A Living Library – Archive Site

Aug '17

Bonnie Ora Sherk Presents Lecture On Funcshuional Art In Museum Of Arte Útil’s Escuela at Yerba Buena Center For The Arts

Bonnie Ora Sherk, long-time ecological artist, landscape architect, planner, educator, and Founder & Director of Life Frames, Inc. & A Living Library, presented a lecture on Funcshuional Art as A Living Library at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on August 2 as part of Escuela d'Arte Util (School of Useful Art), part of Tania Bruguera’s Exhibition of the Museum d'Arte Util at YBCA. Her talk was live-streamed on the YBCA's website (see below). Bonnie Ora Sherk's work was also featured on a KQED radio broadcast and appears on the KQED website about the Exhibition and Arte Util.

Presentation Part 1 Presentation Part 2

Below are a few pictures from the presentation.

Bonnie Ora Sherk presents this week’s lecture on “usership” at Escuela de Arte Útil at YBCA.

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Posted by bonnieora in
A.L.L. Pedagogy, Art, Landscape Architecture, & Systemic Design, Bernal Heights Living Library & Think Park, Bernal Heights Living Library Nature Walk, Chinatown Living Library & Think Park, International Branch Living Library & Think Parks

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Jul '17

Bonnie Ora Sherk – Public Talk at SFAI 2017 Summer Symposium

Bonnie Ora Sherk, long-time ecological artist, landscape architect, planner, educator, and Founder & Director of Life Frames, Inc. & A Living Library, presented her pioneering work at the San Francisco Art Institute 2017 Summer Symposium, I Object ! Self Organization + Political Agency as Aesthetic Practice, in conjunction with Cuban Artist, Tania Bruguera and others, on Saturday, July 15, at the San Francisco Art Institute. This Symposium was also in conjunction with Bruguera’s exhibition at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Bonnie Ora Sherk will also give another lecture at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on August 2, 6:30 pm as part of Escuela Arte Util (School of Useful Art), also part of Bruguera’s exhibition, and was additionally featured on a KQED radio broadcast and website about the exhibition and Arte Util.

At the SFAI talk, she presented her local and global, planetary genre, A Living Library, as Funcshuional Art, a term she invented, that marries East and West, North and South, with it’s multiple, practical, systemic processes, creative solutions and strategies that transform the environment, address climate change and flood mitigation among other benefits, while also educating all ages about natural systems and ecological stewardship.

Her presentation at SFAI included examples of Branch Living Library & Think Parks in the Islais Creek Watershed, the largest in San Francisco, including the OMI/Excelsior Living Library & Think Park that is transforming four contiguous SFUSD schools and campuses with integrated learning for PreK-12 students (Leadership High School, San Miguel Early Education School, James Denman Middle School, Balboa High School), and the prototype Bernal Heights Living Library & Think Park Nature Walk that is interconnecting multiple schools, parks, public housing, streets, and other open spaces through development of a new, narrative resilient landscape of California native trees and understory with interpretive signage leading to the currently hidden Islais Creek at the south side of St. Mary’s Park and Highway 280.

This Nature Walk will be expanded throughout the Watershed, to interconnect its eleven neighborhoods: Noe Valley, Mission, Bernal Heights, Potrero Hill, Portola, Crocker-Amazon, Excelsior, OMI, Sunnyside, Glen Park. Also proposed is transformation of the currently derelict and flooding, Chavez/101 Freeway and Alemany/101 Freeway Interchanges into Northern & Southern Gateways to the Watershed.

Please come to Yerba Center for the Arts in SF on August 2 at 6:30 pm to learn more about Sherk's work with Funcshuional Art and A Living Library. This talk is free and open to the public.

Posted by bonnieora in
Art, Landscape Architecture, & Systemic Design, Islais Creek Watershed

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May '17

PreK-12 Garden-Ecology-Multi-Arts-Literacy-Nutrition Outdoor Educators (Diverse Locations SF)

compensation: TBD employment type: part-time non-profit organization

PreK-12 Garden / Ecology / Multi-Arts / Literacy / Nutrition Teachers (part time) Diverse Locations SF-Available NOW !

This year-round position is a unique opportunity to work with a leading-edge, creative, environmental and educational nonprofit, Life Frames, Inc., dedicated to integrating community resources and creating transformative ecological and multicultural learning landscapes. Called A Living Library & Think Park, this program works with local schools and other community resources, to build on-site educational organic gardens and content-rich landscapes interlaced with other ecological elements, including the arts and digital technologies. A Living Library is linked to the curricula of the schools and animates all subjects through real-world experience. Students, together with adults, are involved in all aspects of the research, planning, design, implementation, use, maintenance, management and communications of the transformed learning environments and integrated community programs. (Life Frames, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer with a strong commitment to establishing a team of staff and volunteers who reflect the multicultural and linguistic diversity of the communities that we serve.)

