2014 Autumn Lights Festival Artists

Keiko was recently honored by the Berkeley City Council. Contributing her skills both in Berkeley and globally, Nelson painted a mural for the Cairo University Children’s Hospital in Egypt and regularly designs stage sets, costumes and outdoor installations at UC Berkeley. She was born in Kyoto, Japan, and works as a Visiting Tourism Ambassador for the city.

In response to the award, Nelson said she was thankful: “I was born in Kyoto, Japan. I have been living in California for about 40 years, and have been a US citizen since 1984. At times I have felt like a foreigner. But now after this award – I feel like I am truly at home and that I am a part of the community. I am a citizen of the arts.” Learn more about Keiko Nelson on her website: www.keikonelson.com
TICKETS at this link: https://www.facebook.com/events/760609070673162/760940530640016/

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The inexplicable and incredible Transcender is at our Autumn Lights Festival this weekend!! It was created by Bill Fuller and Shawn Silverman and built with the help of the Love Potion Collective. The body is welded and sculpted Aluminum and translucent polycarbonite sheets. With 1500 full color LED’s and the ability to perform high speed animations it must be seen in person!

Bill is an Oakland native and lives in the West Oakland artist community. He has degree’s in Physics and Electrical engineering. Bill has been technologist/scientist for 30 years and creating art for the Burningman festival and other events for over 10 years. His focus is to create interactive art that inspires wonder and amazement. He creates using steel, aluminum, plastic, wood, electronics, and LED’s.

Shawn Silverman is an LED artist from Winnipeg. He received his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering with a specialty in Power Systems from the University of Manitoba. Shawn has been creating art as a member of Love Potion Collective for Burning Man since 2011, the latest being the Amphora art car and the smaller Trancender display. His art plays with the idea of using a large collection of small things that work together in concert to appear as one whole. Check out their web site: https://www.facebook.com/lovepotion.trancender/info
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Come see artist Gabe Babcock‘s work at the Oakland Autumn Lights Festival in the Gardens at Lake Merritt, October 17-18!

Gabe is a powerful sculptor using found materials to explore the natural world and his role within it. He strives to illuminate the tension between nature and humans through art. He is planning a piece made of found redwood, with window like spaces evoking buildings. It will install in the blue disk in front of the Vireya House in the garden during the Oakland Autumn Lights Festival!

Check out his current shows at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art and the incredible Oregon Garden:

http://www.gabebabcock.com/current-exhibitions/ and http://www.oregongarden.org/events/art-in-the-garden/

He works between Oregon and Oakland, and we are thrilled to have him with us for the festival.
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Matt Stavis and Andy Mueller have collaborated on two pieces for Autumn Lights!

Icosahedron started as an echo of the obelisks. The triangular sail motif is repeated and tiled to create a closed object, following the same symmetry rules that govern the design of the protein capsules that form the outer shell of many viruses. Contained within is a LED illuminated animated form.

NEST a second collaborative piece Andy Mueller and Matt Stavis
These 12’ tall, pyramidal “obelisks” placed throughout the garden are part of a larger installation called NEST. They, in part, served as a visual edge to define and create a sense of place. An oscillating color palette and animated whimsy fills each obelisk through its translucent skin and casts silhouettes of passerbys.

Fünkenwerk is an Oakland design and fabrication studio producing custom, one-of-a-kind, and limited edition furniture, lighting, and home decor for residential and commercial projects. www.funken-werk.com

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Creating art in the garden has been a part of Andrea Hurd’s life since she was a small girl. Growing up in rural Oregon, creating artistic projects out of natural materials was a form of play. In a high school Art History class, Andrea learned about the Earth Art movement, and became a big fan of Andy Goldsworthy.

Over the past 20 years, Andrea has practiced Permaculture techniques as well as dry stacked stone building techniques in her garden designs and installations. As a member of The Stone Foundation, an international stonemason’s trade association, Andrea has gained training in the art of dry stacked stone building in England, Scotland, Mallorca and Cambodia. Her knowledge of the ancient techniques of these regions gives her work strength and structure, to which she adds inspiration to the designs through her own artistic vision. look for her knee pots around the garden. Butterflies, dragonflies and other pollinators will drink from them. The Pollinator Posse loves these and her stone fountains! Look for her at Autumn Lights. http://www.mariposagardening.com/

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Todd Cox is a Sonoma county artist and sculptor who spent many years as a custom stonemason. He attended the Academy of Art in San Francisco for a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and fell in love with working in metal. For Autumn Lights, we are lucky that he is bringing several pieces!

