IN THE NEWS
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January/February 2010 - Article about about Fight for the Neighborhood and SFAC's Art in Storefronts Program in art ltd. magazine.

December 20, 2009 - Article about Fight for the Neighborhood and SFAC's Art in Storefronts Program in the New York Times.

November 8 - Article about Fight for the Neighborhood and SFAC's Art in Storefronts Program in the Huffington Post.

October 25, 2009 - Interview about Fight for the Neighborhood with Peter Laufer of Green 960am. Podcast will be posted soon.

October 24, 2009 - Article about Fight for the Neighborhood and SFAC's Art in Storefronts Program in the San Francisco Chronicle.

June 13, 2009 - Review of Leave the Capital on Artbusiness.com.

June 11, 2009 - Article about Leave the Capital in the San Francisco Chronicle.

June 11, 2009 - Article about Leave the Capital in the SFBG Arts & Culture Blog

June 2, 2009 - Review of Sanctuary City/Ciudad Santuario 1989/2009 on Mission Loc@l.

May 28, 2009 - Review of Sanctuary City/Ciudad Santuario 1989/2009 on Artbusiness.com.

OTHER STUFF
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Mobile Arts Platform (MAP)
A Collaboration with Peter Foucault.
Part of Left Coast Live
Downtown San Jose
June 25 and 26, 2010

Performance by the Mobile Arts Platform
Root Division, 3175 17th Street
Opening Reception: June 12th, 6-10pm

As we speed off into a new era of travel, technology and environmental responsibility, the artists in Auto-Manic respond to the role of the automobile, and it’s alternatives, in art. Curated by Peter Foucault, Auto-Manic featured performances by MAP and Kevin E. Taylor as well as art work by Cody Bratt, Laura Garzon, Justin Hoover, Shea Naer, Guy Overfelt, Michael Pedroni, Molly Pettengill, Damaris Rivera, Kirsten Rae Simonsen, Susanne Slavick, Heather Sparks, Anna-Maria Vag and Michelle Waters.

Conference of the Southwest Labor Studies Association
Oakes College, UC Santa Cruz
Saturday, May 8, 2010

Fal-Core Event Exhibition.
SOMArts Cultural Center
934 Brannan Street, San Francisco
March 26, 2010

The final event of MOMENTS (Bringing Back the Now) features “Formations”, time-based performative sculptures by Daniel Blomquist, as well as a temporary mobile sculpture/video screening by Peter Foucault and Chris Treggiari and their Mobile Arts Platform. The screening, titled “Inner:Cities,” highlights the work of eight local, national and international artists responding to the psychological and physical navigation of urban space: Ronnie Cramer, Selene Foster, Sandhya Kumar, Zachary Royer Scholz, Renetta Sitoy, Hui-Ying Tsai, Gordon Miniemko and Michael Zheng. The screening begins at 8pm, afterward visitors can enjoy a concert by 15 Degrees Below Zero.

A collaboration with Jessica Watson.
Former train stops throughout the Mission District.
Saturday, December 5, 2009, 11am - 5 pm.

As part of Southern Exposure's Passive/Aggressive Juried Public Art Day, Chris collaborated with Jessica Watson on a project that highlighted a history of SoEx's neighborhood that had long been since forgotten.

The train was once the main method of long distance travel that forced riders to sit, wait and take in their surroundings. This project followed part of route of the historic South Pacific Railroad line along Harrison Street with markers acting as “stations” inviting participants to "hop on board" while providing interesting facts about the railroad and its long history. The route ended at a train depot (NE corner of 24th and Capp Streets) where participants were greeted by a train attendant and given a uniquely rendered ticket, each featuring a ticket with an original drawing by Chris and a synopsis of the Ocean View Branch Line.

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A Collaboration with Billy Mitchell.
144 Taylor Street, San Francisco
Sponsored by the SF Arts Commission
October 23, 2009 - January 2010

Fight for the Neighborhood was spurred by the Tenderloin’s historical connection to the sport of boxing. The artists created a boxing gym installation that also serves as a reminder to stand up and fight for the neighborhood during tough economic times. Artist Chris Treggiari created the installation elements of the boxing ring and gloves while photographer Billy Mitchell (Sixth Street Photography) took photographs of local residents to create the foreground montage of the crowd watching the match.

