cultural progamming

Art exhibits, themed community dinners, professional learning and networking opportunities, author and artist talks, field trips, conferences; all in the service of helping to build a world I want to live in.

Sympoiesis: making with
curator and producer

Sympoiesis: making with, an art exhibit of the Southern California Fibershed, explores how one of humanity’s oldest craft and industrial forms–the making of clothing–has shaped our relationship to the land, our bodies, and each other.

The title calls up author and scholar Donna Haraway’s neologism sympoeisis, or making with, the idea that we are creatures of the earth in a dance of co-creation. This hybrid art show–social practice follows the threads linking our agricultural and economic ecosystems, and our wellbeing, with what we wear.

sympoiesis ad studio 203

Tricksters & Transformation

instigator and producer

Highlighting the artist as trickster, agent of change, or boundary crosser, the works in this exhibit may also camouflage the status quo or trick us into new ways of seeing by appearing as one thing while offering up unexpected perspectives.

The exhibit ran concurrently with an Artist in Residency featuring Carmen Mardonez.

OMChats: How Empathy Creates Extraordinary Experiences
moderator and co-producer

How Empathy Creates Extraordinary Experiences explores the role of empathy in the design of space and products. OM was joined by architects, interior designers, and product designers from leading firms, including Adaeze Cadet, Vice President at HKS; Julie Smith-Clementi of the newly formed Smith-Clementi; and Sarah Barnard, principal of Sarah Barnard Design.

The presentations utilized case studies, anecdotes, and visuals that support theories of how we understand the nature of place and the people and communities affected by design interventions; approaches to the design process and accountability; and creating an expanded practice of universal design to include mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing.

author talks, conferences, and social events

  • Textile Slam for Oceanparkstudio

    Textile Slam! for Textile Arts | Los Angeles

  • Material and Mind, Author Talk by Chris Bardt, AIA

    Chris Bardt, AIA, Material and Mind, Author Talk

  • Diary of (Natural) Color, Fibershed Project

    Diary of (Natural) Color, Fibershed Project

  • Material Dialogues, a textile summit

  • Rebecca Burgess, Fibershed Author Talk

    Rebecca Burgess, Fibershed, Author Talk

  • Katherine Pogson, Artist Talk