A new residency collaboration with the Recology Artist in Residence Program (AIR)
Creativity Explored and Recology AIR are joining forces to launch an innovative new partnership for artists with disabilities in San Francisco.
We are thrilled to announce that we are launching a new initiative in collaboration with the Recology Artist in Residence Program! Artists at Creativity Explored have often worked with recycled materials, and we are excited for the opportunity to enable them to do so at a grander scale, with access to such a wide array of recycled materials. The residency is an adaptation of Recology’s existing Artist in Residence Program, centering the work of disabled artists at Creativity Explored and thus acknowledging their role in the contemporary art world.
Open to all artists working in the studios, the residency will start this October and last three months, culminating in an exhibition at Recology and an extended exhibition at the Creativity Explored gallery in late January 2023—just in time to celebrate our 40th anniversary.
Six teaching artists have been trained to scavenge at the Recology Transfer Station in San Francisco, a 47-acre facility that includes multiple recycling operations and is affectionately called “the dump.” There, they will collect materials for Creativity Explored artists to use at the studios to create independent and collaborative works.
Our staff have already been hard at work scavenging for materials that artists can use. Teaching artists Lacey Johnson, Alex Hernandez, and Leeza Doreian have already made trips to Recology to harvest materials. Glenn Peckman, Victor Molina, and Ajit Chauhan will head to the site in October. Thanks to Recology, Creativity Explored staff will be provided an extra three months to scavenge, due to the number of artists participating and the amount of preparation needed back at the studio.
“I feel like we’re surrogate listeners. We’re listening to the dump for the artist, listening to the trash that comes in. We’re trying to coordinate between the artist and what we know of their interests and tastes and listening to the dump for things that fit with that.”
“It’s always exciting to go because you never know what you’re going to find sorting through trash, and we usually come out of it with some pretty interesting things.”
Teaching artist Leeza Doreian and Program Associate Zoe Chotzen-Tsuruda take a selfie while scavenging on-site at Recology.
Creativity Explored staff had to first undergo a safety orientation before their scavenging could begin.
“When you’re there, it’s super loud, there’s a lot going on, people are throwing things everywhere,” says Program Associate Zoe Chotzen-Tsuruda, who has been assisting with the residency. “You have to be really careful and aware of what other people are doing.”
Zoe has been enjoying their recent scavenging trips to Recology, saying “it feels kind of like an adventure.”
Leeza and Zoe, who have been taking trips to the site together, have found a number of interesting things to bring back to the artists: 10 pieces of wire mesh from paint trays, chairs, a guitar, vinyl record covers, mannequins, old books, cassette tapes, some mini Rubik’s cubes, an old microwave, and a Scrabble board with some accompanying letters. Back at the studio, teaching artist Leeza Doreian is currently making a color sheet of all the leftover house paints that artists will be able to use.
Leeza says that the scavenging process, while fun, can also be moving.
Leeza and Zoe show off their finds at “the dump.”
“It’s very overwhelming and emotional. There’s a huge amount of waste, and it’s a visceral experience. They warned us: everyone who does this residency talks about how emotional it is to collect because you’re faced with the amount of waste we have, and also the amount of perfectly new stuff that's thrown away.”
Creativity Explored staff will turn our studios at Art Explosion, where our artists create within the larger artist community, into work space and storage hubs for recycled Recology artworks. Artists will start going in to work on their projects likely starting in September.
Some of the artists are already starting to work on projects. Ian Adams is beginning work with some wood panels found on-site, Daniel Green is illustrating a record sleeve, and Julien Borromeo is making a cover for a sci-fi book. Regardless of what they end up using, we are more than excited to see the results of this first-ever collaboration, and we know our artists are too!
About Recology Artist in residence
The Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence (AIR) Program is an art and education initiative that awards Bay Area artists access to discarded materials, an unrestricted stipend, and an individual studio space. These resources, along with comprehensive support, are provided to artists while they create a body of work and host studio visits during their four-month residency. Since 1990, over 150 professional artists and 50 student artists from local universities and colleges have completed residencies. These emerging, mid-career, and established artists have worked across disciplines—including new media, video, painting, photography, performance, sculpture, and installation—to explore a wide range of topics.
Recology AIR encourages the conservation of natural resources by providing artists with time, space, and reusable resources to create a new and impactful body of work. The mission of the Artist in Residence Program is to empower all communities to conserve natural resources by providing professional Bay Area artists and university students with access to materials at the public dump, a workspace, stipend, and ongoing opportunities to exhibit work in public spaces. Through our programming, we work to amplify the voices of systemically marginalized populations, offer a community space for learning, and host a public education program that inspires children and adults to reimagine their role in creating a just and sustainable world.
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