Shared Scriptors

For many years, Saint Joseph’s Arts Society has partnered with San Francisco Art Fair as a public presence on the fair floor, creating environments that prioritize rest, conversation, and collective experience within the pace of the fair.

This year, Saint Joseph’s Arts Society is proud to partner with Art + Water, an organization addressing the urgent need for affordable artist workspace while fostering long-term artistic careers and revitalizing San Francisco’s waterfront. Together, they present Shared Scriptors, a collaborative project centered on mentorship, co-presence, and mutual support across Bay Area arts institutions.

The artworks on view represent a selection of Art + Water’s founding mentors, all accomplished artists whose practices shape and sustain creative communities. Curated through a Saint Joseph’s lens, the presentation functions as a collective portrait of artistic stewardship, foregrounding mentorship as both a creative and civic act.

Saint Joseph’s Arts Society has designed the space as a place of pause within the fair. Inspired by its home inside a revitalized historic church, the environment incorporates soft color, seating drawn from the organization’s pews and furnishings, and natural elements that encourage lounging, engagement, and communal gathering.

An engagement component anchors the project. In collaboration with local artists, Saint Joseph’s Arts Society is developing a shared book that invites visitors to read, respond, and contribute written reflections alongside those of participating artists. This evolving text creates a space for dialogue and inscription, extending the exhibition beyond viewing toward collective authorship.

Shared Scriptors understands scripture not as doctrine, but as something written together over time. It reflects a belief that cultural institutions are shaped through participation, care, and the shared labor of making meaning in public.

Saint Joseph’s Arts Society was founded by designer Ken Fulk and is based in San Francisco, with partner locations in Healdsburg, CA and Provincetown, MA. Art + Water operates on San Francisco’s waterfront through a Pier 29 sublease with Community Arts Stabilization Trust.