Embark Gallery partners with stARTup Art Fair and Parking Lot Art Fair, Bringing Graduate Students to the Conversation

For Immediate Release

Room Service at startup Art Fair and Trunk Show at Parking Lot Art Fair

Image: Marcela Pardo Ariza, Bathroom, 2014. From the series "David, David, David."

Embark Gallery presents Room Service in room 315 of stARTup Art Fair.

Hotels have memories lurking in every corner. Food, sex, love, loneliness, service, consumption. Embark Gallery presents a collection of current and recently graduated Bay Area MFA students whose work activates the hotel room space and explores these themes. 

Angela Willets, Memory Mattress Minimalism (video still), 2016

Stop by for site-specific installations, live performances and interactive art. Curated by Tania Houtzager and Angelica Jardini.

In addition to exhibiting artworks in room 315, we will also be hosting a panel talk, MASTERS: A Review of Graduate Degrees in the Arts and What Happens Next, on Sunday, May 1st at 1pm.

Moderated by Tania Houtzager and including panelists Alice Combs (artist, MFA, SFAI ‘15), Christopher Nickel (Artist, MFA Art Practice, Stanford ‘15), Michelle Ott (Artist, MFA, UC Berkeley ‘15) and Malena Lopez Maggi (Artist, MFA in Studio Art, Mills 15’), this panel will discuss life immediately after completing a masters degree in the arts. The conversation will address the value of an advanced degree in today’s art world, the prospects and opportunities an MFA creates (or doesn't), and what jobs artists can pursue and secure after graduation. 

This panel represents Embark Gallery's ongoing mission to provide support and professional guidance to local emerging artists.

Exhibiting Artists:

Alice Combs, SFAI

Yvette Dibos, CCA

Daniel Genzel, CCA

Malena Maggi-Lopez, Mills

Michelle Ott, UC Berkeley

Marcela Pardo Ariza, SFAI

Angela Willets, UC Davis

Hours: Friday April 29th, 12-6pm with after party 6-10pm, Saturday April 30th, 12-9pm and Sunday May 1, 12-7pm

Come one, come all, to Embark Gallery’s TRUNK SHOW at the Parking Lot Art Fair in Fort Mason Center.

Indulge in consumer fantasies, revel in thing-ness and support emerging local artists! Artists will display their wares in a flea-market style shopping and art extravaganza. Stop by our spot for original artwork, crafts and ephemera from our talented alumni. You never know what you’ll find in the trunk…

Michelle Ott, Postcard Machine (detail), 2016

Featuring Michelle Ott’s infamous “Postcard Machine,” part vending machine, part social experiment, part sketchbook and ongoing art project. 

Artists:

Elizabeth Bennett, Mills

Becca Hall, CCA

Michelle Ott, UC Berkeley

More artists TBA

Hours: Satuday April 30th, 8am-3pm

For further information, please e-mail info@embarkgallery.com

Enact, Embark's SF International Arts Festival Show

Enact is a sampling of contemporary performance art by Bay Area MFA students and graduates. Performing and visual artists, Minoosh Zomorodina, Christopher Squier, Lorenzo Cardim and Marissa Katarina Bergmann utilize light, sound and movement giving life to components of human experience and highlighting the power of individual action. They address issues from our response to natural disaster to our relationship with historical architecture in three acts throughout the spaces of Fort Mason's Firehouse venue. 

Dates:
Friday, May 20th, 9:30pm
Saturday, May 21st, 7:00pm
Sunday, May 22nd, 5:00pm

Venue: The Firehouse at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture

 

The Artists

Christopher Squier, SFAI '15, is a San Francisco-based, interdisciplinary artist working primarily with sculpture and digital media. His work explores urban infrastructure, linguistics, and material notions of place within a modern, nomadic way of life. Recently, he has shown in Boston, Córdoba, Prague and San Francisco, and is preparing a residency in Trondheim, Norway in summer 2016. He received an MFA in Sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute (2015), a BA in Art from Grinnell College (2013), and currently serves as the inaugural Kadist + SFAI Fellow (2015-2016).