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Root Division | 3175 17th Street
Thursday, October 22, 2009
VIP Reception: 6:30-7:30pm
Regular Admission/ Silent Auction: 7:30-10pm
Live Auction begins: 8:15pm

The 8th Annual Art Auction will be an evening of good company, friendly competition, and a chance to support artists & arts education in San Francisco. This Art Auction will present an eclectic mix of quality artwork from over 125 established and emerging local artists. It’s a wonderful chance to throw your hand in the air and take home something inspiring but affordable. Proceeds benefit local emerging artists, as well as Root Division’s free after school art classes for Bay Area youth.

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SFSU Fine Arts Gallery | 1600 Holloway, Fine Arts Building, Room 238
Exhibition Dates: September 19 - October 15, 2009
Opening Reception: September 19, 2009, 1-3pm
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays – Saturdays, 11am–4pm

Curated by Mark Dean Johnson, Sharon Bliss and students in the Art Department’s Exhibition Design course, Cartographic Imagination is a new show exploring maps as both image and cipher, in media including photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, new technologies, performance and installation. The exhibition intends to expand the long history of the conceptual use of mapping in art into 21st century expressions and practice.

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Root Division | 3175 17th Street (at S. Van Ness)
Exhibition Dates: September 9 - 26, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 12, 7-10 pm
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays - Saturdays, 2-6 pm

Introductions 2009 features painting, drawing, photography, sculpture & video by 12 emerging artists living and/or working in the Bay Area. Chosen from over 160 submissions, jurors Glen Helfand, Meg Shiffler, and Eleanor Harwood decided on each artist for both the formal and conceptual strength of the work presented. The goal of Introductions 2009 is to create exposure for emerging artists in San Francisco by showcasing their artwork. This exhibition is part of Root Division’s ongoing Second Saturday Exhibitions Series in which we present a unique event or exhibition opening on the second Saturday of each month. The goal of the series is to present engaging and high quality artwork, thereby nurturing the accessibility & appreciation of Bay Area visuals arts & artists.

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SOMArts Cultural Center | 943 Brannan Street
Exhibition Dates: July 9-July 25, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 9th, 5-7pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesdays-Fridays, 2-7pm, Saturdays 12-5pm

A reception will be held on Thursday, July 9th, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. A free screening follows of the Tim Robbins-directed The Cradle Will Rock, based on the story of the Federal Theatre Project’s aborted 1937 production of Marc Blitzstein’s labor musical. A host of characters include John Houseman, Diego Rivera, Nelson Rockefeller and Orson Welles.
LaborFest Schedule

This multimedia show brings together contemporary artists from the United States and France to provide provocative and compelling views on the effects of capitalism and the state of labor today. Artists include Skylaar Amann, Philippe Barnoud, Joe Blum, Paul Bouchard, Lenny Bové, Sheri Cavan, Michael Chomick, Mike Connor, Slobodan Dimitrov, Chris Dunker, Tom Griscom, Trudi Hauptman, Véronique Held, Mike Kimball, Anthony Lazorko, Jr., Kyle Levinger and Holly Coley, Doug McGoldrick, Douglas Minkler, Mimi Plumb, Aubrey Rhodes, John Robinson, Rachel Schreiber, Elizabeth Sibilia, elin o'Hara slavick, Chris Treggiari, Angela Franks Wells, Marcia Weisbrot, Holly Wong and Steve Zeltzer. Margot Smith’s documentary film, WPA Murals in San Francisco / The WPA Murals of Bernard Zakheim / New Deal Public Art: The Works Progress Administration, will be screened throughout the run of the show. Seldom seen prints from the 1950s and 1960s by Emmy Lou Packard (1914-1998), a former WPA artist and assistant to Diego Rivera, will compliment the contemporary art on view.