His Praying with Fire is a steel Praying Mantis made of steel and found objects combined in a human sized sculpture. It has two sets of wings and arms stretching outward toward the sky. The praying mantis has a exquisite set of wings reproduced out of copper and brass meshes and hand riveted together.

The mantis has two independent flame effects placed in the eyes that when activated fill the sky with a towering ball of mesmerizing orange fire. Also inside the Mantis is a 3 ft long green neon tube to illuminate the abdomen of the imposing insect. A concoction of gears, conveyor belts, scrap metal, and assorted detritus coalesce into the beautiful gesture filled artwork that is just as thrilling to see during the day, as it is at night. He’ll also bring a piece called Wildflower, an ensemble sculpture made of a Carbon steel stem, with stainless steel flower, brilliantly accented with neon lighting.

www.arcanechicanery.com
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Now we’re talking! Artists Toshi Anders Hoo and Eric Freeman have thrown their talents behind us for Autumn Lights. Their amazing light painting will anchor our new promo pieces! Check out Toshi’s work at http://www.toshihoo.com/ He’s a Bay Area artist, designer and lover of light. Pixelstick is too magical to describe here, but check it out: http://www.thepixelstick.com/ - and enjoy his artistry here! Tickets for Autumn Lights here: https://www.facebook.com/events/760609070673162/760940530640016/

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Adding to the musical ambiance at the Autumn Lights Festival will be Paul Anderson. He plays Early, Renaissance, and Celtic music on mountain dulcimer. He also sings and plays covers and originals on guitar as well as music on mountain dulcimer and sings and plays a mix of covers and originals on guitar. New original albums are in the works for him. Paul also plays lute with the traditional Irish band “the Elderberries”. You can read more on http://elderberriesband.com/about/ and http://travellersrow.com/
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Here’s another of our fabulous and talented performance artists! Torch singer and multi-instrumentalist Tara Linda loves to transport her listeners to other realms. She manages this, both with a buttery-smooth voice, and lyrics of pure poetry. One of the most diverse vocalists about town, Tara Linda’s original song-stories can take you South to the Border (via boleros and train songs), have you skipping you through a circus (playful waltzes), or seat you in the back of jazzy blues club (bossa novas, stomps, and swings)- and all in one show. Tara sings and plays bass, ukulele, & accordion, and is often joined by the best of the Bay’s musicians in several bands. (Mesmerizing: Oakland Tribune)
http://www.taralinda.com/“The best of Torch singer tradition with Latin and blues touches” SF Jazz Examiner
Tickets at: http://goo.gl/4SvkYU
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Vanessa Lowe will be joining us for Autumn Lights! She writes songs melding unexpected melodies, surprising chord changes, and literate, eccentric lyrics. Her distinctive finger-picking style on the guitar blends with her mellow alto voice to create an intriguing musical journey. In the world of Lowe’s songs, boats are lost in a bathtub storm, stars guide and then beguile would be rescuers, photographs hold us close to our loves, yet are the demise of the moment.
Vanessa is accompanied by Kent Sparling on “Tiny Instruments” and vocal harmonies, creating a unique and delighting sonic landscape.
Lowe has released 5 CDs of original music.
The East Bay Express pegged Lowe’s music as “dream-pop-meets-indie-folk”, and she doesn’t object to that description.
www.vanessalowe.com

Tickets at: http://goo.gl/4SvkYU

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Robin North is bringing her talents and her sculptures to join us at Autumn Lights! She’s a sculptor and mixed media artist, a professional gardener – including a long stint as supervising horticulturist at Children’s Fairyland!

Robin is currently working in Sonoma county at her own design/build/maintenance biz and at California Flora Nursery, the renowned native plant nursery. Whether painting or working at mixed media sculpture or creating gardens, she takes inspiration from nature’s awesome array of colors, forms and living diversity.

