Victoria May: Exhaustively Effortless
Growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Victoria May’s creative life sparked at the age of ten when she learned how to make her own clothes. Part drawing and part sculptural construction, sewing...
View ArticleFanny Retsek: Bane
Of All the Things, She Counts Ever since she can remember, Fanny Retsek has felt a deep connection to nature. This may seem odd for someone who grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, but for Retsek,...
View ArticleJon Brumit: The South Bay Talent Center
Finding the Extraordinary in an Ordinary Office Space For two months in the summer of 2008, the South Bay Talent Center opened its doors on the corner of San Fernando and Second Street in downtown San...
View ArticleAlex Clausen: Flood
What we call places are stable locations with unstable converging forces that cannot be determined either by fences on the ground or by boundaries in the imagination – or by the perimeter of the map....
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A Button of Every Person
I have made a button of every person I have met and remember. I have made over 500 unique buttons that were sold in vending machines for 25 cents each. To make a button, I had to remember bot the...
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Pep Talk Squad
The Pep Talk Squad is a two-person DIY operation and collaboration between Christina Amini and myself. Simply put, we wear jackets with the words “Pep Talk Squad” on the back and we like listening to...
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San Jose Artist-in-Residency
I have always been fascinated by the strangeness and beauty of the manicured yards, lawns and hedges of the homes in the neighborhood where I grew up. I put flyers in each mailbox on Lansford Ave. in...
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This Show Needs You
This Show Needs You was an exhibition at the San Jose ICA that relied on the willingness of audiences to co-author the work. The exhibition was held in conjunction with University of California, Santa...
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Desire To Fly
Desire to Fly from Alex Clausen & Susan O’Malley on Vimeo. When artist Alex Clausen and I met Alexander La Riviere, proprietor of Faber’s Cyclery and bicycle accident investigator of San Jose, CA,...
View ArticleHow To Be an Artist-in-Residence
How To Be An Aritst in Residence, San Jose, CA from Susan O’Malley on Vimeo.
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Survival Flags
These Survival Flags are made out of old tablecloths and sheets screen and printed with glow-in-the dark paints for the Survival Annex at the Curiosity Shoppe, San Francisco. Perfect for any survival...
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Inspirational Signs
A room filled with inspirational phrases saying things like: You Are Exactly Where You Need To Be or Be Here Now were installed at the Ping Pong Gallery in San Francisco. I also made inspirational...
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My Healing Garden is Green
With a strained hand my mom wrote My Healing Garden is Green after she was diagnosed with a rare and terminal neurological disease called Multiple Systems Atrophy. Her handwriting was just one part of...
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Community Advice
I interviewed a few shy of 100 people in Palo Alto for this project. I asked: What advice would you give your 8-year-old self? What advice would you give your 80-year-old self? Using the words of...
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A Healing Walk
A Healing Walk, 2012, Wood, paint and hardware A Healing Walk (This Beautiful Moment), 2013, Wood, paint and hardware A Healing Walk (You Look Up), 2013, Wood, paint and hardware Nine signs...
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One Minute Smile
(This is where you smile and time yourself for one minute). I originally performed this with a generous audience as part of a conversation about happiness at Montalvo Arts Center on February 20, 2013....
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A Space (for you)
This project was supported by Lucas Artist Program at the Montalvo Arts Center for the exhibition Happiness Is… In addition to creating a space for visitors to sit down and relax, I organized several...
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Happiness Is…
Installation views of a group exhibition Happiness Is… with Christine Wong Yap and Leah Rosenberg. Christine Wong Yap, Irrational Exuberance Flags; Leah Rosenberg, Striped Benches and Illuminated...
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Mantras for the Urban Dweller (Moment to Moment)
I am thrilled my work is included in Moment to Moment, a magazine happening in real time, through various media outlets, and in cities around the world throughout the summer and fall of 2013. This...
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Finding Your Center
Photo Credit: John Wlson White, Courtesy of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Listen to track one Finding Your Center is a self-help audio tour and distributed sculptural installation that playfully...
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Your Body is The Architecture
A series of signs inviting visitors at the Parthenon Museum in Nashville, TN to playfully engage with the architecture of the building. The project was commissioned by the Parthenon Museum for Flex...
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