While Mike Connor’s banner image of the 1934 General Strike in San Francisco reminds us that the 75th anniversary of that epic battle is being observed with this exhibition, Chris Treggiari’s parade float honors those that so heroically fought for workers’ rights. The women of labor are also honored in photographs by Joe Blum and John Robinson of the construction of our local bridges, as SOMArts hosts Jo Kreiter’s Flyaway Productions as artists-in-residence with their premiere of “The Ballad of Polly Ann.” Pertinent to California, the exploited and little rewarding realm of farm labor is ennobled by the scenes of organizing from photographer Mimi Plumb and portraits by photographer Rachel Schreiber. Chris Dunker’s photographic eye explores the ghostly caverns of meatpacking plants while Doug McGoldrick’s photographs create disjointed narratives of patron and worker in the service sector. Painter Holly Wong gives us a global perspective on the individual laborer, while elin o’Hara slavick’s photographs give a human face and individual desire to workers from all walks of life within the United States. The logic of capitalism is questioned in Véronique Held’s graphic constructions, as capitalism and its effects on individuality and identity are explored in provocative electronic works by Kyle Levinger/Holly Coley and Elizabeth Sibilia. The architecture and economy of capitalism are captured in prints by Mike Kimball and photographs by Tom Griscom. Doug Minkler’s exuberant posters and Paul Bouchard’s assemblages decry the savagery of the capitalist system and Sheri Cavan’s ceramic figures portray the single-minded focus of the capitalist boss, while Aubrey Rhodes’s unforgettable painting looks at the victims of the same. The loss of neighborhood and community that results from the collapse of industries is captured in Anthony Lazorko, Jr.’s prints. Lenny Bové presents workers of the historic past in surreal paintings, Angela Franks Wells provides a nostalgic serenity to labor in photogravures, and Trudi Hauptman brings a generational legacy to working families in quilts. Philippe Barnoud, Slobodan Dimitrov, and Steve Zeltzer in their photographs, and Skylaar Amann in her comix, remind us that the struggle continues today.

For more information, please contact curator David Duckworth at duckdiva@yahoo.com.

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Starts at Music Concourse - Steuart & Market St.
July 5th, 2009 at 9:00 am

On the 75th anniversary of “Bloody Thursday,” thousands of maritime workers and trade unionists from San Francisco and from around the world will join in remembrance of the workers who were killed and injured in their struggle to establish a union and a union controlled hiring hall. Please join.

Hosted by BALMA, ILWU Local 10, 34, 91, 75 & ILWU Pensioners. (Somber procession, uniformed, respectful and orderly.)

LaborFest was established in 1994 to institutionalize the history and culture of working people in an annual labor cultural, film and arts festival. It begins every July 5th, which is the anniversary of the 1934 “Bloody Thursday” event. On that day, two workers Howard Sperry and Nick Bordoise were shot and killed in San Francisco. They were supporting the longshoremen and maritime workers strike. This incident brought about the San Francisco General Strike which shut down the entire city and led to hundreds of thousands of workers joining the trade union movement. Labor faces great challenges today as it did 75 years ago and the need to learn about our history, and how we won victories in the past is vital for today.

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Root Division | 3175 17th Street
Exhibition Dates: June 10-June 27, 2009
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays- Saturdays, 12-4 pm (or by appointment)

Off-site Performance: "Rank and File"
By: Chris Treggiari
Date: June 20, 2009, 1-3 pm
Location: Market Street from Embarcadero to Valencia Street

Leave the Capital is an exhibition of art and media dealing with the agency of the periphery—beyond political, economic, and media centers. The 13 artists in the show offer a critical mix of observation, confrontation, urban intervention, hybridity, and cathartic celebration in order to assert the self and counter-publics. This is a timely investigation in the face of current economic restructuring. Re-considerations of the role of the public sphere and the individual within larger machines of production are more relevant than ever.

The title is taken from a 1981 song by UK post-punk band The Fall (who in turn are named after the Camus novel The Fall). The song is a starting point from which to investigate how artists address and break off from the need to perform for "Capital," represented in the widest sense of the word—as money, media, power, rules, lines, roles, etc. The exhibition presents artists negotiating between the demands of the centers of power and the possibilities presented by secondary zones and identities in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Stanislaus, Amsterdam and elsewhere.