Job Description:

Dynamic Teachers For Middle School & High School, plus some PreK-5 Students: Organic Gardening / California Natives / Ecology / Multi- Arts / Technology / Literacy / Nutrition Teachers (part-time diverse SF locations)The dynamic, inspired, and cheerful, outdoor educator will be leading groups of K-12 students and teachers, in hands-on learning and doing, in: organic & native gardening and tree planting, multi-arts including digital media, literacy and nutrition projects, as well as leading students in researching local ecology, history, watersheds, and existing local community, including its natural, multicultural, and built resources. You will be doing extensive student outreach & recruitment, attracting students for hands-on, learning programs, and leading gardening, related landscape, and arts activities as standards-based learning processes. You will be communicating about sustainability, ecological systems and native landscapes as well as performing community outreach activities with children and adults in ways that are fun, educational, and relevant. You will also help with some administration of program.

Qualifications:

The exceptional candidate must have at least a B.A. and knowledge of science, organic gardening, California native species, and the arts; digital media a plus ! MUST ALSO BE AN EXCELLENT GARDENER !• Must have extensive experience teaching, including Elementary, Middle School and High School students - working creatively and artistically with all learners with knowledge of Common Core Standards
Must be excellent and have ease in managing and leading groups of students with good classroom management skills in an outdoor setting
Must have a dynamic, outgoing personality and ability to attract middle school youth's participation in hands-on afterschool and summer program and captivate and hold young students' attention
Must be an excellent organic gardener, tree planter, and landscaper with knowledge of botany, cycles of life, insects, natural pest management, companion planting, California Native species, plant communities, nutrition & health
Knowledge about San Francisco ecology and watershed systems very important !
Must have excellent communication, writing, research skills & experience with curriculum development; knowledge of state standards a plus
Must have an evolved aesthetic/design sensibility; ability to draw well is fantastic and able to make attractive digital flyers a real win; carpentry skills are desired; digital media, video & other art skills a real plus!
Bilingual Spanish, Tagalog, Cantonese, or Mandarin, a real plus !!!
Must be creative, hard-working, strong with a can-do attitude, a self-starter, resourceful, flexible, team player, good team teacher, and able to also take direction from the Director
Ability & willingness to do some administrative work and social media !
Must be able to do physical gardening work and be able to lift 50 lbs

To find out more about A Living Library: please visit our blog: www.alivinglibrary.org Reply to the Founder & Director with cover letter & resume: bonnieora@alivinglibrary.org

Posted by bonnieora in
Jobs

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Dec '16

Arte y Cultiva/Art & Cultivation In Bernal Heights Living Library & Think Park At Junipero Serra Early Education School

The Living Library & Think Park at Junipero Serra Early Education School has been transformed this Fall by students, teachers and volunteers working hard to bring life and beauty to the Lower Garden. From Kindergarteners to Fifth Graders, over a hundred students have spent weeks in the Garden, pulling weeds, watering thirsty perennials, creating pathways and building a worm compost to feed the Garden! For some time now, this Living Library & Think Park Garden was needing some TLC, and starting in September it received some enthusiastic helping hands! Bean trellises were built, signs in both Spanish and English were made, and a beautiful mural depicting the relationship between humans and other forms of nature was painted on the stairwell of the Lower Garden.

A fantastic volunteer, Salvador from Chile, graced us with his construction skills and fixed many structures in the Garden. He helped to rebuild garden beds and lent his hand to bringing color and art into the environment ! Thank you, Salvador for all of your hard work!

bedprep-2 Growing spaces were rebuilt, soil amended and cultivated with seeds.

plantingbrassicas-3 4th and 5th Graders planting Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower and Kale.

beantrellis-2 Ms. Monica’s and Ms. P’s Kindergarten Classes planted the beans that quickly climbed up the trellis that the older students helped to erect.

Students learned all about worms in Ms. Kristin’s and Ms. Alex’s classes and then went on a scavenger hunt in the Living Library Garden looking for worms, leaves, grass and twigs to add to the worm compost they built.

bilingualsigns-2 bilingualsigns2-2 The majority of students at J.Serra are native Spanish speakers, so we wanted to make their Living Library Garden a bi-lingual space. Beautiful images and scientific terms surround the outdoor classroom

The Lower Garden at Junipero Serra is in bloom and students truly love spending time there. Their Living Library & Think Park is a year-round sanctuary for not only children, but for our wonderful pollinators like hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. The amount of imagination, smiles and laughs that are growing in this ecological and happy environment is enough to bring the roses to bloom and seeds to germinate. The young gardeners of Bernal Heights and the Mission District are busily transforming their Living Library & Think Park Garden into a magical space for humans and other forms of nature, while learning to plant seeds of kindness everywhere they go. Written by Alexandra Grubb