Sense of Place, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta, Georgia Positive, Negative, Tipton Gallery, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee 2014 Kalassal, Kala Institute, Berkeley, California
Emeryville Celebration for the Arts, Emeryville, California 2013 Berkeley-Sakai Art Bridge Museum of Kyoto and Sakai Cultural Hall, Japan 2011 Chain Letter, Shoshanna Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, California Mail to, Drift Station Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska
2010 Proof of Purchase, Samson Projects, Boston, Massachusetts 2009 Altered States: The Collection in Context, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa, California
selected group exhibitions, continued
POP NOIR, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California
2008 Art Cologne, (Michael Rosenthal Gallery), Cologne, Germany Aqua Art Fair, (Michael Rosenthal Gallery), Miami, Florida Art Now, (Michael Rosenthal Contemporary Art) New York, New York 2007 Red Dot Fair, (Michael Rosenthal Contemporary Art), Miami Beach, Florida Bridge Art Fair, (Michael Rosenthal Contemporary Art), London, England Marks, Lisa Coscino Gallery, Pacific Grove, California
Moshi Moshi! Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California
2006 Sakai-Berkeley Art Exchange Exhibition, Sakai Cultural Hall, Osaka Prefecture, Japan Monotype Marathon 2006, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, California 2005 Bay Area Bazaar, Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery, Portland, Oregon International Mail Art Invitational, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates 2002 Unwearable Art: Clothing in New Media, Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco, California
Think Again, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California 2000 California Small Works, Sonoma Museum of Visual Art, Santa Rosa, California Garments, WomanMade Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
education
2004 M.F.A. Painting and Drawing, California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco, California 1988 B.A. cum laude, French, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 1988 B.F.A. Painting & Drawing, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts 1985 Université de Strasbourg, France
Art Concept / Jess Cook
From Fertile Ground – Art and Innovation
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
My inspiration for these artworks draws heavily on the natural world in flux, but also more provocatively, the pull between history and now and the wildly contrasting versions of our future that residents hold – the tensions between authenticity and purity and advancement and capital. Captivated by the potential of doing good by all - by the original inhabitants of this land - and generating good with the resources we have available. The art I create is meant to contribute to Emeryville being a landscape of curiosity and inquisitiveness: sparking interest through aesthetics.
Emotional Investment in Emeryville
As a part-time resident in Emeryville’s marina, I watch my 4-year-old son’s fascination and my own learning as we observe the seasons, the shifts, the injustice, the glory - and direct human impact on the bay. The bluster and bruise of storms, the vibrancy of pelicans fishing overhead in the midst of a gale, the migrations of waterfowl, moonrise over the ridge, the ferries and commercial fishing boats announcing their return from sea, endless play in the parks, the red tide rise, the deluge of human waste overflow, the regal presence of herons, intermittent and ethereal found object artworks propped on the stone retaining walls, feeding crabs discovered by the light of a headlamp. As windsurfers and recreationists, my partner and I have traversed the bay waters between Emeryville and Berkeley countless times under all sorts of wind; we have biked on work commutes through Emeryville, swum in the community center pool, patronized Arizmendi bakery as devotees, completed projects while sipping at Peets, shared Peruvian food) and played at the whale playground at The Public Market. We have taken the Emery Go-Round (our son’s first-ever bus experience) and public bus system and pointed out artworks – at the bus shelters, under the overpass, over doors and in plazas – as we moved throughout the city with our little one. This is a life that has harbored in the Emeryville Marina for over 8 years, critical years of creating partnership and growing a family. Contributing my own experiences and aesthetic to spaces in the city that encourage looking up and out at public transit stops would be providing a bit of myself in gratitude to the complexities of this place.
Artistic Evolution & Technique
As an artist I spent years with drawing and charcoal, which evolved into printmaking during my tenure at Clark University, then papercut, block printing, and photography for personal projects. After moving to Oakland in 2015 I rediscovered stencils, this time as it connects to street art traditions and social justice art traditions.
Now I hand cut stencils shaped by my own rendering style, and utilize water-based spray paint, enabling a layering of rich tones and high contrast. I have shared skills with children in art-making, photography, and mural-making, and now am a part-time art exploration partner to our four-year-old son. My spray stencil work predominantly draws inspiration from the natural world, as well as cultural references. I am currently drawn to site-specific botanicals with unique histories and living stories to tell. My works have been featured on the walls of a collective children’s space in a historic Barcelona mill building, a two-story fanciful treehouse in Napa, and in interior decor for private homes.
