Look Here—a Farewell From Our Arts Columnist
"Through their work," writes Matthew Harrison Tedford, "I saw how art can transform our understanding of the natural world, or our relationship with it."
Author Archives: Matthew Harrison Tedford
Matthew Harrison Tedford is an arts writer focused on ecology, history, and politics. Based in San Francisco, his work has appeared on KQED, Hyperallergic, SF Weekly, Art Practical, and elsewhere.
Stitching Nature Together
The project, says artist Liz Harvey, “draws on the past to navigate toward an uncertain but yet hopeful future.”
Landscapes of Change, at SFMOMA
They're secret repositories of history, and places to contest exclusion, forgetting, and destruction.
Plants Are Culture, Too
¡Plantásticas! Our Lives with Plants, a temporary exhibition at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, explores the myriad relationships between people and plants, with a special focus on Latinx and Indigenous perspectives.
With Instruments of Rocks and Shells, Cheryl Leonard Brings Nature’s Music To Life
“Anything can be musical instruments!” Leonard exclaims, in a studio full of bones, driftwood, feathers, stones, and homemade instruments.
An Artist Goes Bird-Swatching
Artist Christopher Reiger's “field guides” are on view at the Laguna Environmental Center in Santa Rosa until April 28.
Genre-Defying Art: Textiles and Maps
If you're like most people and have never thought about textiles and maps at the same time, together, then you just might be the target audience for artist Linda Gass. Add climate change, land use, and Bay Area waterways into the mix, and it’s safe to say her work is unlike anything else out there.
An Invitation to Imagine Utopia, and See What Sticks
Two murals at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art in Novata are the work of San Francisco painter Elisheva Biernoff. By choosing from a library of magnets, visitors to The Tools Are In Your Hands can decide where to place depictions of native species, agriculture, and the elements of the built environment.
Landscape Paintings From Within
Shara Mays' solo exhibition, Paint. All. The. Things., is on view at Chandran Gallery in San Francisco from August 4 through September 1, 2022.
The David Brower Center Tries to Move Beyond a White Aesthetic in Nature Art
Past exhibits at the Brower Center have primarily featured white artists, and in turn, this has offered viewers an idea of nature that tends to favor the nonhuman or completely excludes humans.
