Kija Lucas

December 20, 2022 by Akiko Tsuji

Photographs by Akiko Tsuji

How should we address the concern of mislabelling? Even when well-intended, the way we decide to label things “properly” often leaves out many attributes that aren’t included in a list of pre-conceived categories. One of the first explorers to establish frameworks of categorization was the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, referred to as “The father of modern taxonomy”, who used scientific labeling to fence off definitions. In response, the SF artist Kija Lucas raises long overdue questions on these limitations and provides new answers on the matter through her visual work in her exhibition “A Taxonomy of Belonging”.

I met with Kija at the newly relocated SF Camerawork Space at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture and after walking through the glass doors, I followed a line of sharply framed prints of oversized plants straight into the back of the white gallery space. A synthetic fidelity of colors emerges from the pitch-dark background of each image which speaks equally to technical precision and random form. The plants in these photographs are not perfect. Some are wilted, and they are positioned organically in their frames yet through Kija’s hand they’ve become intentional and purposeful. As these labels of ‘plant representation’ elevate each other to new meanings I remember Wabi-sabi, the Japanese aesthetic view of seeing beauty in imperfection and impermanence while the act of colliding of precision and poetics make me remember the films of Andrei Tarkovsky.

Kija grew up in Palo Alto in the '80s. And unlike fitting with the image of a stereotypical privileged Stanford community, her dad worked in the gardening business, and her mom worked for San Mateo County. Throughout her life, she stayed in the Bay Area moving several times back and forth between Oakland and the city, and now she's back in Oakland where she is happy to be with her loved ones. When I asked about her ancestors, she is of Ashkenazi from Poland, Russia, and Moldova, and African and English descent and they were spread across 13 states. The exhibition is also a collection of work from the last 9 years in which she visited those states and collected the plants and documented them - some are native, some not. ‘If they don’t fit in the established categories, does that mean they’re not worth anything?’

Kija wears the Entrance Mantle and Pants #4.

Akiko: As an artist, curator, and educator, where do you work, who do you teach, and what do you curate?

Kija: I recently started as Curator of The Arts at CIIS. California Institute of Integral Studies has several exhibition spaces including the Desai | Matta Gallery. I have been co-curating with my predecessor for the past several months, as she had exhibitions planned ahead when I started. It is important to me to have a pluralism of voices in the gallery, and exhibit work that engages with and represents folks from various communities. I have been working to plan exhibitions where the spaces on different floors of the building speak to one another, but each artist approaches the subject matter from a unique perspective.

I just taught my final course (for the time being) at Mills College at North Eastern. I have also taught at San Francisco State, DeAnza College, the ICP and Pace in New York (online) and various community arts spaces and corporations which offer art classes and workshops.

Akiko: What was the defining moment when you decided to pursue a career in art? How old were you, and who or what inspired you?

Kija: I was about 22 years old and I was offered a way to advance my career at an insurance company. This was the third time something like this had happened. I would start answering phones somewhere and get offered a promotion to a new position. After a while, I would get incredibly bored and leave the job. I am now learning that this might have been a symptom of ADHD. It would get to the point where it would almost feel like torture to go to work,

A the same time, I was taking photography courses at a community college. I went home to talk to my grandmother and was in tears telling her that I knew that a life in insurance wasn't for me and I wanted to go to college full time to study art. I was scared, because I had dropped out of High School at 15, and the only classes I had passed since then were art classes. My grandmother gave me permission and encouragement to stop working and go to school full-time, and I started that summer. I didn't know that I would be able to be an artist, but I knew that I had found something that challenged me and kept my interest. The pursuit of art also helped me to focus on my other courses, because I could see a reason for taking them.

Kija in the Entrance Mantle and Pants #4.

Akiko: What do you aim to achieve through your artwork? Over the years, has your aim ever shifted, or has it stayed?

Kija: I wish to communicate my ideas. To be part of a bigger conversation. I am a visual communicator. I don't always know how to say the thing I want to say, but I know how to show it.

Akiko: Your favorite authors?

Kija: Octavia Butler, Zadie Smith.

Akiko: Who are your favorite artists?

Kija: There is such a big list. I really love the work of so many local artists, (an abridged list) Mildred Howard, Leila Weefur, Trina Michelle Robinson, Ebti, Tamara Suarez Porras, Claudia Huenchuleo Paquin, Nyame Brown, Yvette Molina, Norma I. Quintana, Alicia Escott, Michael Hall, Julia Ann Goodman, Angela Hennessy, Libby Black, Mik and May Gaspay, Weston Teruya, Rachelle Reichert, Miguel Arzabe, Nimah Gobir, David Huffman... there are so many really great artists here whose work I love so much. I think I could fill a page or maybe a book listing them. A lot of not-local folks too (also abridged) Rodney Ewing, Melissa Joseph, Samuel Levi Jones, Bethany Collins, Carrie Mae Weems, Karla Diaz (she is up in the Desai | Matta at CIIS right now), Jonas Becker, the list goes on!

