News : Introducing the Resident Artist Class of 2019!
For Immediate Release
March 23, 2019
North Street Collective is thrilled to announce its Class of 2019 Resident Artists!
The class of 11 dynamic and diverse artists was selected from over 50 applicants from around the world. They are visual artists, poets, writers, printmakers, photographers, sculptors, filmmakers, and multimedia makers. Each artist will be in residence at North Street for two months and will offer free workshops and classes to the community, in addition to showing work in progress at the end of the residency.
This year, each resident’s work is intimately connected to and inspired by Willits and Mendocino County. We are especially excited for this group of creative makers to work, learn, and grow with local community members and especially our local young people during their residencies.
Mark your calendars for Artist Community Workshops on May 30, July 18, and September 26 from 6-8pm and Artist Showcases on June 23rd, August 18th, and October 13th from 5:30-8:30pm… with more to come!
Jared Boechler, Visual Artist
Saskatoon, Canada
“I have a sincere interest in continuing to learn about the intricacies of my heritage as a Metis artist, and my ultimate goal is to contribute to an enriched understanding of Indigenous perspectives. I look forward to becoming an active part of the North Street community during my residency.”
Dagie Brundert, Super 8 Filmmaker and Pinhole Photographer
Berlin, Germany
“I am in the business of throwing small, short beauty bombs into the world. I cannot help it and I will never stop. The world is complicated and dangerous and beautiful, people are brutal, greedy and stupid but also confused, loving, and incredibly social.”
Clarissa Callesen, Sculptor and Installation Artist
Ferndale, Washington
“I am interested in both the environmental and cultural impact of waste. I wish to explore through abstraction, and the use of low brow, commonplace materials the symbolic and literal connections between worthless objects and the way humans can be discarded through exploitation, marginalization, and abuse.”
Story City, IA
“I question why we do what we do, especially when it harms the environment and ourselves. Why are we not as thoughtful as we should be with our habits? Why do we pollute the air and land when we need to both to survive? Why do we destroy nature when we turn to it for peace, refuge, and joy?”
Oakland, California
“I am a product of the Salvadorean diaspora. My writing is concerned with the connection between the personal and the universal, nature, our natures, wilderness, wildness, and the ways that being under attack survive. It is a source of great joy and inspiration to work with writers and artists of all ages to explore and help them unearth their own words.”
Oakland, California
“My hope is not only to present my work to others, but also to facilitate a way for the people of Willits to share their challenges and constraints.”
San Francisco, California
“How humans connect with the natural world is the source of my inspiration. I build and react to subliminal associations without imposing order, engaging change and accident to coalesce color, form and light.”
New York, New York
“The life cycle of fungi inspired the grand metaphor I reach towards in this series. Every individual has dreams and desired, but they can’t reach those alone. However, just like fungi spores, if they collaborate in a collective interest by forming a network and pooling resources, they’ll reach a greater capacity to produce this fruiting body of change. The main character in the series embraces the challenges to engage the community in a shared purpose of ecological restoration. Her idealist vision (and perhaps mine too): diverse fungi and microbial communities will heal nature and as a result the community may heal itself.”
Hillsboro, Oregon
“Contrary to popular belief, “writing” does not exist in a silo. I’m excited about this opportunity because of the community-focused nature and because it feels a bit like coming home. When my mother died in early 2019, I thought I might not ever get a chance to return to the area. I will be moving to India at the very end of 2019. The North Street Opportunity doesn’t just provide the time and space to create and collaborate, but the right time and place.”
Willits, California
“Eventually, I’d like to develop a body of work that rides the edge between the objective and the subjective.”