Concept Piece 1: Skeletons as Structure
With prolific aquatic life as inspiration, this piece plays with the idea that paying attention to nature and history will be our salvation in a rapidly changing world - that even our technology gains dramatically when mimicking biological mechanisms. Crustacean exoskeletons (as well as those of insects and mycelium) provide a sugar compound called chitosan, which has endless possible uses - with the ability to transfer kinetic to electrical energy, enable medical devices, and create alternative fabrics. The backdrop of the Ohlone Emeryville shellmound reminds us to honor and learn from history, and make just space for living traditions - through which we can learn to care for the earth and for community.
Concept Piece 2: Red Tide
A microscopic look at the red tide algae, Heterosigma akashiwo, alongside a life-size rendering of the ancient bay-dweller sturgeon, leads us to question the connection, and maybe find moments of beauty and hope amidst tragedy.
Concept Piece 3: Ephemerality
In the tide zone everything is ephemeral: shifting with the tides, the seasons, the storms. The mudflats and scrub brush provide a critical ecosystem function - filtering, cleaning at the interface of ocean/bay and convergence of land and watershed. Their shift and gifts also continuously provide inspiration to makers, puttering with found objects washed ashore, casual architects, and artists with a larger vision. The driftwood art movement in the Emeryville mudflats documented in the 60’s and 70’s and continued today along different parts of the Emeryville shoreline give way to a background of freeway crisscrossing and Oakland’s wastewater treatment plant.
Concept Piece 4: Filter
This piece draws on the power of microorganisms and natural processes to provide essential filtering and cleaning services along Emeryvilles coastline, illuminating the macro effect of individual micro in nature, questions of water quality and waste, and the essential wonder of nature in its details.
Jess ca Cook — Recent Works Husk Cherry Inter or Shutters (stenc l/spray) Bottle Tree stenc l Casa Del Arbol Treehouse (stenc l/spray) Working Hands (Moku Hanga pr nt) Ash Homage (stenc l/spray Hands’ Energy (charcoal & nk)
Preliminary Image: Skeletons as Structure
Concept Sketch: Red Tide
Concept Sketch: Ephemerality
Concept Sketch: Filter
Concept Sketch: Olympia
(stencil to incorporate images of agriculture,
Ohlone shellmound, gold mining, in textures
of the Oyster shell)
Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
Statement:
My pain�ngs inves�gate overlooked moments of my everyday surroundings. I am drawn to the rela�onship between natural and humanmade forms and use snapshots from my daily walks as reference. Fences, gates, and windows o�en become framing devices that natural elements either have to nego�ate or sit comfortably within. Saturated colors, paterns and textures create dense images which incorporate light and shadow as graphic elements. The pain�ngs ul�mately become studies of the formal issues of color, patern, and composi�on.
I work in Emeryville and o�en go on walks throughout the city on my lunchbreak. I’ve made pain�ngs and drawings from the things I see in Emeryville. I plan to make pain�ngs and drawings that use Emeryville as inspira�on that invite the viewer to take a closer look at the quiet moments in their immediate surroundings.
Bio:
Lisa Rock is an ar�st born in Massachusets who lives and paints in Oakland. She received her MFA in Studio Art from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and her BFA in Pain�ng from the Rhode Island School of Design. Recent solo exhibi�ons include: Overgrowth at Johansson Projects in Oakland in 2022, Merge Visible at NIAD Art Center in Richmond, CA in 2017 and a solo exhibi�on at the Monterey Museum of Art's Currents gallery in 2018. Rock was an ar�st in residence at the Vermont Studio Center and an ar�st in residence at the Black Rock Desert NCA (AIR) program Summer of 2022.
Applicant:
Lisa Rock
Employer:
45th Street Ar�sts’ Coopera�ve, Inc.
Recommended
Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
Not Recommended
Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
Lisa Rock
1239 E. 22nd St. Unit B, Oakland, CA 94606
[email protected]
lisa-rock.com
978-618-4956
Education
Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
2015 MFA, Painting, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 2007 BFA, Painting, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI Solo Exhibitions
2022 Overgrowth, Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA
2018 Monterey Museum of Art: Year of the Woman. Current and Flux Gallery. Monterey, CA 2017 Merge Visible, NIAD Art Center Annex Space, Richmond, CA 2015 Paradise, Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, Las Vegas, NV 2015 Dots & Stripes, Grant Hall Gallery UNLV, Las Vegas, NV Two-Person Exhibitions
2022 Leave No Trace in Collaboration with Courtney Sennish, McKinley Arts Center, Reno, NV Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Root Division’s Annual Art Auction, San Francisco, CA ICA San Jose Art Auction: “In Their Own Words,” San Jose, CA 2021 Still-Life-s, Available Space Art Project, Las Vegas, NV 35th Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition, Emeryville, CA
Two or Three Things I know About Abstraction, Summerlin Library, Summerlin, Nevada 2020 42nd Annual Juried Show, H.A.R.D., Hayward, CA
2016 27th Annual Juried Show, Contemporary Art Center, Las Vegas, NV. 2015 3rd Annual Juried Art Show, Piedmont Center for the Arts, Piedmont, CA.
