Community Projects & Collaborations
Custom print edition created on site with Stanley Mouse each year
Working at the print station with our Conrad table-top press.
Printmaking Backstage at the Bridge School Benefit Concert 2009-2016
Mountain View, CA
A serendipitous meeting on a plane led to an invitation to bring our Conrad table-top press backstage at the Bridge School Benefit Concert at Shoreline, for what was a very special day backstage honoring the students, families and caregivers for whom the Bridge School is so essential.
We love joining art making within unexpected places, and bringing the press offered all involved a unique medium that tends towards accessibility and access (printmaking is inherently democratizing in that the very act of being able to create multiples of an image, means more people can have access to a particular piece of art). Within this very unique setting, we utilized adaptive approaches and collaborative techniques of all kinds to ensure every child could fully participate. The spirit of community extended to everyone present; families, support staff, and even performers created throughout the day and pick them up at days' end.
We were with other artists, each offering a unique experience for these students and their families. We initiated a collaboration with another artist, Stanley Mouse.
Our annual collaboration with artist Stanley Mouse began through a separate, moving connection backstage. Stanley was there drawing and painting portraits of the students, their siblings and others.
We wanted to find a way to commemorate this day, and in the spirit of printmaking, enquired about collaborating on a mini edition of Stanley's work, part of which would be donated back to the school. This became a yearly tradition, each year, a new set of prints.
It was truly powerful to be a part of this collective effort. Thank you to all the dedicated people behind the scenes who made these meaningful days possible.
This backstage environment yielded unique opportunities for both spontaneous and planned creative exchanges. Above, musician Graham Nash joined in making prints, alongside the families, and the Bridge School kids, a mini edition created.
Stanley Mouse dedicating time backstage to paint live portraits of the children and families during the benefit event, and during a quiet moment in between, painted a portrait of our son (above).
Message in a Bottle
Morgan Hill, CA
Aerial photograph taken from the cherry picker looking down at students constructing the 50 by 50 foot ocean-themed bottle mosaic.
The entire student body coming together on the lawn to deconstruct the interactive installation and gather the thousands of bottles into bins for transport to the next site.
The city of Morgan Hill secured a grant through the California Department of Conservation to develop a program to deepen students' awareness of beverage container recycling. As Artists in Residence, we were commissioned to create an art program with this aim. The project involved over 4,000 bottles, food coloring, a cherry picker, fields, and eight schools, whereby the bottles would rotate schools and a 50-by-50-foot temporary mural was created on each site, photographed, then put into posters. In addition, a documentary was made that aired on local television in order to maximize awareness. In support of the recycling effort, a the conclusion of the project the vast majority of bottles were given to students to take home, water plants and recycle or reuse the bottles.
The Logistics
Pulling off an installation of this scale required incredible synergy between corporate sponsors, public education, and local government:
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The Materials: Ball Container Corporation generously donated over 2,000 structural bottles, while CakeKraft provided the massive quantities of food coloring needed to bring them to life.
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The Process: Students participated in detailed color studies, manually mixing and preparing the vibrant, color-filled bottles.
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The Canvas: At each school site, a massive 50-by-50-foot chalk grid was mapped out on the grass. Having recently visited the aquarium, the students chose an immersive ocean theme for the designs.
Collaborative Mandalas from Above
True to the philosophy of Tibetan sand mandalas, the art was intentionally fleeting. At the end of each school day, the entire campus gathered to deconstruct the image together—fostering a visceral, unforgettable dialogue about human consumption, waste, and our collective impact on the planet.
To seamlessly move the project across the city, the local recycling company stepped forward as a critical civic partner, donating their time, heavy machinery, and resources. Every afternoon, they hauled ten massive canisters of the bottles—sorted meticulously by color—and transported them to the next school site to begin the cycle anew.
Power Medical Interventions, Moscone Center
San Francisco 2005
Power Medical Interventions commissioned Matthew and I to engage attending physicians in a live art event during a two-day medical device and surgical equipment conference at the Moscone Center. They wanted to highlight the San Francisco location of the conference, as well as recognize the surgeons and physicians utilizing this medical equipment, culminating in over 50 portraits painted live in just two days.
The project began with detailed underpainting developed by Matthew at our storefront atelier in San Francisco, before being transported to the conference hall.
The live painting station in progress on the Moscone Center conference floor. The evolving large-scale canvas, showcasing the sketching and mapping process used to integrate over 50 portraits created on site, in person with physicians.