Posts Tagged ‘ecological art’

May '17

SF Rec and Park’s Partnership With Bonnie Ora Sherk and A Living Library Receive International Acclaim

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department is proud to announce that its long-time partner, Bonnie Ora Sherk, Founder and Director of A Living Library (A.L.L.) and creator of the prototype, Living Library Nature Walk which links parks, schools, public housing, streets, and other open spaces leading to the currently hidden Islais Creek, is being featured in this year’s Venice Biennale. The international art exhibition in Venice, Italy, began this week and will continue through November. The Living Library Nature Walk will be exhibited as part of Bonnie Ora Sherk’s installation - Evolution of Life Frames: past, present, future.

Bonnie Ora Sherk is a long-time San Francisco and NYC-based artist, landscape architect, educator, and the Founder and Director of Life Frames, Inc., the non-profit sponsor of A Living Library. Her two part installation also features Crossroads Community (the farm), the pioneering, urban agriculture, multi-arts, environmental education, collaborative artwork that resulted in Potrero del Sol Park, incorporated the Chavez/101 Freeway Interchange, and was also one of the first Alternative Art Spaces in the United States. Sherk was the Founding Director and President of Crossroads Community (the farm) from 1974-1980 and made the original drawings for the Park, which will also be exhibited as part of her installation.

SF Rec and Park’s partnership with A Living Library is part of an overall effort to raise awareness of the importance of green space and to encourage community stewardship of neighborhood parks. A Living Library is a powerful and successful prototype for connecting communities in the Islais Creek Watershed, the largest in San Francisco, and aims to expand throughout the eleven neighborhoods of the Watershed, which include: Noe Valley, Mission, Bernal Heights, Potrero Hill, Bayview, Portola, Crocker-Amazon, Excelsior, OMI, Sunnyside, Glen Park - and to also transform its two neglected and flooding freeway interchanges - Chavez/101 and Alemany/101 into Northern and Southern Gateways to the Watershed. A.L.L. also provides multiple opportunities within these resilient landscapes for community and school hands-on education about watersheds and natural systems, flood mitigation, climate change, California native species, environmental justice, green skills job training, ecological transformation, all while creating a sense of place and wonder in the City’s open spaces.

“The Living Library Nature Walk showcases how parks can connect our communities, as well as the innovation of sustainable landscapes that can tackle many environmental challenges including climate change, wild habitat restoration and so much more,” said Phil Ginsburg, SF Rec and Park General Manager. “The fact that this project and the associated SF parks will be on display to receive international recognition, is a testament to Bonnie’s commitment to the coalescence of arts and nature.”

The Venice Biennale has been, for over 120 years, one of the most prestigious arts and cultural institutions in the world. Established in 1895, the Biennale has an attendance today of over 500,000 visitors at the Art Exhibition. The history of the Venice Biennale dates back to 1895, when the first International Art Exhibition was organized. In the 1930s new festivals were born: Music, Cinema, and Theatre (the Venice Film Festival in 1932 was the first film festival in history). In 1980 the first International Architecture Exhibition took place, and in 1999, Dance made its debut at the Venice Biennale.

Bonnie Ora Sherk says, “It is a wonderful honor and opportunity to have my work recognized in this significant international art venue. A Living Library, which links local biological, cultural, and technological systems and resources, and results in place-based, ecological transformation of communities and schools with integrated community programs, is actually a planetary genre. A.L.L. is both local and global in its reach, and is meant to be created in diverse communities of the world, interconnected through Green-Powered Digital Gateways, so we can share commonalities and diversities of cultures and ecologies - near and far. A Living Library is Cultivating the Human and Ecological Garden.”

Since 2002, SF Rec and Park has been in partnership with Bonnie and A Living Library helping to coordinate the Bernal Heights Living Library Nature Walk. The goal of A Living Library Nature Walk is to connect people and places in sustainable, ecological environments, and call attention to the importance of our Islais Creek Watershed, California Native Trees and Understory Plants, diverse wildlife species, and opportunities for ecological transformation of our city.

This summer, STEAM + Literacy With A Living Library, a hands-on Stewardship Camp for children in 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grades will be held in July in the Living Library Nature Walk based at St. Mary’s Park and Rec Center. For more information about the Summer Camp and to enroll, please contact: kentanderson@alivinglibrary.org. For more information about A Living Library, please visit: www.alivinglibrary.org or contact:info@alivinglibrary.org

Please email for additional photos or Bonnie Ora Sherk’s contact information.
Joey Kahn
Media Relations and Policy Manager
San Francisco Recreation and Park Department | City & County of San Francisco
McLaren Lodge in Golden Gate Park | 501 Stanyan Street | San Francisco, CA | 94117
(415) 831  2741 | joey.kahn@sfgov.org
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Jan '17