Zap! 7: The Artists that took over Maryland Parkway, Nevada Humanities Project Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
UNLV Group Show, Brett Wesley Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
Out of Vegas, CCA Galleries, Oakland, CA
The Auction, MCQ Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2014 Comedians and Magicians: curated by Andreana Donahue, Trifecta Gallery, Las Vegas, NV 2013 Art Odyssey, Life is Beautiful Festival, Las Vegas, NV Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
Selected Works by UNLV MFA Candidates, Trifecta Gallery, Las Vegas ,NV In-Between, Contemporary Art Center, Las Vegas curated by Lisa Rock GLAMFA, Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
2012 Splitting Image: Sam Carr-Prindle and Lisa Rock, Some Walls, Oakland, CA Double Vision:
Sam Carr-Prindle and Applicant, Classic Cars West Gallery, Oakland, CA 2011 6ARTISTS, Parts Room Gallery, Oakland, CA
Solo Show, Bonny Doon Vineyards, Santa Cruz, CA
2010 Farnum Six: September 10, 2010 at Lowe Mill, Huntsville, Alabama 2009 New Index Paintings, Motiv, Santa Cruz, CA Midsummer Saltations, the Art Store, Charleston West Virginia
Expand the Room 2nd Annual Art Show, Spin Magazine, New York NY Publications
2021 https://www.ktnv.com/vegas-things-to-do/still-life-s-showcases-artists-with-las-vegasconnections-from-watercolors-to-tattoos-to-photography 2016 LVL3 Artist of the Week: http://lvl3media.com/artist-of-the-week-lisa-rock/ 2014 https://lasvegasweekly.com/ae/fine-art/2014/jun/04/witty-works-humble-materials- trifecta/ Awards/Residencies
2022 Black Rock High Rock Desert (AIR), Gerlach, NV
2015 Zap7: Maryland Parkway, painted mural on utility box for Clark County, NV UNLV GPSA Sponsorship Recipient Spring Semester
2014 Zap6, Utility Box Painting, alternate, Clark County, NV 2013 Vermont Studio Center, July Resident, Johnson, VT
UNLV GPSA Sponsorship Recipient Spring Semester
Teaching Experience
2021 Youth Art Instructor, Adobe Art Center, Castro Valley, CA 2017-2020 Youth & Adult Art Instructor, Studio One Art Center, Oakland, CA Lisa Rock
Sharon Wilchar Temporary Art Bus Shelter Program
2016 Drawing Instructor, Cañada College, Redwood City, CA 2012-2015 Drawing/2D Design Instructor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Lectures
2020 Color Conversations, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA Art Bus Shelter Program
The City of Emeryville Public Art Program
PROPOSAL Submitted by Grégoire Vion
1 - Intent and Approach – Connections
As a life-long creative and innovator, I’ve always thought of the city – with its intricate physical and social features and configuration, and its wonderfully inhabitants– as an especially fertile ground.
And I am also fascinated by the natural world, but in my mind, these two realms are not so distant; I see effervescence, and wonder equally in both realms, and especially beauty in connections, in how we travel back and forth between culture and nature, the physical and the intangible.
My paintings are most often improvised - I first apply color to the canvas in broad spontaneous strokes, let shapes and hues fall where they may. Then I consider this first, lose level of expression and begin to outline with white paint the areas that seem particularly promising, and with the same white pigment, blank out what seems inert, but of course these white fields - the in-betweeness – take a life or their own, and I observe that carefully as well, shaping and refining emptiness as much as what is full. Meaning begins to arise, in the positive and negative forms, and true joy comes from seeing the harmony rise through it all. My work is all about connectivity, about finding beauty in all beings and things, and very much in the space between things.
My career as painter is preceded by 30 years as graphic designer; in that capacity I have often worked with scientists (and again as recently as last month, as it happens), in conversation with them creating images that help support their research and represent the essence of it in a concise, accessible manner. My art studio in Emeryville is surrounded by biotech companies, this theme of Fertile Ground you propose is an invitation I cannot resist.