Marissa Katarina Bergmann (Aimari), CCA '15, is an artist, photographer, filmmaker, and vocalist based in San Francisco. She received a BA in Visual and Media Studies, Documentary Studies, and Photography from Duke University, and holds an MFA from California College of the Arts. She creates intimate environments that exist as sincere meditations on love, spirituality, synchronicity, and the intersection of personal, cultural, and political healing through installation, performance, poetry, storytelling, and sound. Her works have been featured nationally and internationally in galleries, universities, and film festivals in San Francisco, Oakland, Durham, Chapel Hill, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and Florence, Italy.

Minoosh (Raheleh) Zomorodinia, SFAI 15', is an Iranian photographer, performer and video artist. She believes in and trusts the intuitive creative process to reveal and give form to unconscious and deeper mysterious truths. Her work has been exhibited locally and internationally such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Isfahan in Iran, Pori Art Museum in Finland, Marin Community Foundation in Novato, and the Nevada Museum of Art.  She received an MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute (2015), an MA in Graphic Design (2006) and a BA in photography from Azad Islamic University in Tehran (1998).

Lorenzo Cardim, CCA 16', completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Corcoran School of Art + Design in 2014 while concurrently studying with the Maida Withers Dance Construction Company. After graduation, he spent a season as Visiting Artist at Red Dirt Studio in Mt. Rainier, Maryland, where he designed and directed a weekly philosophy seminar. Cardim is currently a Master of Fine Arts candidate at California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco, California. Cardim’s works have been featured nationally and internationally in galleries, film festivals, and museums in Washington, D.C., New York City, Oakland, San Francisco, and Milan, Italy.

Embark Gallery Opens West Coast Iteration of Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Competition

For Immediate Release

Local MFA Students Exhibition of Contemporary Portraiture

Encounters: Portraits and Identity is on view from Friday, March 18th to Saturday April 30th at Embark Gallery at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture. This juried exhibition prompted artists to submit artwork that captures an aspect of identity--whether personal, familial, cultural, political or otherwise. In keeping with the guidelines of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, the artists were free to select the subject of the artwork, as long as the work evolved from the artist’s direct contact with that person.

Our esteemed jurors, Director Kim Sajet and Director of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and Associate Curator of Painting and Sculpture Dorothy Moss (NPG) invited artists to interpret the concept of portraiture broadly, in keeping with one of the Portrait Gallery’s aims to represent the diversity of contemporary portraiture in America.

As one might expect from emerging Bay Area artists, many risks were taken. The resulting exhibition is both an intimate survey of human interaction and a conceptually rigorous offering of local styles. Media ranges from the more traditional photography and painting, to large-scale ceramic work, embroidery, innovative video projection and live performance. Mental illness is represented in the work of photographer Dan Fenstermacher, while Leila Weefur playfully and poignantly speaks to tensions of racial identity and the experience of multi-ethnic children. Hui Meng Wang’s dinner table performance addresses the interaction of cultures in a globalized world, while artists Victoria Maidhof and Willow Griffiths delve into the familiar, showcasing the important encounters that occur within our own homes and communities.

Simona Fitcal. I.M.U.R. Media installation, 2015.

Encounters features eleven artists from six of the eight different local Bay Area institutions represented by Embark Gallery. We are thrilled to facilitate their inclusion in a nationwide dialogue regarding portraiture led by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.  This conversation will continue on April 3rd, 2016 in a panel discussion with Kim Sajet and 3 finalists of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, hosted by Embark Gallery.

Artists:

Jamee Crusan | CCA

Dan Fenstermacher | SJSU

Ninh Filip | SJSU

Simona Fitcal | Stanford

Willow Griffiths | SFAI

Victoria Maidhof | SFAI

Juan Pablo Pacheco | SFAI

Lauren Ross | CCA

Hui Meng Wang | SFAI

Leila Weefur | Mills

Sarah Woodard | SFSU

Opening Reception: Friday, March 18th, 2016. 5-9pm.

Hours: Open 12-5pm every Saturday from Friday, March 19th-April 30th. By appointment only every Monday from March 21-April 25th. 

Embark Celebrates its One Year Anniversary

01.21.16 With Flying Colors

The saying "with flying colors" originates from a time when ships would engage in battle. On returning home to port a ship flying the colors of their flag signaled victory. We feel grateful to have survived our first year, and cannot wait to show you all the we have in store for the next! 

