Family Pictures

Curated by: Michelle Townsend, new mother of Nolan William Balocki, born May 25, 2009

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 11th, 7-10 pm
Sliding Scale Suggested Donation: $2-$20
Exhibition Dates: July 8th-28th, 2009
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2-6 pm (or by appointment)

When curator Michelle Townsend first proposed the exhibition Family Pictures, she was not yet expecting what would became a baby boy, born at the precise time she was to review submissions. Just as baby Nolan chose to be born outside the confines of a typical 9-month gestation, so too, the 33 artists in Family Pictures have chosen to defy orthodox definitions of family. Bay Area artists (and curators) are shaking off the trappings of gender, age, and bloodline.

In order to best visualize the collective insight born of this exhibition, we need but to borrow one thing from the past - Technicolor. We, a most strange and adaptive species, are looking for, and finding, fresh ways to experience belonging. The age of the nuclear family was, in retrospect, sterile and pale.

Art has always been a form of protest and Family Pictures does not digress. There is an underlying fever in the work, a pie-in-the-face aimed at any formula for genealogical harmony. Perhaps one should not be surprised, bearing in mind the recent politicization and subsequent disallowance of something as integral to family life as marriage.

Featured Artists:
Laura Ball
Elizabeth Bernstein
Jan Blythe
Colby Claycomb
Adele Crawford
Melissa Day
Chris Fraser
Michael Hession
Rachael Jablo*
Audrey Jones
Heike Liss
Jessamyn Lovell
Cathy Lu
Dan Lydersen
Carolyn Mason & Susannah Slocum
Masako Miki
Shelley Monahan
Camilla Newhagen
Mary Parisi
S. Patricia Patterson
Jana Rumberger
Julie Schustack
Jim Sienkiewicz
Andrea Slattery*
Marta Spurgeon
Kirk Stoller
Lien Troung
Marie Van Elder
Naomi Vanderkindren
Serena Wellen
Carmen Winant
David Yun
* Root Division Resident Artist

ROOT DIVISION GALLERY
3175 17th Street (at S. Van Ness)
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.863.766
www.rootdivision.org

ABOUT ROOT DIVISION:
Root Division is an arts and arts education non-profit located in the Mission District of San Francisco. Root Division's mission is to improve appreciation and access to the visual arts by connecting personal inspiration and community participation. We provide subsidized studio space to working artists in exchange for their service in creating shared learning opportunities for the community. Artists develop creatively and professionally by teaching art to underserved youth, leading adult education classes, and producing exhibitions that showcase local emerging artwork. By combining multiple opportunities for creative exchange, Root Division cultivates an artistic ecosystem that enriches life throughout the Bay Area.

Root Division is supported in part by grants from Grants for the Arts: SF Hotel Tax Fund & Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund, The San Francisco Foundation, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, and the Potrero Nuevo Fund. The Second Saturday Exhibition Series is sponsored by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Commission through a Cultural Equity Grant/Organizational Project Grant, the Fleishhacker Foundation, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.

For further information regarding events and/or press materials, please do not hesitate to contact Selene Foster at 415.863.7668 or events@rootdivision.org.