Bonnie Ora Sherk Presents A Living Library To Educators At Nevada Museum of Art

The Nevada Museum of Art in Reno is presenting a STEAM TEACHER TRAINING and invited Bonnie Ora Sherk to give Keynote Address: PastedGraphic-2-page-001   unnamed Bonnie Ora Sherk’s Keynote Address:  Steam + Literacy With A Living Library excited the enthusiastic crowd of Nevada educators, city leaders, and others at the Nevada Museum of Art on January 28so much that they now want to develop a Reno Branch Living Library & Think Park.  Stay tuned as this exciting opportunity evolves …
CITY PLANNING : DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, HUMAN EXPERIENCE
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2017  8 am – 4:30 pm
Reception to follow - Nevada Museum of Art | 160 W. Liberty St. Reno

Imagine a blank canvas where you are given the freedom to design a city from the ground up. Join us for an exploration of this topic through the STEAM lens to discuss city planning for the next generation. Through hands-on activities and presentations, you will bring these material to life in your classroom.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Bonnie Ora Sherk | Landscape Architect, Artist, Educator, and Founder/Director of A Living Library which transforms derelict urban spaces and hidden watersheds into thriving art gardens, resilient learning landscapes,and education centers for children and adults that uses STEAM + Literacy to impact communities.

Will Roger Peterson | Founding Board Member and Board Chairman, Burning Man Project, Black Rock City Planner and Designer

FREE training open to all educators in Nevada.
Includes: continental breakfast, lunch, and reception.
Upon completion participants will receive 0.5 In-Service Credit

VISIT GREENPOWER.DRI.EDU TO REGISTER 

Contact Craig Rosen, DRI Community Relations and Professional Development Administrator at craig.rosen@dri.edu or call 702-862-5332 for more information.
 
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-2Growing spaces were rebuilt, soil amended and cultivated with seeds.

plantingbrassicas-34th and 5th Graders planting Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower and Kale.

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

searchingforworms-2-2 searchingforworms2-2-2

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-2bilingualsigns2-2 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
Dec '15

Students Dig in at OMI/Excelsior Living Library & Think Park

A.L.L.'s Programs for School Students

Middle and High School Students have been busy in the Living Library Gardens this Fall semester building a new worm farm, digging and planting water-recycling gardens, and cooking up healthy meals of freshly harvested vegetables at the  OMI/Excelsior Living Library & Think Park. During the school day, five hundred students from science classes, special needs classes, as well as social studies and arts classes at James Denman Middle School and Leadership High School come to the garden regularly to learn ecology and science through interactive lessons and team garden activities.

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In a A Living Library's science classes, students discussed the severe drought in California and explored the concept of using local resources in the garden. Together, the classes made the water-wise choice to create a garden that reuses water from the sink in our garden kitchen.

Students cleared out an area next to the sink and shaped the earth into a "Grey water Oasis" complete with an island, native flowers, herbs and cattail pond. Now the water we use to wash hands and dishes has created a vibrant ecosystem enjoyed by the students as well as the butterflies and hummingbirds. A.L.L. Green Futures Eco-Stewards in the after-school program decided to repurpose the old garden sink into a new Worm Farm and built a frame and walls. The A.L.L Eco-Stewards learned how to make a sketch of their idea, measure the wood pieces, and safely use saws, hammers and nails to put together this cozy new home for the worms.

A.L.L. Eco-Stewards measure and cut wood for Worm Farm and enjoy new Grey-Water Garden Oasis that they created.

During science class, students come into the garden to learn about healthy nutrition, harvest fresh vegetables, cook and share food together. In addition to the gardening and building projects, students harvested fresh chard, zucchini, kale, carrots, radishes, beans, and other vegetables from the Gardens and cooked a range of healthy dishes together.

Students prepared dishes with whole grains and vegetables including a tempeh stir fry with black rice, vegetable sushi, quinoa salad with greens and beets, as well as sweet treats such as rice pudding and oatmeal with fresh fruit and spices.

A.L.L. Eco-Stewards wash and prepare vegetables they harvested in the garden.

 We wish to thank the students from James Denman Middle Schools and Leadership High School who cooperatively worked together to make many improvements in their Living Library & Think Park Gardens, Redwood Reading Circle, Farm Learning Zone, and Fruit Orchard this Fall. We are thankful for the recent rains and looking forward to a Spring 2016 Semester filled with many fun days learning in the garden together!

By Grace Dowd
Sep '15

A Living Library SF Fall ’15 After School Paid Internship Programs: A.L.L.Eco-Stewards & A.L.L. Green Futures

Fall15 All Ecostewards Flyer Image San Francisco, CA:  Happy Fall to all! A Living Library is pleased to offer a range of PAID after school Internships & Leadership Opportunities to High School & Middle School students this semester. For High School Students to Age 24: FALL15 ALL EcoStewards Flyer IMAGE Click the Links to view/download PDFs: FALL15 ALL Eco-Stewards Flyer Fall15 ALL Eco-Stewards Application FALL15 Green Futures Flyer HD IMG FALL15 A.L.L. Green Futures Flyer FALL15 ALL Green Futures Application Please contact Grace to discuss internship opportunities. Individualized internships may be available to suit the applicant's interests and strengths. Join the A.L.L. Team today to start cultivating a bright and healthy future in your neighborhood!    
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