Bus Shelter / G.Vion 1
2 - Resume
Born in Ermont, France, Grégoire Vion earned a Master's degree in product design from the Ecole Supérieure de Design Industriel in Paris.
Grégoire’s graphic work has garnered numerous awards and has been featured in Print, How, Communication Arts and other graphic trade publications and books, also in exhibitions at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts of San Francisco and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He has taught Corporate Identity Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He provides consulting and art direction services in design and illustration to a broad clientele; from local food retail to international biotech, print and multimedia publishing, institutions, consumer-goods, health care, and more.
In 2012, Grégoire began shifting the core of his activity from commercial graphic design to fine arts, working mostly in soft pastel on paper and more recently in acrylic on canvas. He works as a full-time artist in Emeryville, at the Compound Studios in Emeryville.
More of his paintings can be seen online at . For information and samples of his commercial graphic work, please visit grgwr.com.
Grégoire Vion
email:
web:
Instagram:
phone/text:
Bus Shelter / G.Vion 2
3b - Paintings
A seed in the ground, and then growth upward, and from there flying beyond.
Bus Shelter / G.Vion 5
3c - Paintings
A world of pliable surfaces, self-organizing and expanding.
Bus Shelter / G.Vion 6
3d - Paintings
This one is all about flow, and things moving in time.
Bus Shelter / G.Vion 7
3e - Paintings
Pushing oneself and growing beyond artificial restrictions and constraints.
Bus Shelter / G.Vion 8
3f - Paintings
Again, a merging of organic and manufactured forms, connecting and inviting the explorer.
Bus Shelter / G.Vion 9
3g - Paintings
This one is on one level about music (see the keyboard evoked on the left) but more generally about energy, a cultural world alive with of vibrations at all scales.
Bus Shelter / G.Vion 10
Erin Fong
Letter of Interest:
I am excited to submit my proposal for the Emeryville Art in Public Places Program. As an artist who has lived and worked in Emeryville for over a decade, I am passionate about creating art that celebrates the community and connects people through the surprise and delight of color.
My proposal, "Local Color," features four unique designs for the four different bus routes in Emeryville. Each design features an individual color palette inspired by the surrounding environment. Each bus route's design will be unique and reflective of the particular surroundings it passes through. For example, the color palette for the route that passes by the Bay Street shopping center could incorporate the colors of the storefronts and signage, while the palette for the route that goes by the Emeryville marina could incorporate the colors of the water and local flora and fauna. This approach will create a sense of cohesion and recognition for each route, while also highlighting the distinctive characteristics of each area with the goal of encouraging viewers to notice and appreciate the beauty of their surroundings.
Studies have shown that the practice of noticing our environment and its colors can have a positive impact on our mental health and promote overall well-being. By incorporating intentional color choices into public spaces, we can create environments that promote positive emotional and physical health for all members of the community. As an artist with a background in letterpress and color matching, I have a deep appreciation for the psychological impact of color and its ability to create connections between people and their environment. I am including general mockups of the designs, though if selected, I will walk each bus route to identify the specific colors that passengers may see along the route.
By exploring Emeryville through the lens of color, I am able to showcase the diverse elements that make up the city. It is a dynamic amalgamation of big-box stores, biotech companies, artist studios, and breathtaking natural scenery. As an artist committed to human connection, community building, and color, I am confident that my proposal embodies the core pillars of my work while also celebrating the fertile ground of Emeryville.
Additionally, by encouraging viewers to notice and appreciate the beauty of their surroundings, my proposal creates opportunities for individuals to feel a deeper connection to the city and natural surroundings.
Overall, I am thrilled about the opportunity to contribute to the Emeryville Art in Public Places Program and to create art that reflects the vibrancy and diversity of our little city. I am confident that my experience and passion for color will allow me to create a series of designs that will engage and delight all who pass through Emeryville. Thank you for considering my proposal.
Preliminary Images
Option 1 - Color block swatches. These are sample layouts pulled from a mural I painted with the same concept. I would provide a digital file once I compile the colors of Emeryville.
Option 2 - Airbrush spots. Examples of a painting series that I’ve done but could be translated to this concept. I would create the paintings based on the matched colors and the paintings would be photographed.
Bio + Experience:
I am an accomplished letterpress printer and emerging artist based in Emeryville, CA with over 13 years of industry experience. Throughout my career, I have focused on creating unique artist books and editions, working alongside bookbinders and other letterpress printers. In fact, I co-founded Western Editions, a letterpress studio that specialized in custom design and small-batch printing while also producing artist prints and curating gallery shows with my co-founder for seven years.