Robin’s a graduate of San Francisco Art Institute’s Painting program, previously studied botany at the University of Washington.
At ALF 2014, her fanciful ‘Night Flowers’ sculptures will be displayed in front of the Gardens fantastic bee hotel. Tickets: http://goo.gl/4SvkYU
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Patricia Bulitt, dancer and interdisciplinary artist, will perform in the Bonsai Garden during the Autumn Lights Festival on Friday evening, October 17. She has toured throughout Japan, New Zealand, Canada and US as a solo dancer especially drawn to making site specific dances honoring nature. As a veteran performer, Patricia has honored birds of Lake Merritt with her original UNDER THE WING performance, her exhibition BIRDS YOU CAN READ< 11, and children’s workshops associated with the City of Oakland’s Rotary Nature Center. And making another dance,FOUR POSTCARDS, she danced around the lake with a bird expert, celebrating through her solo dance, special spots around the lake.
Honored with grants to study traditional Japanese Noh Theatre in Kyoto, and making an improvisational dance in the Japanese Garden in Tsuwano, Japan, she has served as guest artist to the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and made many community programs honoring Nature. On October 17th, Patricia Bulitt will be featured in our Bonsai Garden making improvisational dances inspired by the shape and form of the trees and the environment of light!
Patricia’s dance will begin in the transition of light around 6Pm and continue through the dark, into the night. http://www.patriciabulitt.com/

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More musicians are lining up for Autumn Lights! Singer-songwriter Chris Head brings his unique and eclectic songbook to the Autumn Lights Festival. Chris has headed up the trio Tank Half Full over the past seven years, performing throughout the Bay Area, as well as Santa Cruz and Napa Valley with the group, or as a solo performer.

A native of Louisville, Ky., Chris was raised on a steady diet of country and popular music, early influences included Hank Williams, Nat King Cole, George Jones, Dean Martin, Buck Owens, and countless other greats of the era. He’ll will provide a variety of styles to enjoy wandering through the gardens! Tickets at: http://goo.gl/4SvkYU

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Artist John Fadeff is up next for Autumn Lights! He’s crafted a plan to project animations from inside the small greenhouse onto the greenhouse glass so it can be view from outside. Last year he made a couple of animations particularly for the event, and he plans to do the same this year. They are mostly experimental short animations made from a kind of printing process he came up with using plants. (see link below.)

Fadeff’s background in animation is reflected in the narrative quality of his mixed media work. His work has been included in Prographica’s Landscape Part II: Urban and Rural & Equine, Bovine, Canine, Feline…. both in 2012. Fadeff, a California native, has a BA in Cinema from San Francisco State University . The Galeria Dos Prazeres in Madeira, Portugal, featured Fadeff’s work in a solo show in 2010 and a group exhibition, A Chavena da Cha, in 2011. His work was also included in Lonarte, a public art project in Madeira in 2011. He has shown at Studio Quercus in Oakland. Tickets for Autumn Lights Festival
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Lisa Graciano is a Balinese-born, Jakarta/Manila/Singapore-raised, Oakland (by way of Amsterdam) singer-songwriter, guitar player and multi-instrumentalist. She serves up a musical grilled Satay: a funky, bluesy offering spiced with savory flecks of folk, reggae, rock, pop, R&B, and gamelan. A true planetary citizen, she’s a manifestation of western musical influences washing up on the shores of Southeast Asia and mixing with already-rich homegrown musical expressions. Her band the Gracenotes bump from the bottom to the top and will drive her inspiring lyrics and tuneful grooves into your heart and hips. Her gamelan-infused group Purnamasari rooted in her cross cultural music project, which she started in the spring of 2012 with the help of her husband Paul Miller, also includes musicians who have been playing non-western musical instruments for a very long time. Lisa has a soft spot for gardens, having been part of an outreach team for a community garden in Berkeley back in 2010 with a music project called “Busking For Beds”. At the Autumn Lights Festival 2014, Lisa will sing some of her compositions, while she accompanies herself with her acoustic guitar and plays the flute at the same time. ________________________________________________________________

Back In our Sensory Garden, artist Mary B. Smith is imagining glass houses and sparkly crystalline birds perched in our fountain on a glass bird bath. For the 2014 Oakland Autumn Lights Festival sponsored by PGE, Mary will bring her brilliance to the party! Here are some new phones of the work she’s bringing!

