caronart.org
Zoe R. Caron phone: (310) 913-5430
771 Nandina Court, Fremont, CA 94539 e-mail: [email protected] website: caronart.org
Zoe R. Caron
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
My artwork is a celebration of all things living. Growing up in a home with my biologist parents provided the fertile ground in which to cultivate my curiosity and appreciation for the beauty, uniqueness, and diversity of life on earth. Working primarily with pen and ink, pencil, watercolor, and digital media, I illustrate highly detailed organisms. Crisp lines, natural patterns and shapes, overlaid on backdrops of intense abstractions, express the flow and energy of our natural environment. I hope that viewers of my work will experience some of the same childlike sense of wonder for nature that inspires me.
EDUCATION, SHOWS, PUBLICATIONS & AWARDS
EDUCATION
Integrative Biology (BA)
Genetics and Plant Biology (BS), UC Berkeley (G.P.A. 3.65) December 2018 High School Diploma, Palos Verdes High School (G.P.A. 4.7) June 2014
EXHIBITIONS
Public Art Installation: “Gerlach Temporary Mural Project” mural, Gerlach, NV December 2024-2026
Juried Show: “2024 Convergence of Creativity,” Lindsay Dirks Brown Gallery, San Ramon, CA November-December 2024
Public Art Installation: “Suns of Sunnyvale” painted sculpture installation, Sunnyvale, CA November 2024
Juried Show: “62nd Stockton Art League Juried Exhibition” at the Haggin Museum, Stockton, CA October 2024
Artist in Residence: Sunbeam Arts studio space residency, San Francisco, CA October 2024 Juried Show: “Animalia” at Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA October-December 2024 Public Art Installation: Painted Bollards in the City of Mountain View, Mountain View, CA September 2024
Juried Show: “Silicon Valley Juried Art Show” at the Sunnyvale Library, Sunnyvale, CA August 2024
Artist in Residence: Ohanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA August 2024 Un-juried Show: Solo show at The Studio Climbing Gym
gallery wall August-September 2024
Juried Show: “The Playful Spirit” at the Museum of
Northern California Art, Chico, CA July-September 2024
Juried Show: “Northern California Open” at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA July-September 2024
Juried Show: “Animal House” at Sacramento Fine Arts Center, Sacramento, CA May 2024 Juried Show: “Fantasy” at Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA May 2024 Juried Show: “Mind Mapping” at Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD April 2024 Attachment 8
caronart.org
Zoe R. Caron phone: (310) 913-5430
771 Nandina Court, Fremont, CA 94539 e-mail: [email protected] website: caronart.org
Zoe R. Caron
Juried Show: “Fremont Art Association 56th Annual Show and Sale” at Fremont Art Association, Fremont, CA April 2024
Live Performance: “East Valley Artists Monthly Demonstration” San Jose, CA March 2024 Un-juried Show: Solo show at Berkeley Ironworks Climbing Gym gallery wall February 2024
Live Performance: “Fremont Art Association Monthly Demonstration” San Jose, CA November 2023
Un-juried show: Fremont Art Association quarterly group show, Fremont, CA February 2023 Un-juried show: Public art displayed at Pivot Bio biotech workspace, Berkeley CA 2020-2024
AWARDS
• Honorable Mentions for “Sheridan Prize for Art” in Painting and Women Artists Categories December 2024
• Best of Category for “Convergence of Creativity” Exhibit at City of San Ramon Community Center, San Ramon CA October 2024
• Best of Show and recipient of 2025 solo show for “Animal House” exhibit at Sacramento Fine Arts Center, Sacramento, CA June 2024 • Won class banner design contest for UC Berkeley, which was displayed on the speaker’s stage at the general commencement ceremony May 2018
• Honor Roll student for College of Letters and Sciences May 2018 • Honor Roll student for College of Letters and Sciences December 2017 FREELANCE BIOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATION WORK 12-12 - PRESENT
• Co-authoring marine biology textbook with David A. Caron, Professor of Biology at University of Southern California, and created over 100 ink illustrations featured in the book • Created cover art and environmental diagrams to demonstrate the ecology of planktonic organisms featured in textbook
• Designed a scientific diagram published on the cover of Journal of Plankton Research • Created diagrams for scientific publications featuring mixotrophic plankton • Designed logo for a medical research consulting corporation • Graphic design of medical devices
• Creating mixed media commissions for clients (ranging from 9x12 inches to 6x6 feet in size) • Teaching classes in collaborative painting with local artists based in Berkeley, CA—see website
ADDITIONAL CERTIFICATIONS AND SKILLS
• Completed Soil Food Web Course from Elaine Ingham October 2023 • Certified in Permaculture Design August 2022
• Proficient with Microsoft Suite, GSuite, Zoom, Adobe Suite Attachment 8
Zoe Caron Portfolio of Recent Work
1.)
