November LPP+ Resident, Lynnette Miranda at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery.
Last night Little Paper Planes's current artist in residence, NY based artist, curator, educator, Lynnette Miranda gave a talk and held an open discussion at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery. I must say personally, this was one of the best talks about art I have attended and participated in because the ideas were not just specific to her work but about art and artists. Besides Lynnette, Kelly from LPP, and Christian from Adobe, there were only 3 attendees including myself so it was an intimate discussion.
More from the talk below.
While she's visiting the Bay Area this week Lynnette has been meeting with artists, doing studio visits, and going to art events. Part of this goes back to her founding Make Space, an online site to feature the work of artist, she and collaborators feature with write ups and interviews. Lynnette started Make Space back in 2010 shortly after graduating the Art Institute of Chicago. Make Space has featured the work of over 200 artists and curated exhibitions at fairs and galleries. Make Space is planning for an update to the site soon and to revisit some past featured artists.
Lynnette spoke about some her early art work and curatorial exhibitions. She discussed her methodologies of curating exhibitions, working with artists to engage more with the public beyond just having artwork up on white walls, and emphasized having programing during exhibitions. She also talked about access to funding for artists and creating ways to engage a wider audience with art, and artists being available to the public, and hierarchy in art organizing.
At the end of Lynnette's talk she closed with three questions she is currently thinking about.
The one the struck me the most was her second: Do we question systems of power in art enough?
The open discussion almost went an hour, talking about art being available to minorities, families, activating spaces, art funding, collaborating, transparency, art organizing, and a little bit about SF MOMA opening next year and how some of their new programming may align with Lynnette's efforts.
One of the top take aways from Lynnette, was for people of the art world to be more aware of and making conscious decisions about how they are presenting and approaching art for the public.
I highly recommend checking out Make Space and following along with Lynnette and her work.