In 2019, I shifted my focus to prioritize my personal studio practice and began creating work that celebrates the power of color, human connection, and experimentation. Along the way, I have collaborated with a diverse range of commercial brands like Hush Puppies and Allbirds, have created work for offices like Square HQ and the Google Artist in Residence program, and have printed colophons and text for several artist editions, including renowned names such as Maira Kalman, Clare Rojas, Malick Sidiblé, and Wayne Thiebaud.
As a professional artist, I excel at creating public art that engages the community through social practice. For instance, at the Jewish Community Center, I curated a letterpress print and paint station as part of the Stern Grove Festival. Visitors were encouraged to create postcards while taking a moment to reflect and write thoughtful notes. My approach included stamps and a mailbox for easy mailing to remove that barrier. Another example of my work in public art with a social practice element has been with the San Francisco Ferry Building for two years in a row in 2021 and 2022, coinciding with Earth Day. I was commissioned to create a piece that enlivened and filled the space after vendors left due to Covid. In 2021, I gathered responses from the community answering the question "How are you an ally to Earth?" and letterpressed these responses into a colorful array spanning 88 feet. Utilizing this same concept in 2022, I worked with local shops and vendors at the Ferry Building to share their sustainability practices to fill the hallway. Through these projects, I have developed a deep understanding of how to create public art that is not only visually striking but also encourages community engagement and social change.
My largest solo exhibition to date, The Sensation of Color, recently debuted at Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek in January, where I filled the spacious 3500 square foot gallery with prints, paintings, and two large-scale site-specific installations, all centered around the ways in which color impacts our daily lives often in subconscious ways. Building on this exploration of color and my appreciation of nature, my proposal for the Emeryville Bus Shelter draws from my daily walking practice, which has honed my ability to notice the colors and details of my surroundings. As an artist with a background in color matching, I am uniquely positioned to create a shelter that not only serves its functional purpose but also acts as a beautiful and thought-provoking piece of public art. I have already successfully executed a similar project in 2022, when I was commissioned to paint a 40' mural at the bustling corner of Hayes Street and Divisadero in my former neighborhood.
Using my walks around the area as inspiration, I carefully matched 27 colors that reflect the vibrant hues found in the surrounding environment. I believe that my experience in this type of public art makes me the ideal candidate for this project and I am excited to bring my vision to the Emeryville community.
EXHIBITIONS
2023 The Sensation of Color, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA | solo show 2022 Emeryville Celebration of the Arts, Emeryville, CA | group show 2022 Faith, Hopes, and Dreams, Realm Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | group show 2021 Emeryville Celebration of the Arts, Emeryville, CA | group show 2020 The Friendship Project, Rare Device, San Francisco, CA | solo show 2019 The Friendship Project, Wild Child Children's Museum, Oakland, CA 2018 Emeryville Celebration of the Arts, Emeryville, CA | group show 2017 The Peep Show, Mule Gallery, San Francisco, CA | Co-curated 2016 Greetings From California, Alite Gallery, San Francisco, CA | duo show EDUCATION + OPPORTUNITIES
2022 Google Artist in Residence
2022 Rare Device Mural commission
2022 Ferry Building Earth Day commission
2022 Square HQ commission
2021 Ferry Building Earth Day commission
2019 California College of the Arts Letterpress Instructor 2019 In Cahoots Residency | March
2012 San Francisco Center for the Book | Non-profit volunteer 2009-2012 Codex Foundation | Non-profit volunteer
2004-2009 University of Nevada, Reno
Liberal Arts degree with a focus in studio art, women’s studies, and sociology.
ALTERNATES
Letter of Interest
I have lived in Emeryville on the Bay in Watergate condos for fifteen years since our move from Pennsylvania. I discovered this refuge, this little heaven, peaceful and inspiring sanctuary right here in the crowded East Bay, closest to San Francisco city.
Emeryville Marina has been a constant source of inspiration for me and my creativity. I walk along the Bay every morning and rejoice in the movement and energy of waves, clouds, birds, plants, and trees. Since the very beginning of this year, we have seen severe weather and heavy winds and rains that have ravaged many of the Marina trees who have been my constant companions for the last 15 years. I felt very saddened and shocked and was reminded of the Creek and Diablo range wildfires in 2020 in which the Emeryville Marina experienced orange smoke in the air. I can’t forget the eerie feeling that morning as I went for the walk despite the bad air quality. It was painful when I saw the red sun and deep orange atmosphere. I took pictures of the trees of Marina as they appeared black against orange. I returned home and did several sketches of these trees and charcoal. Looking at these drawings I feel closure now that at least I have preserved the images of those trees which are lost to us forever. However, the Bay is always an area of hope and inspiration for me. The birds come and gather on the rocks and take the wing and fly in murmuration. As they fly in formations, I see them appear and as they turn, now I do not see them. Watching the dance of the waves and the birds gives me hope and the pleasure of living in Emeryville. I am always inspired and have written poems and created paintings to remember them.
