Artists
The five Oakland-based artists and curators that we have assembled each bring an incredible experience to the project.
PHoto | Typotalks
Jeremy Liu
Jeremy Liu is the Managing Partner of Creative Development Partners, a Principal of Creative Ecology Partners, a co-founder of the award-winning National Bitter Melon Council, and for 15 years led two, nationally-recognized community development corporations managing budgets of over $11M, staff of 100+, and hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate development, community programs, and assets. As an artist I've received the Artadia Artist Prize and grants from Visible Republic/NEFA, the LEF Foundation, and the Creative Work Fund. My art has been exhibited at the LA County Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, Smart Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SITE Santa Fe, Boston Center for the Arts, Blaffer Art Museum, and at the Live Bienniale in Vancouver, the Open Engagement Art + Social Practice Conference, and the Grantmakers in the Arts conference.Jeremy Li
Karen Cusolito
Karen studied at Rhode Island School of Design and Massachusetts College of Art. She worked on several public art installations in and around the Boston area before moving to San Francisco in 1996. Her art has taken many forms, from painting and mixed media to the large-scale steel sculptures she’s presently developing. She finds drawing to be the easiest and most concise form of communication and the human form a rich arena in which to explore and express emotion, intention, and challenge. Much of her work focuses on humanity and the environment and the delicate balance between the two. Karen is about to embark on a new series that studies the female form throughout history. Since 2009, she has been running American Steel Studios in Oakland, CA, which provides studio and gallery space to over 100 artists and small businesses.
Marisha Fransworth
Marisha Farnsworth is an artist and designer who creates public space interventions that address questions of place, functionality and collectivity. Marisha’s work focuses on future ecosystems, infrastructural utopias and the social and economic implications of materiality in the built environment. Embracing collaboration, Marisha has worked with interdisciplinary teams to develop waste-stream based building materials, and has a longstanding collaboration with the ecological engineering firm, Hyphae Design Lab. In 2009, Marisha co-founded Urban Biofilter, a nonprofit that combines ecology, urban planning and community-based design to reimagine urban ecology. Urban Biofilter’s projects, implemented from the port of West Oakland to informal settlements in Tijuana, have been funded by the Strategic Growth Council, and exhibited at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Marisha holds an MArch degree from UC Berkeley and a BFA from the Cooper Union and currently teaches at Merritt College in Oakland, CA.
Randolph Belle
In over 25 years as an Oakland artist, entrepreneur, arts administrator and community development consultant, Randolph Belle has launched four commercial arts facilities, including the first art gallery in the now-bustling Uptown Artist District in 1998, and before that, the first commercial arts space in the artist enclave of 15th Street in downtown Oakland in 1992. Randolph founded Support Oakland Artists in 1994, along with a group of artists and designers and incorporated as a nonprofit in 2002. In addition to his professional accomplishments, Randolph has serves on the board of directors for the Oakland Film Society and is an advisory board member at the Crucible. Past organizational affiliations include Co-Chair of the City of Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission, president of the board of directors for Pro Arts and board member at the Museum of Children’s. Randolph is a partner at RBA Creative, a design, communitions and consulting firm, and Creative Development Partners, an innovative real estate development firm.
photo | creative mornings
Sorell Raino-Tsui
Sorell Raino-Tsui is a lifelong Oakland and East Bay resident who found early success in finance, and at 19 became the youngest licensed floor trader on the Pacific Stock Exchange. After 5 years in corporate finance Sorell abruptly left a promising career at the Exchange with the ambitions to strike out on his own and find a path more fulfilling. In 2005, Sorell co-founded Peoples Choice Printing, the first minority owned and operated Silk Screen print shop in Oakland. Sorell exploded on to the gallery scene with Athen B. Gallery, promoting a strong mix of contemporary art, urban and street art. Athen B. Gallery has become the premier space for urban artists to showcase their work.