Mary’s the is co-head of the Crucible Glass Department in West Oakland. A Fulbright Scholar, she has a MFA in Glass and Painting from California College of the Arts. From 1985-2005, she was head of the San Jose State University Glass Program, taught in the School of Art and Design and the Creative Arts Department at San Jose State University, and has taught workshops at over fifteen institutions worldwide. She is in many collections, including the Corning Glass Museum.

Her current work includes solar powered bird baths, glass flood level markers, and glass watershed maps.she is a Bay Area sculptor/arts educator who likes to link art making and environmental issues, addressing issues of water resources, renewable energy, urban habitats for wild birds and affordable housing. She believes in the power of regeneration, transformation and reuse, uses salvage materials in her work, and often works with many varieties of recycled glass, and found metal parts. See more at http://www.marywhiteglass.com/

TICKETS at this link: http://goo.gl/4SvkYU

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Moving along to performance artists, We are thrilled to have Andrea Farrell with us for the Autumn Lights Festival! She will be strolling the nighttime gardens with her acoustical guitar, adding her original music and classical tunes to the magical mix of the evening. Andrea trained at St. Mary’s in Moraga, in performing arts with a music emphasis. She is in a band called Wreck This Place, she’s also worked in theater. By day this fabulous musician helps runs a construction company! Gotta love our multi-talented Oakland artists.
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This guy! Here’s Mike DeHerrera, who has been with the Autumn Lights Festival since the very first year. He brings his awesome landscape lighting skills to us to uplight our magnificent specimen trees, we couldn’t have done without his help and support! Lighting is the specialty of his MDL/Mike DeHerrera Landscaping. He started the first year with $500 worth of Home Depot lights and is lighting four of our huge trees in the garden courtyard this year with a lot more equipment! The logistics of all this are something to behold, but he makes it all happen with grace and gentle humor. His web site is http.//www.mikedeherreralandscape.com.

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Brooke A. Levin is the Director of Oakland Public Works and in this show she is able to present a different side of herself , the artist. She carefully collected native flowers and pressed them between waxed paper to create these illuminated works of nature. They are displayed among the succulents at the Gardens at Lake Merritt that her own Public Works staff and volunteers lovingly tend.

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Jamie Vaida has been working working with metal and fire for many years. Vaida has spent many years perfecting his trade. His work showcases many types of metal, and he also often incorporates recycled or reused metals and found objects into his projects. He looks for beauty and shape in a given piece in its raw form, then twists and bends the metal to bring out the full potential hidden within the material.
For the Autumn Lights Festival he is going to share both his fabulous flaming art car and unique, beautiful calla lilies. We are excited to see his work. See more of him at http://www.jamievaida.com/

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Imaginary Photons and Coil are two Oakland-based collectives of light artists, specializing in atmospheric and environmental installations at live music events and festivals such as Yuri’s Night and Symbiosis Gathering. We combine traditional approaches to scenic lighting with vintage effects and custom software to create unique, site-specific compositions.

They will be producing several installations at the Autumn Lights Festival this year, each of which uses the flora of the garden itself as a canvas. They will illuminate one section of the garden with architectural LEDs, controlled by the “Color Organ” – a keyboard that plays color instead of sound. With a few seconds of instruction, festival goers will be able to paint the garden with vibrant, dynamic color. They will also be projecting two collages of moving texture and color in the trees above the event, creating a dream-like canopy rising high over the garden, slowly evolving over the course of the evening.

The artists participating in this installation are Allison Vanderslice, Chris Macklin, Dan Cohn, Elizabeth Blackburn, and Josh Erickson. For contact information and galleries of past work, please check out their web sites: www.coil-lighting.com and www.imaginaryphotons.com.
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The volunteers at the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt

"In the past we have used spotlights on each of our bonsai trees.
This dramatizes the branch structure of each of these museum quality bonsai focusing attention on the beauty of each tree." they said. "This year we'll broaden the purpose of our lighting a bit and improve navigation by adding color to the surrounding landscape as well.

He plans to set up as last year, with about eight large decorations in the center of the garden. This year we will also have decorations on the waterfront by the gazebo and around the shore of Fairyland. Stan Clark is a fabric artist sewing giant sculptures and small toys. He grew up in the forests of the mid west, and moved to California to share his vision. http://www.astrobotanicals.com/
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