View the creative side of the people who help keep °®¶¹´«Ã½ moving
The exhibition Alter Ego offered a glimpse at staff talents outside of their work for the college.
°®¶¹´«Ã½ staff such as studio managers, technologists, program managers, and more play a critical role within the °®¶¹´«Ã½ community by supporting students and faculty, as well as their fellow staff members. And in intangible ways, they strengthen our community by sharing their true selves on campus, online, and in the studios.
Staff also lead not-so-clandestine lives as artists, yet their creative identities often remain veiled to students and faculty. In November 2023, the °®¶¹´«Ã½ Campus Gallery offered a rare glimpse into their unique perspectives, experiences, and creative journeys in the exhibition Alter Ego.
See a highlights from the exhibition and read the inspiration and motivations behind the pieces.
Piper Alldredge, studio manager, Model Shop/Fabrication
My installation was a home distillation set-up with accompanying zines that visitors could take to learn how to set up their own at home. I’ve been working a lot with plants the last few years, and as I talked through the idea of submitting something to the exhibition, someone mentioned to me an exhibit they saw that included a scent component. Art in galleries tends to really be about what you see, sometimes about what you hear, sometimes what you touch. And, I am always interested in sharing something that people can take and try on their own. So, this installation was about that DIY spirit, and using your sense of scent.
Piper Alldredge, Untitled, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
Torreya Cummings, associate director of academic computing & studio operations
These pieces were made in October 2022 while I was an artist in residence at Recology. In my job at °®¶¹´«Ã½ I use cables like these all the time, where I manage the computer labs and other technical resources. While I was at Recology, I started collecting them from the e-waste bins and weaving them into sailor's knots while I was looking for materials for a larger (and ultimately unrelated) installation.
I had just finished a project on a sailing ship at the SF Maritime National Historic Park and was excited about rope mats on the deck made from lines that had been retired from use. There was an interesting parallel with the ethernet and USB cables I found in the bins. Day jobs and night jobs have a funny way of overlapping and informing each other, and this is an example of how, even when I'm at work, I'm secretly thinking of it as “research†for my other work.
“There was an interesting parallel with the ethernet and USB cables I found in the bins. Day jobs and night jobs have a funny way of overlapping and informing each other…â€
associate director of academic computing and studio operations
Torreya Cummings, A Collection of Untitled Sailor’s Knots (detail), 2022. Copper, rubber, plastic, unknown metals, circuit boards, gold plating. Courtesy of the artist.
Sarah Lowe, senior director of studio operations
During the pandemic restrictions, I wanted to spend time with gorgeous materials that wouldn't be a health hazard or need any specialized facility separate from my home. I started making stitched and embellished fabric samplers; this piece was the first one that broke out into three dimensions. I think of it as a weighted blanket/amulet for the heart, something protective in a time of so many vulnerabilities.
Sarah Lowe, Untitled, 2020. Photo by Nicholas Lea Bruno. Courtesy of the artist.
Tracy Tanner, assistant director of the Center for the Arts and Public Life
Ritual is a commentary on being a single mother. This is a sketch for an installation where I bathe Thea, my daughter, pour milk on her, care for her. Although, this installation will likely never be shown in a gallery because Thea is not interested in such a public display, it happens everyday.
Being a mother takes so much care. You give more than you ever knew was possible to give. As your children age, you become a subset of them. Here at °®¶¹´«Ã½, in my capacity as Assistant Director of the Center for Art and Public Life, I am a full person, a free standing individual, but as I leave here I become my daughter’s keeper. Picking her up for school, running her to activities, helping her with her homework, how to care for herself, feeding her, trimming her nails, and injecting magic into her everyday. Thea, as her name suggests, is a goddess and I am her ladies maid helping her traverse through the world. I know it is my most important role I will play throughout my life, so I give it the time and attention it deserves.
Tracy Tanner, Ritual, 2023. Acrylic on paper, 24 x 36 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
Nancy Chan, instructional technologist, Libraries
My piece is called Self-Portrait with Otter Costume, a lithograph I made in 2005 when I was an undergraduate student at °®¶¹´«Ã½. Reflecting on the piece now, almost 20 years later, it's a nice snapshot of my life at that time—living with my parents, commuting to the Oakland campus, spending time in the print studio socializing with friends, listening to music, and making art. I'd made the otter costume on my mother's sewing machine for Halloween not long before making the print, and it seemed a fitting portrait for the theme of the exhibition—the subject standi