FINDING HOME

SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY

Bay Area artist and educator Libby Black invited a group of undergraduate and graduate students from San Francisco State University’s School of Art to articulate their unique perspectives on home. Artists from a wide range of cultures and gender identities used a variety of mediums and techniques to examine their search to find a sense of belonging and safety. Watercolor, ink, acrylic paint, colored pencil, gouache, cannabis ink, and gold leaf were among the materials chosen by the artists to address this theme.

Living and working in the Bay Area, these students confront the challenges of pursuing their art in a region where affordable housing and studio space are scarce. As artist Ella Rose Avery writes, “We have all struggled to stay in the place we are from and love.” One of Libby Black’s goals for this exhibition was to create unity between the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs at SF State. Together these amazing student artists create poignant and thought-provoking representations of the power of art as a language through which diverse voices convey their journeys to find their place in the world.

STATEMENT

We stand in the garden looking up at the moon. Its glow illuminates the fields, still and quiet, I say it looks like a storybook moon. We watch as Grandpa turns on and off the lights in the house, appearing in a window and disappearing again as he makes his way outside to join us. We give our compliments to the moon and say our goodnights, and when Grandpa heads back inside, Nanny follows, and then my mom. I’m alone for a while in the garden, and realize this could be one of the last times he would get to see the moon, and I begin to cry. I hear my mom come out again and when she joins me, I turn to her for a hug. She asks what’s wrong, I answer, “I’m so glad I’m here.”

These works are dedicated to my Nanny and Grandpa, you will always be my home.