Accepted Artists and Curatorial Proposal

We are thrilled to announce the artists who will exhibit in our next three shows. Thank you to everyone who applied, to Fort Mason Center, and to our jurors: Kim Sajet (Director of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery), Dorothy Moss (Associate Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery, Director of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition), and Justin Hoover (Creative Director of Arts Programming at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture).

To receive details about our events, please sign up via email here.

1. Encounters: Portraits & Identity

Opening Reception March 18th, 2016, 6-9pm. Juried by Kim Sajet and Dorothy Moss.

Artists:

Jamee Crusan | CCA

Dan Fenstermacher | SJSU

Ninh Filip | SJSU

Simona Fitcal | Stanford

Willow Griffiths | SFAI

Victoria Maidhof | SFAI

Juan Pablo Pacheco | SFAI

Lauren Ross | CCA

Hui Meng Wang | SFAI

Leila Weefur | Mills

Sarah Woodard | SFSU

Victoria Maidhof. Hotel By the Sea, 2015.

2. CAMPUS:Interventions to Public Space

Opening Reception: May 12, 2016. 6-9pm. Juried by Justin Hoover.

Artists:

Elizabeth Bennett | Mills

Yvette Dibos | CCA

Dana Morrison and Charlie Ford | SFAI

Yvette Dibos. Part of a Performance Proposal for CAMPUS: Interventions to Public Space.

3. Call for Curatorial Proposals

Exhibition to open in October 2016. Selected by Executive Director of Embark Gallery Tania Houtzager and Curatorial Director Angelica Jardini.

Tanya Gayer | CCA

Humor US

Philosopher John Morreall famously defined humor as amusement that takes pleasure in a cognitive shift. Indeed, much of what we find laughable allows us to think differently about people, ideas, and states of being. The exhibition Humor Us will include contemporary artistic explorations in any medium that examine humor as a positive and negative boundary between the speaker and the target of humor. 

The opening of the exhibition next fall presents a timely connection to the presidential elections and artists are encouraged to present works that reflect issues apart of American citizen concerns in a new presidential tenure.  How might young adults display religious and race discrimination, or a crippling economy, or housing costs through humor? Humor Us intends to make hearts heavy with laughter and faces hurt from smiles to approach conversations about critical issues students located in the US face today.

Congratulations from the team at Embark!

Embark Gallery Opens "Hi/Lo" Exhibition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  January 21, 2016

“Hi/Lo” features Bay Area Graduate Students’ Explorations of Economic Value

Image: Sarah Chan. Cat Corner (video still), 2015. Digital Video Projections.

Inspired by the recent rapid economic changes in San Francisco, Hi/Lo is a group show at Embark Gallery that challenges extant systems of value and exposes the fallacies in that which we choose to give importance. Exhibiting artists attend various graduate programs in the greater Bay Area.

Our esteemed jurors Amy Cancelmo (Root Division), Kerri Hurtado (Artsource Consulting), and Megan McConnell (Anthony Meier Fine Arts) selected artworks that question divisions between public and private space, address housing politics and displacement, and rethink the various products and consequences of contemporary capitalism.

Image: Ashley Valmere Fischer. La Chateigne Living Room, 2012-2014. Digital photograph

Ashley Valmere Fischer chronicles an intentional living community in France, while Alice Combs’ work laments the loss of artist-run spaces in San Francisco. Garth Fry utilizes discarded materials in his sculptural work, while Lynn Dau erects a towering totem of domestic goods. Sarah Chan also explores the domestic, questioning it’s true value with a video projection that enacts a strange memory, constructed from objects she found on the street. Luis Pinto takes refuse as inspiration in his extraordinarily detailed pencil drawings. Elizabeth Bennett’s parking signs address the hierarchies that exist in even the most mundane environment, and present visitors a choice as to what kind of space they will occupy.

Embark Gallery, a 1,500 sq. ft. non-profit art space that opened in February 2015 and located in Fort Mason Center, helps create and support an engaged community of young artists, curators and scholars during their studies and as they leave their graduate programs. We assist students to embark on their professional careers, while expanding the audience for up and coming contemporary art.

The gallery represents the diversity of the talented artists studying at eight local art institutions including California College of the Arts, Mills College, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, Stanford University,  University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Davis.

