Print Public 2018-2019

Kala Gallery is proud to present Print Public, featuring new work by 2018-2019 Print Public Residency artists: Christy Chan, Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh, Grace Rosario Perkins, Sergio De La Torre and Chris Treggiari, t.w.five and Lexa Walsh. Through Print Public programs, Kala provides opportunities for artists to work on interdisciplinary projects with digital or print media while animating public space, reaching new communities, building local partnerships, and deepening neighborhood ties. Join us for the opening reception on Thursday, May 30, 6-8:30pm in the Kala Gallery and related events – artists’ talks, workshops and activities that will take place during the Print Public exhibition.

Print Public is funded, in part, by California Arts Council’s Creative California Communities.

Print Public Current Projects:

Christy Chan’s project Everybody Eats Lunch pairs32 East Bay residents for a one-on-one meal and conversation, with lunches donated by local restaurants. In a time when everyday conversations can feel difficult, this project brings strangers together based on an intentionally simple algorithm: food. For the exhibition, Christy presents Hello Stranger an expansive installation with 220 posters, each representing a statement by one of the 32 lunch participants. The overall effect is a mix tape of both missed and made connections. This analog experiment is performed in the Bay Area, the birthplace of social media and recently at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska. Gallery visitors are welcomed to enter the installation space and take a seat to activate an encounter. There will be a panel discussion with the project participants on Monday, June 24 at 7pm at the Kala gallery.

For the past couple of years the bulk of Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh’s printmaking work has traced her ancestors journey through the African Diaspora using family stories, photo albums and genetic research as reference points. During her time as a Print Public artist-in-residence this work continued in the form of San Pablo Stories, a visual exploration of the past, present and future of the people who have passed through the San Pablo Avenue corridor. Working with people in states of transition and transformation, Dawline creates a visual representation of a place through its residents that transcends time. She collages woodblock and linoleum portrait prints of people who she encountered on the street with hand-painted polaroids and photographs, and a poem San Pablo Avenue written by Judy Juanita. There will be an artist talk and block printing activity on Saturday, June 29, 2:30-4:30pm at the Kala gallery.

Grace Rosario Perkins, in collaboration with the Golden Gate Public Library and surrounding recreation centers, is working with youth to investigate landscape, identity, and time. With writing as a beginning prompt, archive as a source of investigation, and personal narrative as a building block, her installation in the gallery will change over the course of six weeks comprising large scale prints, wearable textiles, planters, and paintings in which the artist along with her collaborators will investigate what the future looks like, upholding history and physical presence as a radical notion. At the end of June, this install will become a collaborative visual lexicon central to the neighborhood and in turn, a space for the youth to activate in a movement-based fashion show on Saturday, June 29 at 1pm.

Sergio De La Torre and Chris Treggiari’s The Sanctuary City Print Shop is an ongoing project looking at Sanctuary Cities, ICE raids and their effect in the Bay Area immigrant community. Through conversations with local nonprofits and their constituents, this new iteration created pop-up printing events at various locations along San Pablo Avenue and in the expanded Bay Area. The project’s goal is to amplify these voices – using posters to get these messages out up and down San Pablo Avenue. In the Kala gallery, messages are directly silkscreen-printed on the wall with a timeline video showing qualitative and quantitative research surrounding the sanctuary ordinance and immigration issues beginning in 1989, when San Francisco became a sanctuary city, until present day. There will be two printing activity days on Saturday, June 29, 2:30-4:30pm at the gallery and Saturday, July 13, 2-4pm at Flooring Alternatives 2901 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley. They also installed a banner “The Country of The Immigrant is Here” on the side wall at Flooring Alternatives, directly across the street from the Kala Gallery.

t.w.five’s murals aim to inspire and connect people. For Print Public they installed three outside murals along San Pablo Avenue. and a gallery installation with quotes of unity and love from various sources including lyrics from East Bay musician/poet Michael Franti.. In their own words they describe their project and process: “… like everywhere else in the Bay Area changes in demographics are also present. Finding random empty wall spaces here and there, we felt that they were perfect canvas to leave a visual impact in colorful palettes and messages. Hopefully people who pass or drive by will feel like these pieces are inspiring surprise elements in their daily paths.” Their murals are located at Flooring Alternatives (2901 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley), Art’s Automotive (2871 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley) and Bob’s Machining Company (2735 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley). t.w.five’s mural tour is scheduled on Saturday, July 13 at 2pm.

Lexa Walsh presents The San Pablo Cookbook, a portrait of the neighborhood workforce through their recipes. The types of recipes offered – recipes being sets of instructions for virtually anything – are as diverse as the workers and businesses along the San Pablo Avenue corridor. There is a Recipe for Tire Change, a Recipe for Lucid Dreaming, a Recipe for a Dance Duo, and recipes for both a Stellar Sex Life and for Love. There are recipes for food, too, like Isuara’s Flan, Khalid’s Chicken Shwarma, and Shelby’s Vegan Nacho Casserole. They are serious and funny, joyous and sublime. The San Pablo Cookbook is a platform for multiple voices to question and experience alternative modes of belonging. It hopes to incite curiosity among the workforce about itself, and create a unique group identity. There will be a book launch party and artist talk on June 17, 5-7pm at Far Leaves, 2626 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94702. Refreshments will be served.

Print Public History: The first iteration of Print Public (2013-2015) launched with six artist/artist teams including Taro Hattori, Taraneh Hemami, Susan O’Malley, Sue Mark, Swell, and Imin Yeh, working along San Pablo Avenue to create a range of projects in collaboration with the neighborhood. To view the publication for pilot Print Public project and to learn more about these projects, please look here.

2016-2017 Print Public artists also worked along San Pablo Avenue to create site-responsive works that are relevant to local residents and this cohort included Drew Cameron – Rags Make Paper, Ramekon O’Arwisters – Crochet Jam, Mildred Howard – Home, Marksearch – Commons Archive, Kelly Ording and Jet Martinez – Ms. Tica, Jenifer K Wofford – Mettle Detection.