Akiko: Do you have favorite things to do outside of creating art?

Kija: I really like spending time with friends and loved ones. I don't know that I have a lot of activities. I was big on Power Lifting for a few years (not-competitively), but I haven't lifted for like 6 months. My lover got me some roller skates last year, and we go skating sometimes, but I am a bit of a scaredy cat. The older I get the more scary falling gets. I also like hanging out with my dog, Handsome. He is funny.

Akiko: What types of food do you like?

Kija: Things with cheese, things with avocado. Meat salads. Popsicles. Pretty much anything my man cooks, and anything my brothers cook, they are all really good cooks!

Akiko: Coffee or tea?

Kija: Coffee with half and half, or a cappuccino, or matcha. I hated coffee until I was 30, and now I drink it every day.

The exhibition “A Taxonomy of Belonging” is up until December 23rd. Visit Kija Lucas for more.

The Artists of the Secret Meadow

November 03, 2022 by Akiko Tsuji

Photographs by Akiko Tsuji

Renée, Alicia, and Cheryl in the denim happy coats and cropped jacket over the sculpted dresses.

Alicia Escott, Renée Rhodes, and Cheryl Meeker

On a brisk, late October morning, I met with the artists Alicia Escott, Renée Rhodes, and Cheryl Meeker at Buena Vista Park in San Francisco. I wanted to learn more about these three amazing women and their long-term mission to restore and preserve nature increasingly at risk by the world’s lack of addressing small and large environmental urgencies. This photo shoot is part a documentary and part a fashion editorial. It seemed such a fitting concept as I always make clothes with inspiring artists in mind.

Established in 1867, Buena Vista Park is the oldest park in San Francisco. It has been home to an abundance of trees, some indigenous to this region such as coast oak, toyon, coyote brush, and some not, like the eucalyptus, ehrharta grass, foxtail grass, ivy, and blackberry. The park stretches across 36 acres in central San Francisco with its peak at 575 feet above sea level giving a stunning view of the city including the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Ocean, and Golden Gate Park. Even from the mid-section of the steep hill, one can get glimpses of quite pretty views of the city - layers of washed pastel-colored buildings reflecting the sunlight into the distance through the openings of the oak trees.

Renée wears Art Scarf D and Billow dress.

During the pandemic, Alicia and Renée took the baton from a friend who started this particular site restoration, and Cheryl came on board when they realized they were all thinking about convergent projects with oak ecologies. “We all live close to the park so this volunteer work is a meaningful way to give back and live in reciprocity to the land we share.” These artists’ ultimate goal for this site restoration is that what they plant and care for will eventually be fully able to thrive within the natural water cycle in San Francisco and become drought tolerant.

Cheryl wears cropped denim jacket and wool One Flower dress.

A short walk from the playground, the restoration site is slightly shielded away from the trail on a slope that is mostly covered with a bed of soft plants. Even in October and it has been dry, perhaps due to the frequent dense fog, the oak leaves and the surrounding plants were still quite green. Renée mentioned that much of the plants they planted amidst the grasses are perennial plants – horkelia, yarrow, coast buckwheat, and Douglas iris. When the late morning sun started to peek through the trees, the grasses shined golden.

Alicia wears Art Scarf B and Simone dress.

The small yellow flags spread around the center of the site indicating where California fescue and purple needlegrass were planted. According to the group, they are drought-tolerant native California grasses that have deep root systems which can sequester carbon from our air and bury it deep in the land similar to a tree but are more resilient to a future with hotter fires. “This rainy season, we will be working with the Naturals department to select other plants to build the diversity in the meadow," says Alicia.

Alicia finds an oak sapling. Wears the Reversible Artist Denim Happy Coat.

One day a week, the artists would gather here and pull the weeds around, water them if they were just transplanted out of season, and keep their eyes out for any disturbance to the straw ground cover they have put down from coyotes or other animals including humans. Near it was a mid-sized grown spiraling bark of one oak tree that caught my eye. On its bark, there was a sapling, and this was "stump sprouting" meaning its growing forth was from a still-living root system from a tree that had been cut down. As I looked up, it was fascinating to see the even more spiraling barks and branches spreading out into the sky.