a. Name: A Sip of the Nectar of Life
b. Date completed and budget: September 2024, $2500
c. Dimensions: 6ftx13ft
d. Address: (public art) 274 Euclid Avenue, Oakland, CA e. Media: Acrylic mural paint
f. Description: This piece, featuring Anna’s hummingbird, echinacea flowers, and native Californian butterflies, is a part of a series of murals bringing garden creatures into a local apartment building façade.
Attachment 8
Zoe Caron Portfolio of Recent Work
2.)
a. Name: California Sisters
b. Date completed and budget: October 2024, $2500
c. Dimensions: 6ftx10ft
d. Address: (public art) 276 Euclid Avenue, Oakland, CA e. Media: Acrylic mural paint
f. Description: This piece, featuring butterflies known as California Sisters, is a part of a series of murals bringing garden creatures into a local apartment building entryway.
Attachment 8
Zoe Caron Portfolio of Recent Work
3.)
a. Name: “Swallowtail Cascade” and “Monarch Migration”
b. Date completed and budget: December 2024, $5,000
c. Dimensions: 12ftx13ft in total (corner space)
d. Address: (public art) 276 Euclid Avenue, Oakland, CA e. Media: Acrylic mural paint
f. Description: This piece, displaying tiger swallowtails and monarch butterflies, is the final part of a series of murals bringing Oakland garden creatures into a local apartment building entryway.
Attachment 8
Zoe Caron Portfolio of Recent Work
4.)
a. Name: Nature’s Abundance
b. Date completed and budget: December 2024, $1,000
c. Dimensions: 5ft diameter painted sun sculpture
d. Address: (public art) displayed in a park in Sunnyvale, CA in January 2025-2026 e. Media: Acrylic mural paint
f. Description: Commissioned by the city of Sunnyvale as part of its “Suns of Sunnyvale” public display, my painted sculpture depicts the beauty of our native quail and monarch butterflies.
Attachment 8
Zoe Caron Portfolio of Recent Work
5.)
a. Name: An Exclamation
b. Date completed and budget: 2022, $100
c. Dimensions: 19inches x 24inches
d. Address: Stockton CA, Haggin Museum
e. Media: Ink and layered pencil
f. Description: Featuring a frilled dragon, echidna, and dingo skull, this dynamic piece celebrates some of the world's bizarre and exciting animal oddities.
Attachment 8
Zoe Caron Portfolio of Recent Work
6.)
a. Name: Here or Gone
b. Date completed and budget: September 2024, $300
c. Dimensions: 30inches x 38inches
d. Address: Benicia, CA
e. Media: Ink and acrylic
f. Description: This piece celebrates species that are least at risk of extinction (flamingo), threatened (Gila monster), and those which are on the brink of disappearing (boto dolphin, axolotl). It also utilizes the many beautiful shades of pink found in the animal kingdom to symbolize interspecies connection.
Attachment 8
Zoe Caron Portfolio of Recent Work
7.)
a. Name: The Feeling of Colors
b. Date completed and budget: May 2024, $250
c. Dimensions: 32inches x 40inches
d. Address: San Francisco, California
e. Media: Ink and acrylic
f. Description: This piece explores the whimsy of enjoying life's simple pleasures. It highlights the electric yellows of spring daffodils and fall ginkgo leaves, the lustrous red of kelp from the Pacific Ocean, and the mesmerizing pattern of a tabby cat.
