NEWS
Cyanotype prints on silk of sea kelp -and its predators – hanging in the atrium of the David Brower Center. Photography by: Sibila Savage
Josie Iselin
Dr. Kathy Ann Miller
Ann Holsberry
JUNE 9 – AUGUST 31
Uncharted Waters: Ann Holsberry
2150 Allston Way
David Brower Center
Berkeley, CA
Uncharted waters features Ann’s silk Cyanotypes of sea kelp, her largest works to date, in the two-story atrium and second floor of the David Brower Center in Berkeley. This immersive environment celebrates the beauty and fragility of nearshore ecosystems and evokes the mesmerizing experience of swimming underwater in the forests of the sea. Holsberry’s large silk cyanotype prints of sea kelp – as well as its predators – were hung in the two-story atrium of the David Brower Center, evoking the power and mystery of the ocean, while highlighting the fragile beauty of near-shore ecosystems. Kelp forests, and bull kelp in particular, form the foundation of California’s coastal marine ecology and are crucial climate regulators. This exhibition and the accompanying events aim to unite art and science, inspiring wonder and curiosity about sea kelp ecosystems as well as action to protect these “forests of the sea”.
On June 23, Holsberry participated in a panel discussion Forests of the Sea: Art + Science of Kelp with members of the Above/Below Project, a group of women artists, scientists, strategists, and ocean advocates whose aim is to raise awareness of ocean stewardship.
Click here to RSVP for Forests of the Sea: Art + Science of Kelp
Forests of the Sea: Art + Science of Kelp Panelists:
Josie Iselin is a photographer, author and designer working at the confluence of art, science and ocean activism. Her newest book is The Curious World of Seaweed (Heyday Books, 2019). Rubber boots, an inquisitive eye and the use of a flatbed scanner have led Josie deep into the science of seaweed.
Dr. Kathy Ann Miller has been studying California seaweeds since 1976, when she took her first field course as an undergraduate. She’s dedicated to understanding our seaweed flora and maintaining the herbarium collections at UC Berkeley. She supports marine monitoring and conservation efforts in Northern and Southern California.
Ann Holsberry is an artist who creates large scale work in a collaborative process with nature, through the use of cyanotype – a cameraless photographic printing process. She works outdoors to capture the elemental power of sunlight and water. Raised on the Gulf Coast of Florida, she can often be found on Northern California beaches capturing impressions of sea kelp, sand, water, and other materials from her surroundings.
Holsberry also led a nature-based cyanotype workshop on August 6 at the David Brower Center in partnership with Youth Spirit Artworks to advance art opportunities for underserved youth.
A grant from the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission has allowed Holsberry to research and further develop this body of work and to fund the workshop.
The workshop culminated the following week in an art sale and group exhibition with open mic, music, live performance, and refreshments while supporting and showcasing 25+ emerging artists in Youth Spirit Artwork’s Shanice Kiel Gallery.
Sea Forest 4, cyanotype print on silk, hanging in 836M Gallery
MAY 25 – DEC 8, 2022
Kelp!
836 Montgomery Street
Collaboration between Erol Foundation and Above/Below Collective
San Francisco, CA
One of Ann’s large cyanotype silk prints will be hung in 836M Gallery along with the work of five other local artists who focus on bull kelp, the foundational species of the ocean forests along California’s North Coast in a collaborative exhibition with 836M gallery, the Erol Foundation and the Above/Below Project.
Six months of robust programming at the gallery will offer speakers on science and policy related to kelp forests, newly released documentary film screenings, and other events. The exhibition and accompanying events aim to bring art and science together to activate visitors’ curiosity and wonder about kelp and to inspire action to protect the forests of the sea.
2021 – 2022
Civic Arts Grant Recipient
City of Berkeley, CA
Ann was awarded a Civic Arts Grant from the City of Berkeley in support of an upcoming exhibition at the David Brower Center. Details to be announced in early 2022.
Pink Moon / Mixed media on wood panel, 36 x 36 in, 2021
MAY 15 – JUNE 12, 2021
Time & Tides
555 California Street Plaza Gallery
Curated by Casey & Associates
San Francisco, CA
Time & Tides featured some of Ann’s largest works-to-date in the light-filled lobby of one of the most iconic office buildings in San Francisco. The exhibition sought to evoke the power of the elements – wind, water, sunlight – and to represent the vast and infinitesimal as a unified whole.
Big Pink / Solar print and ink on paper, 22.5 x 15 in., 2021
MAY 8 – JUNE 13, 2021
Time, Tide & Seasons
Inclusions Gallery
627 Cortland Avenue
San Francisco, CA
This solo exhibition covered a broad spectrum of Ann’s work, including paintings, cyanotypes and photograms, encaustic art, and other mixed media. The selected pieces explored natural rhythms and interconnections in nature that give shape to the unseen energies that move the world around us. When viewed as a whole, this collection celebrated the inherent beauty of the natural order of things—from the microscopic to the cosmic.
Flight diptych installation
OCTOBER 13 – FEBRUARY 11, 2021
Bird, Nest, Nature
Bedford Gallery
Lesher Center for the Arts
1601 Civic Drive
Walnut Creek, CA
This exhibition aims to heighten our sense of wonder and connectivity to the natural world while bringing awareness to the exquisite beauty of birds. The gallery is open to the public, renew your membership or purchase general tickets here.
Sea Forest Series, cyanotype on silk with embroidery | Photo by Matt Garamy
JULY 1 – SEPTEMBER 30, 2020
Art/Act: Local — Wild Places
David Brower Center
Berkeley, CA
Ann’s installation of endangered sea kelp on silk was featured along with the work of three other amazing artists in Art/Act: Local — Wild Places, an exhibition at the David Brower Center celebrating the importance of our connection to wild places.
