Safety on the Sidewalk | CCA Libraries

Creator(s): Professor and Curator: Aspen Mays
Artists: Aaron Kitade, Carlos Perez-Boza, Caye Mckibben, Cameron Lindquist, Chiapei Huang, Guanyu Chen, Chuhao Lin, Jillian Shea, Michael Conely, Morgan Guerra, Sherry Xiang, Ziyang Guo, Drew Daffner

Fall 2020 Interdisciplinary Critique with Aspen Mays

Inspired by initiatives such as Art-in-Place in Chicago, wherein artists have made public-facing artworks from wherever they are living that can be safely viewed outside during the pandemic, students from Aspen May's Interdisciplinary Critique class made their own version, entitled Safety on the Sidewalk. As students in the class were located all over the world this semester, this far-flung exhibition was visible in locations throughout the Bay Area, other parts of California and the United States, as well as China. Here, we bring the projects together in an online iteration of the exhibition that also serves as a digital archive of the project.

Click on the title of each work to be taken to the artist's website or Instagram page.

Gallery

Happy, 2020. "Before" view. Chinese Pistache tree, bamboo sticks (3), wooden posts (2), round pointed shovels (2), trowel.

Aaron Kitade

"Happy is meant to be sarcastic. An "old" tree, roughly 19 years old, never really grew and caused all sorts of problems. The removal of the tree made our family happy, but it didn't make the home owner's association happy, as they had sent a photo and letter stating there was a violation in the contract based on this tree removal. To please them, we bought and planted a Chinese Pistache tree, one of the cheapest trees available that was certified by the association that was okay to have."

Happy, 2020. "After" view. Chinese Pistache tree, bamboo sticks (3), wooden posts (2), round pointed shovels (2), trowel.

Aaron Kitade

Untitled, 2020. Paint on asphalt.

Carlos Perez-Boza

"This piece was a collaboration with local Bay- Area artists. Malik Seneferu, curator and organizer, reached out to local Bay Area artists to take action on the streets in response to the murder of George Floyd. A way of protesting police violence during the pandemic, the mural was divided into three sections, Black | Lives | Matter, in the stretch of three blocks directly pointing into San Francisco's City Hall building.

The mural is located at Fulton St and Webster St and it stretches to Fulton St and Gough St."

Untitled, 2020. Detail. Paint on asphalt.

Untitled, 2020. Paint on asphalt.

Remember, 2020. Video.

Caye Mckibben

"This piece is about how though we are living in stagnant times, we can still have heavy impact through our actions."

Sacrifice (The early days of grief), 2020. PLA, Bronze.

Cameron Lindquist

"This piece is a portrait of two people who were unemployed due to covid-19. It memorializes the early days of shelter in place when everyone sat still awaiting what would happen next and grieving the lives they knew before the pandemic. The sacrifice of mourning ones own lifestyle so that another may live to see the world again."

Look Who's Talking?, 2020. Clay.

Chiapei Huang

Pet Shelter, 2020. Cardboard, tape, cotton, paper bag, acrylic paint, plastic.

Guanyu Chen

Pet Shelter, 2020. "Cardboard, tape, cotton, paper bag, acrylic paint, plastic.

Guanyu Chen

The Lonely Cat, 2020. Digital photograph.

Chuhao Lin

Untitled, 2020. Copper pipe, aluminum wire, glass bottles, glass lampshade, lavender, chain, jar.

Jillian Shea

Memory and Perspective, 2020. Wood, Acrylic Paint, Foam Clay, Glass, Metal.

Michael Conely

Memory and Perspective, 2020. Wood, Acrylic Paint, Foam Clay, Glass, Metal.

Michael Conely

Counting days, 2020. Polaroid film.

Morgan Guerra

Counting days, 2020. Detail. Polaroid film.

Morgan Guerra

Green Vote, 2020. Leaves, cotton threads, wood sticks.

Sherry Xiang

"The Green Vote is a collective environmental installation that uses sustainable materials to make a visible 'VOTE' sign on a burnt hill located by the Hwy 80 at Vacaville to encourage those who are conscious about the wildfires and natural environment to take the action and register to vote for the environment."

Lost in..., 2020. Video, 920 × 1080, H.264, AAC.

Ziyang Guo

Letters for Them, 2020. Construction paper, string, and tape.

Drew Daffner

"Each saying is placed in a very specific location, I just wanted to share what they are here to get a better understanding.

They Need You was placed at a children's park, it's for both kids and parents to see and understand the connection family has and how they need each other."

Letters for Them, 2020. Construction paper, string, and tape.

Drew Daffner

"I Miss It Too is placed on a couch outside a building near my apartment. This work is not complete; I plan on making more of these celebration banners and putting them up all around the Bay Area. I currently have other artists making their own, and one artist will place them up in Bahrain using Arabic."