Cheryl, Renée and Alicia in sculpted dresses.

A jay came by around us surprisingly close, and I was told that it was expecting a feed from the acorns recently ripened. As we walked around, there was a small oak sapling from the ground. The group explained to me that it was acorn-sprouted, and "likely a local scrub jay buried an acorn there (to eat it later) from the tree behind it and forgot about it. This is often how oaks are propagated."

Each of the artists has made ecological-related work over the years and has increasingly incorporated habitat restoration and regeneration topics into their practices. "The line there is blurry for each of us. We have let this project unfold without defining it, and I think we are unsure if for us it is an art project or just habitat restoration. What we do know is that our weekly meetings are regenerative, that we feel we are building community together, and with our contacts at the park through moving our bodies and being in dialogue — but we are also building non-human community relationships and that it feels good. I am personally increasingly interested in a practice that makes art for both human and non-human audiences. I am interested in letting this work unfold over the years and not defining its purpose before it is ready."

THE ARTISTS

Alicia Escott is an interdisciplinary artist based in the land currently called San Francisco. She/they practices in solidarity with thinkers across fields undoing the construct of “nature” as a thing separated from us and our world. @alicia_escott

Renée Rhodes creates social sculptures, videos, books, gardens, and walks that explore geological empathy, mimicry, and the creation of place-based memory through somatic practices. @reneearhodes

Cheryl Meeker is a visual artist working in a variety of media, touching on the fundamentals of sustenance in our economically and environmentally destabilized world. @cherymeeker

Scott Hewicker

October 04, 2022 by Akiko Tsuji

Scott Hewicker Studio Visit & Interview

I’ve known Scott from having a brief but lovely conversations during the last couple of years, about music and the art scene around San Francisco (as he is super knowledgeable on these matters - and a true advocate of SF artists) and I’ve always found his views on current and past art and music refreshing. I also fancied his colorful set of paintings through the window of the Right Window art space in Valencia before the pandemic. There was the same quiet beauty about them that drew me to the posts on his Instagram feed too and I became increasingly curious about how and where he draws inspiration from in creating his art. I finally asked him if he’d model my clothes which I often imagine for artists to wear, and he graciously agreed.

Scott has been a multi-faceted artist based in San Francisco since the early 90s. He was one of the 12 original members of the exhibition expressing LGBTQ awareness at Kiki Gallery founded in 1993 by the artist and activist Rick Jacobsen in San Francisco. He also played in a couple of important independent bands, 'The Alps' and 'Aero-Mic’d’. Over the years, he's had a number of exhibitions including at Gallery 16, Jack Hanley Gallery, Deitch Projects NY, ICA Philadelphia, Galleri Christina Wilson in Copenhagen, and even curated one called ‘Hauntology’ at BAMPFA in Berkeley. He also co-edited and illustrated the book, ’Good Times, Bad Trips’ published by Gallery 16 editions in 2007 with Cliff Hengst. He had taught art classes at California College of the Arts. He now spends most of his time painting.

On a partly sunny end of a summer day, Scott opened the double-fenced doors of his Mission district studio. Once he unlocked the door, I stepped into a bright space filled with gentle natural light. The walls and the ceiling were painted in white, and a plethora of art supplies and a palette of paints mixed with a buildup of colors sat neatly on the large table on one side of the room. Some of his newer paintings were hung at eye level with ample space around them as in a gallery. On the wall closest to the window was a large canvas with soft bright colors in faint abstract shapes sporadically spread throughout its surface. He wore a T-shirt of the band “Inflatable Boy Clam”, an all-female art punk band from San Francisco (I’d like to have one!), dark rinse jeans, and a pair of sand-colored Nikes. I put one of my blue happy coats on him and we started taking pictures while we conversed.

Akiko: How would you describe yourself?

Scott: I usually say I am an artist, writer, and musician, but really these are all practices under the umbrella of painting. Everything I do is informed by the poetic, psychological, and perceptual qualities of painting.

A: Tell me a little about your recent work - the lighter color usage, show, etc.

S: I recently moved into a new studio where the light is brighter and I’ve been experimenting with newer materials such as fabric dye, oil, and vinyl paint in different and sometimes unpredictable combinations. Some of the new work can be categorized somewhat as abstracted landscape environments, what I have been calling “Feral Gardens”, as that is how I see my clouded train of thinking these past years coming out of the pandemic: Many ideas growing into each other without a clearly defined path forward. Lots of layers and lots of building up of the materials. Other works seem to do the opposite where I am emptying everything out of them to what’s essential. These will be shown at Right Window (992 Valencia) in October in an exhibit titled, “Recalled To Life”.

