SF/Arts Curator Insight

A truly innovative exercise in artist collaboration, She Bends: Neon as Soulcraft focuses on the artist crafted during three neon residencies held across the US. The exhibition will focus on neon bending as an embodied practice spanning skills of chemistry, physics, and aesthetic sensibility. A practice deeply tethered to manual trade skills and material work, neon bending poses an inquiry of bodily engagement with sustainability, community-building, and individual artistry. She Bends: Neon as Soulcraft will exhibit the collaborative works of neon artists Melissa Jean Golberg, Mayra Zambrano, and Christen Baker and the teaching artists they were paired with during their residencies, Dani Kaes, Leticia Maldonado, and Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez. These residencies offer a platform for teaching artists to hone their pedagogy and for student artists to pursue their exploration of neon, answering to the scarcity of resources available for these synergistic learning environments in this trade. To honor the complexity of learning neon bending, participating artists were tasked with gathering the discarded glass pieces from their residences to form a large, site-specific “quilt,” revealing the hidden labor and dedication inherent in working with this material.