Following are two poems which express my two themes in this proposalO Tree When I saw you in that fiery orange light
You appeared as black burnt wood
Wildfires are burning your sisters
Were you mourning?
Sun is behind the layer of orange
Smoke has filled the air
I want to save you
Preserve you
Sing with you
Recreate in my art
My memory is etched
In solidarity with your family
I will grieve with you
And grow more trees…
Birds and the Waves
I watch these birds at the Bay shore,
Flying together as community,
Chirping, laughing, flying freely.
I marvel at their speed and flexibility,
Turning bodies upside down with agility
Making sharp U turns,
Keeping the same distance
And holding all together
They never collide or hurt each other,
Neither push to go in front of another
Like waves they swirl above the waters
Absorbing the new energy of the new day
Complying with the order of the Nature willingly…
On my daily walks around the Bay, I have been documenting with images and voice memos that will become a collection of “Unfolding Stories: Every Morning at the Bay,” a series of paintings and accompanying poems that convey the Bay’s tranquility and natural beauty.
Salma Arastu
Salma Arastu
Painter, sculptor, poet
As an internationally exhibited woman artist I bring a unique global perspective due to the fact that I was born into the Sindhi and Hindu traditions in Rajasthan, India, and later embraced Islam and moved to USA in 1986. As a woman, artist, and mother, I work to create harmony by expressing the universality of humanity through paintings, sculpture, calligraphy and poetry. Inspired by the imagery, sculpture and writings of my Indian heritage and Islamic spirituality, I use my artistic voice to break down the barriers that divide to foster peace and understanding. At birth I was given the life-defining challenge of a left hand without fingers. Seeing the unity of an all-encompassing God, I was able to transcend the barriers often set-forth in the traditions of religion, culture, and the cultural perceptions of handicaps. My works are lyrical, spiritual, figurative, and calligraphic. I have tried to bring together Eastern spirituality and Western techniques of painting learned over the years. Through the contrasting elements in my work, I yearn and search for unity balance.
My works are greatly influenced by my studies and experiences in different cultures around the world.
After graduating in Fine Arts from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda, India, I lived and worked in Iran and Kuwait, where I was exposed to a wealth of Islamic arts and Arabic calligraphy. Calligraphy, miniatures, and the folk art of Islam and the Hindu tradition continue to influence my work today.
I was invited to Germany twice, first as a Resident Artist in 2000 at Schwabisch Gmund and again in the Spring of 2011, by the Westphalia Wilhelm University in Münster, Germany invited to publish my paper “Art Informed by Spirituality” in the publication on the International Symposium: ‘God Loves Beauty:
Post Modern Views on Religion and Art. I have presented my work and given talks at Stanford University, Commonwealth of San Francisco, Seattle University, Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley, and Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis Missouri. I was invited to Morocco for a onemonth Artist Residency Program in March of 2018 through Green Olives art Gallery.
As a visual artist I have had 45 solo shows nationally and internationally and have won several prestigious awards including the East Bay Community’s Fund for Artists in 2012 and 2014 and 2020. The City of Berkeley’s Individual Artist Grant Award in 2014, 2015, and 2016. I have public art pieces on display in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and San Diego, California and I have also written and published five books on my art and poetry including my recent with ecological consciousness from Quranic verses “Our Earth: Embracing All Communities.”
Inspired From
Emeryville Marina
Salma Arastu
Birds and The
Waves-I Acrylics
and Pen & Ink
Birds and The Waves-II
Paper, Acrylics and
Pen & Ink
Birds and The Waves-III
Acrylics and Pen & Ink
Trees-I
Rust &
Charcoal
Trees-II
Rust & Charcoal
Trees-III
Rust & Charcoal
Salma Arastu
Selected Recent Solo Shows
• Lindsay Dirkx Brown Galley, San Ramon, We Are All One: How Did We Get Separated? March 1st to March 31st, 2023
• Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Albany, Our Earth: Embracing All Communities, April1st to 30th, 2021.