Artists:

Elizabeth Bennett - Mills

Sarah Chan - UC Davis

Alice Combs - SFAI

Lynn Dau - SJSU

Ashley Fischer - Stanford

Garth Fry - CCA

Luis Pinto - CCA

Opening Reception: Friday February 5th, 6-9pm

Hours: 12–5pm every Saturday from February 6th 5 to March 12th and by appointment only       every Monday from February 8th to March 7th.

Spring 2016 Call for Artists

Embark Gallery seeks work by local MFA and MA students for 2 juried exhibitions and 1 curatorial proposal!

Any students currently enrolled in graduate programs related to the arts at the following institutions are eligible to apply for one or all calls: California College of the Arts, Mills College, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco State University, San Jose University, Stanford University, UC Berkeley and UC Davis.

Entry Requirements

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: January 4, 2016.

Selected artists will be notified by February 3, 2016.

Applicants will apply for each exhibition via the related SlideRoom link or visit our application portal HERE to apply to multiple shows.

 1. Encounters: Portraits and Identity

A response to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition juried by Associate Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Dorothy Moss and Director of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Kim Sajet.

Call for artworks that capture an aspect of identity-- whether personal, familial, cultural, political or otherwise. Like the guidelines for the Competition, the subject of the artwork may be anyone: a friend, stranger, relative, yourself- but must be the result of the artist’s direct encounter with that person. Artists are invited to interpret the concept of portraiture broadly, and artworks of any medium will be considered, including performance.

This exhibition will run from March 18-April 30, 2016.

APPLY HERE FOR ENCOUNTERS: PORTRAITS AND IDENTITY

 2. CAMPUS: Interventions to Public Space

Embark Gallery partners with Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture to present "CAMPUS: Interventions to Public Space." 

This exhibit takes Embark’s contemporary and cutting-edge programming outside of the gallery, and onto the Fort Mason campus. This call is for site-specific installations and/or performances that engage the public space of Fort Mason Center. Existing work and detailed project proposals will be accepted. Project proposals should include a detailed description with installation plan and a drawing and/or reference images of proposed or similar past artwork.

Priority will be given to artists who respond specifically to their location, and to work that encourages audience action and participation. Artwork may address the history, architecture or location of Fort Mason Center, a formal military port, as well as questions over public and private space, federal and civic entities (FMC is owned by the National Park Service), sociopolitical and cultural changes in San Francisco, the Bay, Pacific Ocean, or environmental issues-- as long as the installation and/or performance responds specifically to the site, all interpretations on the theme will be considered.

There are 3 available spaces and you may apply to 1 or more in the following sections.

The show will run from May 12, 2016-June 4, 2016, and coincides with the San Francisco International Arts Festival. 

APPLY HERE FOR CAMPUS: INTERVENTIONS TO PUBLIC SPACE

3. Call for Curatorial Proposals

Embark is excited to announce our first call for curatorial proposals! Open to both MFA and MA students with a focus on art history, curatorial or museum studies, or other similar programs.

Please submit a 250-500 word proposal for an exhibition to take place at Embark Gallery. Proposals should take into account past programming at Embark, and propose a novel exhibition. The call for artists may not exclude any individual on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age or ability. The proposal must be broad enough that it is feasible for anyone to apply. Curators should plan to exhibit 4-10 artists from at least 3 different schools. Proposals broad enough to diversify the applicant pool will be given priority. Proposals already focused on specific artists cannot be considered.

We encourage proposals that consider current discourse surrounding contemporary art practices, theory or history, but take on a new perspective. As part of Embark’s mission to expand the audience for up and coming contemporary art, we advise against proposals that are so academic as to be inaccessible to the public.

Aside from these guidelines, proposals for a show of any medium, theme or subject matter will be considered. The winning proposal will be included in Embark’s mid-year call for artists and the show will be presented in the fall. The author of the winning proposal will join the Executive and Curatorial Directors of Embark in selecting artists after submissions for our next call are received, in July 2016. This meeting can be held both virtually or in person.

APPLY HERE WITH A CURATORIAL PROPOSAL

Please contact us at info@embarkgallery.com with any questions or concerns

As always, we look forward to your submissions!