Attachment 8
Zoe Caron Portfolio of Recent Work
8.)
a. Name: Radiance
b. Date completed and budget: March 2023, $300
c. Dimensions: 24inches x 19inches
d. Address: Marin, California
e. Media: Alcohol Ink and fineliner pen
f. Description: Radiance contrasts a large aquatic predator, the arowana fish, with one of the smallest carnivores, a foraminiferan. This creature has be enlarged to demonstrate the fact that its small scale does not equate to a small environmental impact.
Attachment 8
Zoe Caron Portfolio of Recent Work
9.)
a. Name: Spacetime
b. Date completed and budget: November 2024, $300
c. Dimensions: 32inches x 40inches
d. Address: Sunnyvale, California
e. Media: Alcohol ink
f. Description: Beauty and mutation can go hand in hand with fancy goldfish.
This piece highlights the fact that the beautiful, butterfly-like shapes of these fish are the result of mutations and selective breeding, as symbolized by the stylized radioactivity symbol in the abstract, cloudy background.
Attachment 8
Zoe Caron Portfolio of Recent Work
10.)
a. Name: California Color
b. Date completed and budget: May 2024, $300
c. Dimensions: 32inches x 40inches
d. Address: Sunnyvale, California
e. Media: Hand-made ink from elderberries and walnut, alcohol ink f. Description: This piece is an explosion of native California creatures--from silver bush lupine to wild poppies to California quail. It is also truly rooted in the land, as I made the brown and magenta pigments from some of California's native plants. I foraged for the elderberries and walnuts myself
Attachment 8
Corn Palace Bench Proposal
By: Zoe R. Caron
Attachment 8
About the Artist
• Graduated from UC Berkeley in 2018 with
a BS and BA Genetics and Plant Biology
and in Integrative Biology, respectively
• Worked in Berkeley for 6 years in
agriculture biotechnology for after
graduation
• In 2024, quit ag-tech job and became an
artist full time
• Have been collaborating with local
nonprofit urban farms, cities, restaurants,
and private clients to welcome nature and
agriculture into the built environment
“Swallowtail Cascade” and “Monarch Migration” in Oakland, CA Attachment 8
Images from the creation of one of my “paint-by-numbers” murals which I design and orchestrate for the public at an East Bay community Farm Attachment 8
Ethos for creating this work: a journey through
time in an image
• My other mural
projects feature
natural history and
native species themes
• Native animals
• Walks through time
and space
• Bring the same
concept of “strolling
through history” to
Corn Palace Park
bench project
Attachment 8
Sample Work In Progress of Fremont historical
landscape, April 2025
WIP: CHLIDREN’S NATURAL HISTORY
MUSEUM “Columbian Mammoths”
Attachment 8
Symbolizing horticultural
history
• California is a botanical haven for a diverse range
of native species, but is also steeped in more
contemporary western agriculture and use as a
green space
• Left side: native food plants such as cattail,
Dichelostemma (blue dicks), Atriplex (saltbush),
wild strawberry, and evergreen huckleberry that
grew before western agriculture in Sunnyvale
• Center panel: Agricultural imagery and crops that
were sold at the Corn Palace stand
• Right side: Modern day planned park themes with
people, dogs, grass
• Underside: painted with worms and soil which
help us grow food
Attachment 8
View of the full design (top and bottom)
Outer Sides and Top of bench:
Underside of bench:
Left Side Right SideCenter Panel/ Top Side
Attachment 8
Bench without painting
Attachment 8
Mock-ups of the bench
Attachment 8
Preparation
of the bench
and supplies
• Solid, poured concrete bench with interior steel
footing and a simple surface texture that provides
easy painting (plus delivery fee)
• Primer selection: Killz3 Indoor/Outdoor acrylic
polymer for tricky surfaces, resistance to paint
peeling from weathering and public use
• Charcoal for outline (already have this material)
• Golden Paintworks: Outdoor acrylic mural paints
with high lightfastness (already have some of
these)
• MuralGuard satin or high gloss anti-graffiti clear
coat
Attachment 8
Thank you so much for the
opportunity--feel free to
contact me with any
questions!
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (310) 913-5430
Attachment 8