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Queens Nails Projects | 3191 Mission Street
Exhibition Dates: 28 May-21 June 2009
Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. or by appointment
Press Contact: Bob Gamboa, (415) 749-4507, bgamboa@sfai.edu

In 1985, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors backed a resolution designating San Francisco a sanctuary city-one of the first in the US-for certain Central American refugees. The resolution decreed that police, schools, and health and social-service agencies were forbidden from assisting INS agents during potential investigations and arrests of Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees. Though the legislation was revised in the 90s and has been broadly and variously interpreted since its initial enactment, it remains in effect. Nevertheless, in the wake of federal policies implemented after 9/11, San Francisco began to see an increased number of federal immigration raids, leading to growing fear and paranoia not only among undocumented immigrants, but among legal residents as well.

Sanctuary City/Ciudad Santuario, 1989-2009 is the fruition of a two-year process of investigation and research prompted by this post-9/11 increase in federal immigration raids. By consulting with a number of local nonprofits (the ACLU, the Edgewood Center for Children and Families, the Mission Asset Fund, the Mission Economic Development Agency, ¡Poder!, and La Voz Latina,) as well as with national NGOs, international think tanks, and governmental agencies, the team of artists led by Sergio De La Torre- including Karla Claudio Betancourt (SFAI student), Dina Roumiantseva (SFAI student), Wenhua Shi, Rosario Alicia Sotelo (SFAI alumna), and Chris Treggiari (SFAI student)-has assembled a bloc of video projections and photographs, together with a text-based installation and limited-edition timeline, that explores and questions the ways in which this pattern of increased federal intervention has affected the Bay Area immigrant community.

Based on the methodology used for Maquilapolis, a documentary film project developed by De La Torre and Vicky Funari for which twelve factory workers in Tijuana, Mexico, were taught to use cameras and editing equipment so they could tell their own stories, Sanctuary City/Ciudad Santuario, 1989-2009 will similarly involve its subjects as creative participants, thereby directly situating the work in the exhibition within the milieu out of which it was generated. Together with testimonies by family members directly involved in the raids and commentaries by local politicians on San Francisco’s status as a sanctuary city, the exhibition’s video projections will be screened guerrilla-style-both during and after the exhibition-on the facades of those buildings throughout the city that have been raided by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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Reception for the 2009 MFA Graduate Exhibition
Friday, 15 May 2009 from 7:00 to 9:00pm
Herbst Pavilion in Fort Mason Center
Free and open to the public

Exhibition on view:
Saturday, 16 May to Saturday, 23 May 2009
Daily from 12:00 to 6:00pm
Free and open to the public

The largest show of its kind at a single venue in the Bay Area, the 2009 MFA Graduate Exhibition will feature work by nearly 100 artists. The result of an intense period of collaboration, investigation, and artistic development, the work on display will represent a range of interests, media, and approaches—providing patrons with an overview of some of the most challenging and exciting directions and strategies in contemporary art today. The 2009 MFA Graduate Exhibition is an opportunity for students to present their work to the larger world. This valuable experience of participating in a large, public exhibition is the culmination of a challenging program of study and creation. In addition, the 2009 MFA Graduate Exhibition introduces to the wider Bay Area community some of its most provocative and thought-provoking new talent.

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Curated by Chris Treggiari
Gallery Thoreau, Thoreau Center for Sustainability, 1014 Torney Avenue at Lincoln Boulevard
Exhibition Dates: May 1 - June 3, 2009

What: An art exhibition featuring ArtSeed Art-a-thon participants plus mentoring ArtSeed artists and students from Burnett Child Development Center, Sherman Elementary School, and ArtSeed's Apprenticeship Program.

Exhibition Concept and ArtSeed's 2009 Programming Theme Statement:
Most young artists have little inkling of what it takes to run an arts organization just as most kids can't fathom what their parents go through for their upkeep. ArtSeed's approach to arts education includes raising awareness in young people about how many professionals in a variety of fields are working for them to help make their lives resemble their fantasies. We asked ourselves what all these professionals (like architects, city planners, administrators, etc...) had in common. Ideas everyone agreed with? Lots of money? No, we decided. The successful ones seem to have come up with structures that work to keep everyone on task and headed in the same direction even when there was disagreement and lack of funds. So notions of structure and infrastructure factored into ArtSeed artists' discussions of what art lessons could point to besides art itself. And this concept nicely followed last year's Thoreau Gallery exhibition theme: Hereafter: Futures With Which We Can Live?


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