Amy Franceschini (born 1970, in

Patterson Patterson may refer to: People * Patterson (surname) * Patterson family Places ;Australia * Patterson railway station ;Canada * Pattersons Corners, Ontario * Patterson Township, Ontario * Patterson, Calgary a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta. ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

) is a contemporary American artist and

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

. Her practice spans a broad range of media including

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

net art upright=1.3, "Simple Net Art Diagram", a 1997 work by Michael Sarff and Tim Whidden Internet art (also known as net art or web art) is a form of new media art distributed via the Internet. This form of art circumvents the traditional dominance o ...

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

and

gardening Gardening is the process of growing plants for their vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and appearances within a designated space. Gardens fulfill a wide assortment of purposes, notably the production of Aesthetics, aesthetically pleasing area ...

. She was a 2010 Guggenheim Fellow. Franceschini in 2009 was also a recipient of the

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has co ...

Award in the discipline of Emerging Fields.

Life and work

Franceschini founded Futurefarmers in 1995 as a way to bring together multidisciplinary artists. Through Futurefarmers she has collaborated with a number of artists, including Sascha Merg, Josh On. In 2002 she began graduate studies at Stanford University, and in 2004 she co-founded ''Free Soil'', an international collective working between reflection, research and design. She was the lead artist of "Soil Kitchen", which is a temporary, windmill-powered architectural intervention and multi-use space where citizens enjoy free soup in exchange for soil samples; "Soil Kitchen" also offered free pH and heavy metal testing and produced a Philadelphia Brownfields Map and Soil Archive. She has taught at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...

, where she lectured on media theory and taught practical courses. Her aim is to sensitize students to the interaction between design and processes that appear to be unrelated. Frequent themes in Franceschini's work are

public space A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads, pavements, public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to the public, su ...

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

, and

social change Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Sustained at a larger scale, it may lead to social transformation or societal transformat ...

. Franceschini's work often takes a visual approach to articulating perceived conflicts between humans and nature, and the individual to a community. She works both as an artist as well as a designer. In 2010 she co-authored (with Daniel Tucker) the book "Farm Together Now: A Portrait of People, Places and Ideas for a New Food Movement", which features interviews and photos essays (by Anne Hamersky) with politically engaged farmers across the United States.

Exhibitions

Radio Forest by Franceschini and Stijn Schiffeleers Radio Forest is a sound installation created by Franceschini and Stijn Schiffeleers near

Neerpelt Neerpelt (, ) is a town in Pelt (municipality), Pelt and a former Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg. In 2018, the municipality had a total population of 17,174. The total ...

which was restyled by Koen Deprez. The installation plays the music of the forest including work by the Flemish composer Moniek Darge.Radio Forest
KlankAtlas, Retrieved 24 March 2016 In 2005 she was part of the "SAFE: Design takes on risk" exhibition at

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, showing the work ''Homeland Security Blanket'' (made with Michael Swaine). In 2006 she participated in the SECA Art Award exhibition at the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

. She has also exhibited at the

Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center The contemporary art institution Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center opened in 2001 and was located on the pedestrian Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul, Turkey. Platform Garanti organized exhibitions; conferences and events; hosted an internationa ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey, ZKM (Center for Art and Media) in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

Germany,

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum at the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 Smithsonian Institution museums and one of three Smithsonian facil ...

in New York,

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary Contemporary art, contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that cel ...

in San Francisco, California and

Gallery 16 Gallery 16 is a contemporary art gallery located in the SoMa district of San Francisco, California. It is owned by the San Francisco-based painter Griff Williams, and opened in 1993. Artists who have exhibited there include Graham Gillmore, Tu ...

in San Francisco, California. Futurefarmers was featured in the 2002

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

.Sean Dodson, ''The Guardian'', Thursday March 21, 2002.
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References

External links

Official Website

Victory Gardens project

On KQED's Spark program

SFMOMA SECA award site

Farm Together Now official website and blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franceschini, Amy 1970 births Living people American contemporary artists Artists from California Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area Stanford University alumni San Francisco State University alumni

Life and work

Exhibitions

References

Further reading

External links