Oakland Public Library needs your original artwork! If you are between the ages of 13-18 and live or attendschool in Oakland, enter OPL’s Teen Design Competition!
They’ll be transforming cement trash cans at the Main Library into beautiful mosaic murals crafted out of your design!
Submissions are accepted January 1- Feb 14, 2014 @ 5:30 pm at the Main Library TeenZone, located at 125 14th St.
Learn more here.
Longing to paint? Want to express your creativity in a supportive, group environment? AmSteel tenant Anneka Foushee is hostessing an ongoing painting group in her studio. These experimental, process painting sessions offer you an opportunity to see what emerges. A chance to breathe, listen, and paint.
date/time: Mondays 6:30pm – 9:30pm, Tuesdays 10am – 1pm, Thursdays + Saturdays 1 – 4pm
locale: American Steel Studios, 1960 Mandela Pkwy, Oakland CA 94607
cost: $25 for each session, all materials included.
more info: here
*Drop-in is OK, but confirmation is required. Space for 7 participants. Email hi@annekafoushee.com. Location of the studio space within American Steel provided after confirmation.
A year ago, three groups came together out of love for our West Oakland community and all those who live, work, and play here. We started joining forces with dedicated community groups, neighbors, businesses, and individuals to clean our streets, remove graffiti, and enhance the natural beauty of the world around us.
This year, we continued in that tradition during the Dr. King Day of Service Community Clean Up. Over 25 volunteers from the community and Americorps spent the afternoon removing litter, debris, and graffiti from our West Oakland neighborhood. Together, we removed dozens of bags of debris and covered hundreds of square feet of graffiti.
Much appreciation is due to everyone that attended and made it happen. Another huge thank-you goes out to the City of Oakland Department of Public Works, who generously donated the dumpster, supplies, and waste removal.
Check out some pictures of our crew in action.
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Aquaponics produces great tasting organic products using only fish food for nutrients.
Expensive hydroponic nutrients, made from complex chemical mixtures cause many problems including salt buildup which affects plant flavors and taste requiring constant changing of nutrients, flushing, and cleaning up.
In this workshop you will learn about modern Aquaponic technologies and how to grow flowering or fruiting plants using Aquaponics. You will also learn about smart technologies that make Aquaponics even easier for any farmer.
date: January 26th
time: 10am-4pm
locale: 1960 Mandela Parkway, Bay 5
more info: here!
“Clean out your closet and call your mama, it’s time for Swap-O-Rama-Rama!”
Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a community clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which attendees explore the process of reuse and collective creativity with staff and fellow attendees. This hands-on creation experience is a great way to meet new people, slow the production of new textiles and keep old clothes out of the landfill.
Clean out your closet and donate your unwanted, CLEAN clothing! Take home as much new clothing as you can carry. Then, learn a fun and crafty way to upcycle old clothes in a hands-on, DIY workshop. The Crafty Avenger will be there to teach you how to make multiple cozy new items, like hats and mittens, out of a single old sweater.
Please bring: Clothing to swap (mens, womens, kids, all sizes), a sweater to upcycle, and your own creativity.
All supplies / tools you will need will be provided. Attendance is FREE, $5 suggested donation with all donations going to purchase supplies and maintain the sewing machines.
date: Saturday, January 18th
time: 1- 5 pm
locale: American Steel Studios Poplar Gallery (enter on 20th)
more info: here
Maker Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth—a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement.
On May 17th + 18th, Maker Faire will showcase the amazing work of all kinds and ages of makers—anyone who is embracing the do-it-yourself (or do-it-together) spirit and wants to share their accomplishments with an appreciative audience.
Call for Makers is now open! Deadline for application is February 23rd, so submit yours now!
more info: here
A creative and powerful sleeper wave, Jann Nunn works quietly and seemingly without the gravity and physics that limit most people. While Jann herself is diminutive in stature, her work is massively powerful in concept and execution and has reached enormous audiences, speaking volumes about a great number of political, social and spiritual concepts. Her work manifests in the form of sculpture, site-specific installations, and performances and gets to the heartbeat of the issue, place, or space at hand. Leaving no stone unturned, Jann does the research and soul-searching exercises to eloquently convey significance through symbolism that communicates ideas with authenticity and relevance.
A.S.: What do you do?
J.N.: I am an artist and educator. I create sculptures, installations, drawings, and performance pieces using a variety of materials in varying scale – from minute to monumental. My artwork typically responds to “place” in the larger sense. It is a synthesis of my head, heart, and gut – combining research with intuition – selecting just the right material and method to convey my idea. Sometimes my work is personal, sometimes political, but always poetic.
I am also a professor at Sonoma State University where I teach all levels of undergraduate sculpture, including installation, bronze foundry, and public art.
A.S.: Why do you do what you do?
J.N.: That’s a great question! One I have asked myself many times. I have no idea except to say that for as long as I can remember I always made objects and images. As a child I didn’t understand that being an “artist” was a viable occupation until my second grade teacher passed out small reproductions of paintings by Brueghel and Raphael. I held onto those pictures for years. They were the portals into my future.
