Rising Seas, an exhibition featuring 10 different artists’ response to the threat of sea level rise brought on by climate change, will open on June 8 at the K Gallery at Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding Avenue. The opening reception, from 2 to 5 p.m., will feature sneak previews of the Rising Seas dance performance, Where do we draw the line?, choreographed by KT Nelson, co-artistic director of ODC/Dance from 1976 to 2020.
Will our grandkids be kayaking to school? Will we work with the underwater world to improve conditions and rebuild wetlands? Are we on track to have rising seas cover most of Alameda?
Ten artists present their take on Rising Seas with photos, beeswax, wood, and resin. From crowded freeways to healthy seaweed, the exhibit displays a range of perspectives on how climate change will affect our island. The featured artists are Josie Iselin, Jan Watten, Ginny Parsons, Ed Holmes, Christo Braun, Deb Sullivan, Charlie Sullivan, Jenn Doyle Crane, Pons Maar, Marc Ribaud, and Maurice Ramirez.
About the artists
Josie Iselin is a photographer, author, book designer, and co-director of Above/Below, a campaign to tell the stories of seaweed. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and an MFA from San Francisco State University, where she currently teaches in the School of Design.She has used her scanner to generate imagery of the underwater world for more than 20 years..
Jan Watten has a BFA in Photography from California College of Arts and Crafts and has been making photographs for more than 25 years in her studio in Oakland’s Jingletown Arts District. Her work revolves around the idea of identity—whether the subject matter is human or plant life—with a focus on creating contemplative images. She still shoots with film and has shown her work domestically and internationally.
Inspired by nature, Ginny Parsons paints intuitively with materials such as borax, dirt, glue, and peanut butter, along with miscellaneous bits of acrylic paint, photos, and beeswax. Capturing landscapes, still life, and other abstracted beauty, Parsons paints, drips, and splatters on found materials. She curates annual exhibits at the Rhythmix K Gallery and shows her work at the Gray Loft Gallery.
Ed Holmes, aka Lazlo Bean-dip of the Jalopy School of Fauxtography, has been collecting photons for 50 years. Occasionally he gets some good ones.
Working with epoxy resin as a painting medium, fine artist and educator Christo Braun paints through the surface of nature to capture a moment of energy-infused visual phenomena. Rather than painting an object, he paints the emotional response created by what he sees.
Deb Sullivan has been making art from clay for over 30 years and is interested in the overlap where function meets art. These days, she splits her time between making functional pottery and sculptures. She does not like math, but she does like placing her work in a Venn Diagram. Picture two overlapping circles: one contains sculpture and the other, coffee mugs.
Charlie Sullivan repurposes found and discarded items, combining them with lenses and mirrors to create emotionally inspired freestanding sculptures and hangings. Everyday items are rearranged in a playful balance and are built to be viewed in the round to encourage shifting perspectives.
Jenn Doyle Crane is an artist, curator, creative connector, and the chief jam maker of Alameda Fruit Co. Her encaustic paintings are imaginary entanglements of the natural and made world.
Pons Maar’s creative life has veered from ceramics to graphic design to performing arts to video. Now on his little cruiser bicycle, he terrorizes Alameda neighborhoods as he searches for that reason to keep going.
Maurice Ramirez studied photojournalism at San Francisco State University and worked as a music editorial photographer in the late ’90s, did corporate editorial, and then a decade of private events. More recently his work is focused on municipalities and nonprofit communities. He is also a regular contributor to the Alameda Post.
The Rising Seas exhibit runs June 8 through August 24. Admission is free, RSVP recommended.
