Exhibition Fellow

By Sherwin Rio, Exhibitions Fellow For the month of August, the Frank Ratchye Studio Artist Project Space is excited to present new works by Makiko Harris that explore material value, aesthetical definition, irreverence, and the rejection of technological sterility. By merging broad and fast gestural paint strokes with methodically-placed fabrics that obscure and expand the […]

By Sherwin Rio, Exhibitions Fellow I sat down with Katie Revilla and Andrew Ingersoll on a warm summer afternoon while each were taking lunch breaks from the nearby Asian Art Museum where they work. A stainless steel mixing bowl, two Trader Joe’s Salad Kits, and eco-friendly compostable forks and plates signalled the beginning of our

By: Sherwin Rio, Exhibitions Fellow When I first met with Shelley Monahan in the fall of 2018 the artist was oil-painting photorealistic figures– from found photographs– caught in exchanges of gawky glances and shifting body postures. Over a series of visits, I’ve witnessed Monahan’s exploration of a kind of intimate integrity— the honesty of a moment,

By Sherwin Rio As Root Division’s Exhibitions Fellow, I often sit down with our artists and discuss artworks they have made, are making, and will make during their time here– which alone is a quite enjoyable and informative process. It’s inspirational getting to see, in its many forms, the drive to create thoughtfully and express passionately within a diverse

For the month of March, Rafael Bustillos has installed a large-scale circular sculpture “Diamond” by transforming deconstructed and repurposed paper that is both resilient and vulnerable. An exploration of space and material perception, his work uncovers the potential to create an alternative, silent language as a communication strategy to offer new forms of understanding and

Camilo Villa is a community artist. Villa’s work is collaboration— facilitating public interventions, international collaborative projects, hosting dance events for queer communities of color at local venues, as well as teaching art, Spanish, and yoga throughout the Bay. When I visited his studio, he was prepping an activity with Root Division studio partner and co-Latinx Teaching Artist

When I met with artist Ruxue Zhang in her Root Division studio in December, I was amazed at how quickly she works. Within the month since my last visit to her studio, she had produced over 10 new paintings for different bodies of work and in differing scales. There are painted sequences of dispersed and

When I walked into Matt Floriani’s upper floor studio at Root Division on a Monday afternoon, he was busy cleaning out a screen from just laying down magenta ink on top of paper layered with 60+ layers of comic book strips, paint, crayon, “you name it”– he says. We began talking, and as he shuffled

Meg Moriarty is no stranger to balancing a variety of fields. Having a background in cinema production and screenwriting, her practice is wide-ranging — spanning sculpture, photography, video, installation, illustration, and education. When Moriarty’s not managing the Root Division wood shop and digital lab for studio artists, teaching classes, or working on her master’s degree at

Root Division’s 17th Annual Art Auction is just around the corner! Whether you’re looking to buy your first original artwork or you’re looking for the next piece to add to your collection, this event is a great way to directly support Bay Area emerging and established artists. Since 2002, Root Division has provided studios for