When I started high school I declared studio art as my major. I also began taking private painting lessons. I had my first solo exhibition in a “real” art gallery when I was 17 years old. In college I was forced– against my will – to take a sculpture class to satisfy BFA graduation requirements. To my surprise, I was immediately hooked. I learned to weld and sew the first semester and created a monumental-scale architectural sculpture made of steel and fabric. I started doing performance, sound, and kinetic sculpture. I was fascinated by the limitless possibilities of working sculpturally. I changed my major to Sculpture and kept going. I eventually ended up at San Francisco Art Institute where I earned an MFA in sculpture.
A.S.: What drew you to American Steel?
J.N.: When I took a sabbatical from teaching a couple of years ago I needed to move out of the fabulously equipped sculpture studio at Sonoma State and set up shop closer to home. Finding my ideal studio was quite the process. I needed one to match what I had become accustomed to at Sonoma and allow me to expand. As soon as I toured the studios at American Steel with Sally I knew I had found the right place – one with vitality and an opportunity to engage with other artists.
I also live in Oakland so I wanted a studio close to home. Oakland is a hotbed of creative individuals and the city seems to be doing more to recognize and support artists. Art Murmur is an essential part of putting Oakland “on the map.”
Community is important. As artists, our individual solitary endeavor is a given. We spend our lives engaged in fulfilling a vision that few will see or understand. Yet simply having the opportunity to be in the presence of other “maniacally obsessed” individuals mitigates the isolation that comes with the territory of being an artist. We validate each others’ existence.
A.S.: What’s your favorite part of being here?
J.N.: I’m always excited to see the work of actively engaged artists. The exhibitions and events in the Poplar Gallery are a brilliant way to showcase the talent of the artists / inventors here at American Steel Studios. Proximity to the Bay Bridge and the major freeways facilitates easy access for my suppliers and studio visitors. I especially love being close to Ace Markus Hardware and Fastenal in Jack London Square.
A.S.: What is your next big adventure?
J.N.: I am currently involved in co-curating an exhibition with Nick Dong, another American Steel artist, at Mercury 20 Gallery on 25th Street in Oakland.
For this show, “Transformation of Connectivity: Conversation, Confluence, Collaboration,” we asked gallery artists to invite another artist to collaborate with them in some way. Artists not only chose other artists and photographers but also writers, musicians, fabricators and choreographers with whom they would make art in collaboration or association. The exhibition is on view from January 16 through February 22. The public is invited to the artists’ reception on Saturday January 25, 4-6 PM.
I am collaborating with Lynne Todaro, a San Jose-based sculptor. We are each making individual wood sculptures based on crutches that when shown together will create a singular installation.
Additionally I’m curating a sculpture exhibition at Sonoma State University featuring current work from SSU Sculpture alumni that opens in the spring.
A.S. : And, as if that is not enough…
And I am preparing for a solo exhibition of my sculptural installations and works on paper at Mercury 20 Gallery in July 2014.
My work can be seen on my web site—www.jann-nunn.com—or on-site at Paradise Ridge Winery and Sculpture Grove in Santa Rosa (through May 2014) and a permanently sited Holocaust & Genocide Memorial on the campus grounds of Sonoma State University.
I am also available in my studio by appointment.
A.S.: Jann, it is always a pleasure to watch you interpret and create. We look forward to your upcoming shows and watching you move through your creative paces here at American Steel!
Ten students visited American Steel Studios last fall to learn about the diverse and creative population within and to familiarize themselves with the history and environment of the neighborhood.
The mission: to design a sculpture park that explores the intersection of art and technology while meeting the following criteria:
– New entry court for the American Steel Studios north doors,
– A sculpture park to exhibit the work created in American Steel Studios,
– A “promendaud” circuit for mobile art,
– Educational components including alternative forms of energy.
The designs that came to life were impressively forward-thinking – sensitive to environmental sustainability while at the same time celebrating the historic industrial heritage of West Oakland.
American Steel Studios is honored to have been the canvas for such an extraordinary and inspiring body of work! Thank you, Professor Sullivan for considering our creative canvas your own!
Take a moment and indulge yourself in the inspiration, innovation and vision these students bring forth with their own iterations of an inspired West Oakland Landscape.
Click this image to view a gallery of these students’ inspired work!
Alex Gebele, Untitled
Ana Tenorio, Untitled
Cedric Jones, Free 4all
Corina Velazco, Untitled
Justin Panganiban, Untitled
Kyra Baldwin, Rails and Water
Leega Tran, Untitled
Marisol Sanchez, The Reckless
Yolanta Siu, Untitled
Patricia Camacho, Steampunk Sculpture Park & Garden Poster
Aquaponic gardens use bacteria to breakdown fish waste in a recycling water system to grow healthy organic produce without soil.
In this workshop you will build your own aquaponics garden. You’ll leave this workshop with a functional aquaponics garden and a deep understanding of how aquaponic systems work; including aquaponic modelling, aquaculture (fish farming), biological/mechanical filtration, hydroponics (soil-less farming), and smart aquaponic technologies.
date : Saturday January 18th
time : 10am – 4pm
locale : American Steel Studios, Bay 5
more info : here