• Think Round Fine Art, San Francisco, Meditations on Rumi, January 9th to March 10th, 2021. • Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Oakland, Memory Vignettes, March 1st to May 31st, 2020
• Graduate Theological Institute Library Gallery, Berkeley, California, Seeking Oneness, October 11th to January 11th, 2019.
• Arts at CIIS, San Francisco, California, Myth & Mystery, March 18-June 30, 2018 • ArtReach, First Congregational Church, Portland,Oregon, April 2 through May 2017 • Peninsula Art Museum, Burlingame, CA, January 17-March 23, 2016 • Multicultural Center, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA September 30 to December 11, 2015
• Museum of Contemporary Religious Art. St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO September 13--December 6, 2015
• Levantine Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA, March 2015 • Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA, September-November 2014 • Robert Graves Gallery, Wenatchee Valley College, Wenatchee, WA, Feb-March 2014 • Art @ the Y, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, March-April 2013 Dominican University Gallery, San Rafael, CA 2012
King Gallery, Unitarian Universalist at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 2012 A temporary exhibition, Art in Embassies, US Department of State, US Embassy Rangoon, Burma.2011-2013
• Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, CA 2011
• CIIS-California Institute of Integral Studies Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2009 • Chandler Fine Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2007
• ArtJaz Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 2006
• The Hope Horn Gallery, Scranton University, Scranton, PA 2005 • Fayberger Gallery, Penn State University, Reading, PA 2005 • Radford University Art Museum, Radford University, Radford, VA 2005 Selected Recent Group Shows
• The Natural Other, Mercury 20, Oakland, March 31st to 6th April 2023 • Bay Area figurative from Abstraction, Uncle Credit Union gallery, Livermore, CA, February 14 to April 23, 2023
• Women Of Northern California: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA March 1st to March 31st 2023
• Stories from My Childhood: NIU Art Museum, Northern Illinois University DeKalb, IL, Nov29th 2022 to Feb17th 2023
• The Language of Nature: Luna Gallery, San Juan Bautista, California, October 1st -November 20,
2022
• 36th Emeryville Annual Art Show, Emeryville, California, October 2 – 31, 2022 • Essential Truths: bay Area Artists in Color, Sanchez Art center, Pacifica, CA 15th July-15th August,2022
• Eco-artwork: 11 Artists from 8 Countries, Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, June 25 – July 30, 2022
• THE WILD SIDE: California Women Celebrate the Untamed, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, June 18 – August 13, 2022
• 35th Emeryville Annual Art Show, Emeryville, California, October 2 – 31, 2021 • Four Squared at Arc Studios and Gallery, San Francisco, September 21st-October 22nd, 2021 • Deadlocked and Loaded at ArtRage Gallery, Syracuse, New York, February11 to April 18, 2021 • Traces at Danville Village Art Gallery, Women Eco Artists Dialogue group show, February 7th to 13th March 2021
• The Writing is on the Wall at K Gallery, Rhythmix Cultural Center, Alameda, 19th JanuaryMarch 7th, 2020. • Work & Worship at Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Berkeley, CA March 3-31, 2020 • The Word at Arc Studios and Gallery, San Francisco, January 21st-February22nd, 2020 • Universal Messages: New Vistas Berkeley Art Center Nov 3-Dec 4 2018 • Art as Spiritual Metaphor: Harrington Gallery, Pleasanton, CA April-May 2017 • Crossing to Safety at Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Berkeley, CA March 3-31 2016 • Novus Conceptum at Hannah Bacol Busch Gallery, Bellaire, TX April 9 –Sep 30 • Juanita Salazar Lowe Art Gallery, Imperial Valley College, Imperial. CA April 2015 • Intersections: Asian American Narratives, Lindsay Dirkx Brown Art Gallery, San Ramon, CA, February 3 - 27, 2015
• 'Serenity' at UCSF Women's Health Center, San Francisco, CA April 15 – July 14, 2015 • Living with Endangered Languages: Root Division, San Francisco, CA January,2015 • Sacred Voices: Canton Museum of Art, Canton, OH December 2013- April 2014 • Under Currents: SomArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA May,2013 • Echo of Islam: Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA February,2013 • Honoring Women Rights: The National Steinb3ck Center, Salinas Valley, CA 2012 • Invoking Peace: Euphart Art Museum, De Anza College, Cupertino, CA 2012 • Visions of Paradise: Art & The Power of Faith at Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA • Picturing the word: The Visuality of Text at Doug Adams Gallery, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA 2012
• The Art Gallery at Cleveland University, Cleveland OH 2010 • Exaltation of the Insignificants: Terra Galleria, Santa Monica, CA 2009 • Expanding Circles: Delaware Contemporary Center for Arts, Wilmington, 2007 • Stanford Art Spaces, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 2007 • Four shows sponsored by Pennsylvania Council on the Arts in State College, Harrisburg, Pittsburg and Philadelphia, PA 2006
• Spring show, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 2005
Awards
• East Bay Community Foundation’s “Fund for Artists”, Oakland, CA 2020 City of Berkeley Individual artist grant, Berkeley, 2014,2015, 2016 East Bay Community Foundation’s “Fund for Artists”, Oakland, CA 2014 East Bay Community Foundation’s “Fund for Artists”, Oakland, CA 2012 First Place, Northeastern Regional Art Show, Marywood University, Scranton, PA 2004. First Place, Lehigh Art Alliance Annual Show, Bethlehem, PA in 2004 Honorable Mention-Berks Art Alliance Show, Reading Art Museum, Reading, PA, 2001 Honorable Mention-Harrisburg Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA in 2001 Vermont Studio Center: won residency fellowship for two weeks in October 2002. In the summer of 2000 Salma won a (6) week Artist-in-Residence Award. She lived and worked and held exhibition of her works in Swabisch Gumund, southern Germany.
