Climate Changed Art

Presented by Art + Climate Action

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Working to center environmental consciousness in Bay Area arts organizations, Art + Climate Action recognizes the vital role artists play in tackling the climate crisis. Increasingly, artistic research is at the heart of climate-focused material research and tactical thinking. This panel presents the work of four artists and thinkers who marshal science and technology, new forms of social practice, and justice-oriented mindsets to affect real-world change. They re-imagine our built environment and develop new methods of material production, use, and reuse, suggesting pathways to change and hope for our collective future in the process. 

Moderator: Matthew Harrison Tedford is an art historian, media scholar, writer, and educator. His  work looks at the intersection of contemporary art and media, nature, the nonhuman, and technology. Matthew writes, Nature in the Arts, a quarterly column for Bay Nature magazine. His writing has appeared in Hyperallergic, Artsy, KQED, SF Weekly, Feminist Media Histories, Text Matters, and more. Matthew is a PhD candidate in the Visual Studies program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. 

Deborah Munk has served as the Manager of the Artist in Residence Program (AIR) at Recology since 2007, where she has led the transformation of a local initiative into an internationally renowned and well-respected program. The AIR Program provides support and resources to Bay Area artists who spend four months working in an onsite studio preparing for an end-of-residency exhibition. She also manages the Environmental Learning Center where her team provides educational tours about resource conservation to thousands of children and adults annually. Munk was instrumental in establishing the GLEAN Program in Portland, OR, King County AIR Program in Seattle, WA, and similar programs in Astoria and Ashland, OR. Munk holds a master’s degree in Educational Technology from SF State focusing on art and media. 

Tahirah Rasheed is an artrepreneur and founder of Fresh Made Productions, arts content promotion and production, and See Black Women. See Black Women is a movement led by activists, curators, artists, writers, photographers and poets, and focuses on triumph over the twin parallels of invisibility and hyper-visibility of Black women through a platform dedicated to elevating the work of Black women, political campaigns, and events. As an internationally traveled Disc Jockey, former medical lab assistant, and published researcher, Rasheed lends her many talents and experiences to each venture in service of community. She is focused on using art and business to fortify broader movements for justice. Her passion for the arts grows with every exploration of possibility. Rasheed is working toward a day in which her ventures are part of the sustainable support of Black art in service of Black freedom, Black love, and Black prosperity. 

Danielle Siembieda is a systems artist practicing at the intersection of community, emerging technology and the environment. She has been an artist in residence at the University of Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, home of the Genome Browser, through UCSC’s Arts Research Open Lab.  Her social impact company, Art Inspector: Saving the Earth by Changing Art, founded in art, has received funding from Silicon Valley Energy Watch, and is working with the City of San Francisco Department of Environment to help artists work healthier and safer. She is also a member of the Ocean Memory Project, a collective of artists and scientists looking at what happens below water. Her work has been presented globally, including the 01SJ Biennial in the heart of Silicon Valley, the National Gallery in Copenhagen, and the Education Center of the National Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Siembieda holds an MFA in Digital Media Art at San Jose State University at the CADRE Laboratory for New Media, focusing on green technology and sustainable materials. 

Art + Climate Action is a San Francisco Bay Area collective dedicated to building a sustainable art world. A+CA unites museums, galleries, non-profit arts spaces, studios, art advisors, and arts patrons to better understand our sector’s climate impacts and create the environmentally conscious arts community we need. We support education on CO2 emissions, create customized climate action plans for Bay Area arts organizations, and elevate the voices of artists and creative thinkers in the global campaign for a healthy planet.

Image Credits: Practicing Patience by Victor Yañez-Lazcano