Taking Flight (Detail)
cyanotype, pastel, and gouache on paper, 72 x 38 in, 2014
REVIEW
Berkeleyside
“In Art/Act: Local – Wild Places, an online art show curated by the David Brower Center, four Bay Area artists celebrate nature in order to encourage its preservation…You’ll feel a connection to the landscape and natural, living things as you view this show.”
– Minhae Shim Roth, July 31, 2020
Lost Bouquet 1,
cyanotype and embroidery on paper, 14 x 11 in., 2015
ONGOING EXHIBITION
Pierogi Gallery Flat Files
Pierogi Gallery
155 Suffolk Street
New York, NY
The Pierogi Gallery Flat Files are well known in New York’s contemporary art scene as a place where curators, collectors, art dealers, and the general public can put on white gloves to handle and view artists’ works up close. Ann’s work can be seen onsite at the gallery’s Lower East Side location, as well as online in their digital gallery.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
“Wild Places” Virtual Artist Panel
Hosted by the David Brower Center, this event focused on our connection to wild places. Ann spoke with fellow artists behind the group exhibition Art/Act: Local — Wild Places, as well as community organizers working to make wild places more accessible: YES Nature to Neighborhoods and Latino Outdoors.
Ann embroidering part of her Sea Forest Series
JULY 29, 2020
Artist at Work Livestream
David Brower Center
2150 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA
Ann shared her meditative and transformative art-making process via Instagram livestream from the David Brower Center on Wednesday July 29th. Working in the front gallery windows, Ann embroidered additions to her large Sea Forest silk pieces, inviting viewers to reflect on our urge to create in spite of it all.
Using cyanotype on a large-scale 18 foot artwork for the David Brower Center exhibition.
SUMMER 2020
Cyanotype Workshop
David Brower Center
2150 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA
This workshop has been cancelled due to COVID precautions.
2018 – 2019
Civic Arts Grant Recipient
City of Berkeley, CA
The City of Berkeley awarded Ann a Civic Arts Grant in support of further exploration and development of new work in her ongoing Migration, Earth, Sky Water, and Cosmologies series.
Cosmology 6 (Mardi Gras)
cyanotype, ink, duralar, machine stitching on paper, 20 x 12 in., 2015
NOVEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2019
Winter Solstice Exhibition
Marin Museum of Contemporary Art
Novato, CA
Ann received a Juror Award for her piece Cosmology 6 (Mardi Gras) in the Marin MOCA group exhibition Winter Solstice; Juried by Andrea Schwartz of the Andrea Schwartz Gallery in San Francisco.
Drawing upon influences from her childhood spent near New Orleans, Ann printed Mardi Gras beads and further developed the work with ink, duralar, and machine stitching.
View more artwork from the Cosmologies series here.
Kelp Forest 1
cyanotype on paper, ink, 72 x 38 in., 2018
OCTOBER 5 – 27, 2019
33rd Annual Emeryville Celebration of the Arts
The Pickleworks Building
Emeryville, CA
This annual juried exhibition provides an opportunity for the wider community to view work by the high concentration of artists in the small, vibrant arts community of Emeryville, CA.
Ann’s selected artwork, Kelp Forest 1, focuses on the delicate interconnection between humans and our environment. The image was created using cyanotype on paper, printed with a combination of the artist’s profile and bull kelp sourced from Buckhorn Cove, Mendocino County.
View more artwork from the Earth, Sky, Water series here.
Ocean Mist
cyanotype and cold wax on paper on panel, 24 x 18 in. each, 2019
AUGUST 4 – SEPTEMBER 25, 2019
Ocean Passage
Berkeley Yacht Club
Berkeley, CA
In this waterfront venue overlooking the Golden Gate, Ann’s work conveyed the power and mystery of the ocean through artwork that had been made at the edge of California beaches.
View more artwork from the Earth, Sky, Water series here.
SUMMER 2019
Artist in Residence
Kala Art Institute
Berkeley, CA
Ann recently participated in Kala’s Artist in Residence program, where the supportive environment and space to experiment provided an opportunity to explore the interface between analog printmaking methods and new media.
Artist talk with TaVee McAllister Lee (left), Ann Holsberry (right)
MAY 30 – JUNE 29, 2019
TRACES: Ann Holsberry & TaVee McAllister Lee
Gearbox Gallery
Oakland, CA
From Ann’s talk, Explorer’s Journey:
“I see myself on an explorer’s journey as I discover new ways of seeing and recording the natural world by using materials and elements endemic to a particular place and time. These unique pieces created in various outdoor locations become records of the passage of time and the fragility of natural ecosystems.”
MAY 1 – AUGUST 31, 2019
From Fertile Ground – Art and Innovation
Public Art Commission
City of Emeryville, CA
The City of Emeryville displayed posters of Ann’s artwork on bus shelters throughout the city. The theme From Fertile Ground – Art and Innovation included local flora and fauna, regional ecology, neighboring shorelines, and the transformative energy embodied by the “Rotten City Arts District” in Emeryville, where Ann’s studio is located.
Incoming Tide
cyanotype on paper, 88 x 30 in., 2018
FEBRUARY 16 – MARCH 23, 2019
Something Blue
Gray Loft Gallery
Oakland, CA
This annual juried photography exhibit included Ann’s piece Incoming Tide, which was selected for the dynamic use of cyanotype, an alternative photographic process. Using kelp gathered on Northern California beaches in the exposure, Ann’s work follows in the tradition of nineteenth century botanist and photographer Anna Atkins, who created cyanotypes of British algae in the 1840s.