Talks and Presentations.
• October 11th, 2018 “Seeking Oneness” talk presented at Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. • February 25th, 2017, Search for Meaning Book Festival at Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry, Seattle, Washington
• December 6th, 2015, Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO presented talk in panel discussion “So That you Know Each other” • July 31st, 2015, Commonwealth Club of San Francisco “Unity of Sacred Symbols, Words” • April 2013. Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) she presented a talk on Celebration of Calligraphy and Journeys of Love.
• October 2012, Stanford University International Club Invited her to present her talk and slide show about her works “My Journey Towards My God.”
• June of 2011, Westphalian Wilhelm’s-University in Münster Germany invited Salma Arastu to read her paper “Art informed by Spirituality” in their International Symposium: God Loves Beauty: Post Modern Views on Religion and Art.
• August of 2011, Commonwealth Club of San Francisco invited her to present her paper on “Sacred Heritage: A blending of Hindu and Islamic Traditions.
Curatorial Experience
• “Universal Messages: New Vistas” with an exhibition of Muslim Women Artists from the Bay Area at Berkeley Art Center, November,2018
• “The Word: Visual Interpretations” with Local Muslim Women Artists is invited by ARC Gallery, San Francisco in January –February 2020.
• “Work & Worship” with an exhibition of Muslim Women Artists from the Bay Area at Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Berkeley, CA March 3-31, 2020.
Selected Public Art Collections
• Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis University, St, Louis, Missouri • Counseling Office in St. Louis. Missouri
• Al Mayya LLC, Fujairah -UAE
• 9/11 Memorial Museum, New York, NY
• Islamic Museum of Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Artsquest, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
• St. Lukes Hospital, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
• Counseling and Wellness Center at University of Florida, Gainsville, Florida • Alameda County Arts Commission, Oakland, California
• State Museum of the Arts, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
• Museum of Modern Art, Hyderabad, India
• Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad, India
• National Gallery of Art, New Delhi, India
• Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania Power & Light, Allentown, Pennsylvania
• Spring Health Clinic, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
• At US and Internationally more than 400 paintings in private collections.
Publications
• Six books are published with poems and paintings.
Education
• Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Maharaja Sayaji Rao University in Baroda, India, 1974 • Associate degree in Graphic Arts from Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, PA 2088 • Certification in Public Art from Public Art Academy in East Bay in January 2010.
Letter of Interest :
I am writing to express my interest in the public art project in Emeryville that focuses on expressing the natural beauty of the city and it’s people I have come to know and love. My concept, "Greener on the other " focuses on black line art with various colors to fill in the space to celebrate Emeryville's biodiversity and ecological heritage. In the spirit of being eco-friendly, my art materials were either thrifted or traded for. As an artist, I draw inspiration from the natural world and human joy from said world. Nature becomes extra magical when it can spark joy in many people. The endless birthdays, weddings and celebrations held at Emeryille’s parks showcase nature as the core to happy memories. I had conducted extensive research on the local flora and fauna as the super bloom was upon California. It also gave me justification to spend hours staring at beautiful flowers that City of Emeryville had to offer.Just as new life is breathed back into nature, so has inspiration for me to create. Here are a few things on my mind. Thank you for considering my proposal.
With best regards,
Muna Abdulahi
Biographical and contact information:
Muna Abdulahi
City of emeryville Community Service Dept. ,City of Emeryville [email protected] (510)596- 4353