A: The bright colors - where do you draw inspiration from?

S: I have long been interested in the contrary qualities of color. My often highly-saturated palette comes mostly out of childhood experiences growing up in the Southern California of the seventies and eighties (the artifice of beach and mall culture during the Reagan era for example) and a youthful queer defiance against gender stereotypes. I like using bright or unusual color combinations to reflect complex or uneasy feelings.

A: Do you consume a lot of visual artworks and/or music from others? Favorite artists / authors?

S: My first art teacher engrained in me the importance of Art History as a tool of creative enrichment so I take vast inspiration from art periods and movements throughout history. But I’m drawn most to visionary artists such as Giotto, Gustave Moreau, James Ensor, Edvard Munch, Charles Burchfield, Hilma af Klint, Josef Albers, Alma Thomas, Marsden Hartley, Agnes Pelton, and Agnes Martin, to name just a few. Music and writing inspirations are equally as vast, but here are a jumble of names: Diane di Prima, Norma Cole, Dodie Bellamy, Valerie Willmer, Wilkie Collins, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Broadcast, Don Cherry, Pauline Oliveros, Clarice Lispector, Gabor Szabo, John Fahey, Velvet Underground & Nico.

A: What thoughts do you have about the teaching experience? What kind of class did you teach?

S: Teaching is equally rewarding and harrowing. It requires so much stamina and outright bravery to put yourself through the hierarchy of shit that is constantly thrown at you. Our educational institutions and our society do not uphold the value of teachers enough. I was a college level art teacher for 13 years, first teaching painting and drawing then teaching a 2D design class in color theory that helped shape and define most of my ideas about color and space. I loved teaching for giving me a platform to articulate and communicate these ideas to others, and working with the students individually to help find their own paths through it, but the precarity of the profession institutionally and financially as well as toxic leadership forced me to leave institutional teaching behind. I try when I can to teach my own courses or offer private lessons.

A: Music questions. The Alps band - what inspired you to form the band? How long did it last and where are they available?

S: The Alps happened to morph into being one summer in SF when my two friends, Alexis and Jefre came over to my place to jam one weekend and something interesting and kinetic transpired. We were all in other bands at a moment when we were all itching for something different. It transformed quickly, a few loose ramshackle shows opening for NNBB, Sir Richard Bishop and Jack Rose. A couple of record deals, two long recording sessions with Phil Manly, 3 albums, a handful of cd-rs and a final headlining performance at Cafe Du Nord for the On Land music festival in 2010. It was over in less than 3 years, when Jefre and Alexis moved to New York to pursue solo careers. You can hear the music on Spotify, our music was definitely painterly.

A: Can you tell me a little about the Jozef van Wissem & Aero Mic’d/sound at the Schindler House 14 years ago?

S: Aero-Mic’d was the electronic music project of my friend Wayne Smith, (we were in an earlier art band together called Plain) and whenever he was asked to perform live, he asked me and my husband Cliff to accompany him. Wayne often got invited to do shows at interesting spaces because of the “furniture music” nature of his work. We also performed at Grace Cathedral. The Schindler house is incredible. That particular music series programmed two different kinds of musical artists and after each set they asked the different artists to do a collaborative improvisation, so that is how we performed with Josef van Wissem. I remember it being a beautiful night in an amazing location, but I don’t think our collab was particularly stellar. Those things are often risky, though it’s probably not as bad as I remember it.

A: What instruments do you or did you play?

S: Piano, Organ, Guitar and Flute.

A: Light-hearted questions. What are other skills you have?

S: I lay name to no useful skill, but I’m an enthusiastic amateur and dabbler.

A: Your favorite movies, drinks, food.

S: Stalker, The Haunting, The Innocents. Paranoid cinema in general. A Moscow Mule is my favorite cocktail, though I‘ve been calling them a Kyiv Mule lately. Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies are my favorite food.

A: Fill in the blank. I can’t stand...…

S: No space is big enough to tell you all the things...

A: Philosophical questions. What are you not?

S: High Society.

A: You create art because ...

S: I can say so many things but the most honest one is I like spending time alone imagining the world differently.

Scott wearing “The Earth Fragile” necklace

Blue Happy Coat, painted red shirt, and “The Earth Fragile” Necklace: Akiko Tsuji at AKIKOTSUJI.COM. ”It’s not the end of the world” Pin: David Kramer for Days at DAYSZINE.COM. “Inflatable Boy Clams” T-shirt, jeans, and shoes: artist’s own.