Instagram@melissa_wyman

June 1st (2018) 12pm at the Nitery Theater, Stanford

View images on Cassils' website

ABOUT SWEAT PAINTINGS

Cassils Studio, Stanford Theater & Performance Studies (TAPS) and Art & Art History are pleased to present SWEAT PAINTINGS as a part of the Vital Signs Performance Series and Social Sculpture Course.

SWEAT PAINTINGS, a live performance and collaboration between Cassils, martial arts consultant Melissa Wyman and Stanford students Ash Ngu, Free Tripp, Meg McNulty, Tori Parrish and Vivienne Le, combines kinesiology, martial arts, and sports science to reinterpret Yves Klein’s Anthropometries paintings.

Painter Yves Klein used naked women as ‘human paintbrushes’ to make his Anthropometries paintings. These works were produced as elaborate performances in front of an audience where Klein, in bow-tie and suit, would conduct the women as they covered themselves in paint (a colour he patented as ‘International Klein Blue’) and made imprints of their bodies on canvas to produce his paintings. A little known fact is that in addition to being an artist Yves Klein was a judo master. Klein published The Foundations of Judo, a book illustrated with hundreds of photographs of Klein demonstrating the six major “Katas” (the movements that form the basis of judo), expressing the fundamentals of the art that was Klein's foremost passion.

Playing on Yves Klein’s problematic legacy, SWEAT PAINTINGS is a performance of self-defense choreography accompanied by Klein’s Monotone Symphony. Drawing on personal stories, the language of university legislation, and national political headlines, this new work deals with issues of harassment, microaggressions, and personal boundaries on Stanford University’s campus. With the aid of Melissa Wyman’s background in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as self-defense training, the performance choreography combines katas and physical defense scenarios as they build dissonance with the serenity of the Monotone Symphony. The social sculpture ends when the collective bodies leave a sweat stain on a specially commissioned gymnastic mat the color of “International Yves Klein Blue.” The ephemeral sweat stained mark generated is reminiscent of Klein’s Anthropometries paintings, reimagining Klein’s oeuvre through a queer, feminist, socially conscious lens.

ABOUT THE VITAL SIGNS SERIES

The Vital Signs Performance Art series, curated by Cassils, ran Fall 2017 through Spring 2018 and hosted artists Harry Gamboa Jr. and Xandra Ibarra (Fall); Nao Bustamante and Rafa Esparza (Winter); and Ron Athey and Keijaun Thomas (Spring).

Vital signs are important indications of the status of the body’s life-sustaining functions. Focusing on elements of performativity, each quarter paired artists from different generations. Assessing urgency, these artists offered a broad approach for triaging the social body; with the use of different formal and conceptual strategies, measurements can be taken and assessments made, giving us clues to diseases and possible progress toward recovery. The series aimed to highlight and showcase underrepresented performance forms such as experimental performance art, durational art, and body art, among others, by artists from underrepresented communities.
Read more about the series here

A new collaboration with Michael Namkung involving a bunch of gravel at Incline Gallery in SF.

Artists Melissa Wyman and Michael Namkung are creating a contemplative space at Incline Gallery that will accommodate up to 10 people at a time. each rock a coarse love will open to the public on March 9th, 2018 from 7-10pm and every Wednesday and Saturday until April 6th, 2018.

OPENING RECEPTION MARCH 9, 7-10PM
EXHIBITION DATES: MARCH 9 – APRIL 6
CLOSING RECEPTION APRIL 6, 7-9PM

Incline Gallery
766 Valencia St, San Francisco

I’m super excited to be part of this group show called Curious Poses curated by Jennie Ottinger

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 3, 2017, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12:00 – 6:00 PM, until July 1, 2017

Artists: Tommy Becker, José Joaquin Figueroa, Elisabeth Higgins O'Connor, Emily Mast, Rachel Mayeri, Sandra Ono, Jess Smith, Melissa Wyman

Curious Poses considers our complex relationships with animals. What is revealed about human dynamics when we use other species to define our humanness? The participating artists playfully examine the uncanny territory created when animals stand in for humans through installations, videos, photographs, paintings, and participatory events.

The opening night reception will include ongoing performances by Melissa Wyman and Emily Mast. For Mast’s The Stage Is A Cage (Swell), Method actor Joe Seely enacts attempts to transgress human structures of control. In Skunk Butt and Friends: Wildlife Negotiation Strategies, Wyman demonstrates various animal tactics involving appendages including (but not limited to) claws, teeth, plumage and scent glands as a means of communication and territorial mark-making. Participation is encouraged.

WEDLOCK, Ep 2: Fighting (2017) Fight Therapy was featured on this podcast by married comedians Kurt Braunohler and Lauren Cook. The sessions starts at -13:50 after the interview with a hostage negotiator.

I will be joining other Cubberley Studio artists for a group show (RETROFIT 1.0) at Telegraph Hill Gallery in San Francisco

RETROFIT 1.0 May 20–June 17
Opening Reception: May 20th, 6:30-8:30pm
with Barbara Boissevain, Barbara Gunther, Charles Coates, Inge Infante, Lessa Bouchard, Linda Gass, Marianne Lettieri, Mel Day,
Melissa Wyman, Pantea Karimi, and Servane Briand.

RETROFIT 2.0, June 24–July 22, 2017
Opening Reception: June 24th, 6:30-8:30pm
with Ann McMillan, Amy DiPlacido, Andy Muonio, Catherine diNapoli, Conrad Johnson, Ernest Regua, Ken Edwards, Paloma Lucas, Rochelle Doorley, Sahba Shere, and the collaborative artist duo t.w.five.

In keeping with the exhibition theme – RETROFIT – the show’s curators, CASP artists Mel Day and Marianne Lettieri, selected older pieces the artists revised, those where the artist has returned to a previously explored subject matter or that reinterpreted a personal aesthetic trademark. The exhibit includes work from 21 artists working in diverse media, including photography, painting, sculpture, fiber arts, printmaking and mixed media.

As a group, CASP artists include museum curators, college lecturers, art instructors, and winners of significant awards such as the Fleishhacker Eureka Fellowship, Silicon Valley Laureate, and Murphy Fellowship in the Fine Arts. Many exhibit their art internationally and have participated in prestigious artist residencies throughout the U.S. and abroad, including the DeYoung Museum and Djerassi Resident Artist Program.

“This is an exciting time as we reopen the gallery after a year-long construction project to upgrade our historical landmark location,” said Ana Sycip, Associate Director of Telegraph Hill Gallery. “With RETROFIT 1.0 and 2.0, we’re bringing a fresh new art perspective to the City with the work of these Silicon Valley artists.”

Rhyena Halpern, Assistant Director for the Palo Alto Community Services Department, who oversees the Cubberley Artist Studio Program, said, “We are thrilled for this opportunity to show off the extraordinary talent of our artists. We expect the gallery’s location in the popular North Beach area will attract visitors from San Francisco and elsewhere.”

Telegraph Hill Gallery
491 Greenwich Street, San Francisco, 94133
visit http://www.telegraphhillgallery.com

EYES KNEES GROIN THROAT
with WOFF and WYMAN

April 22, 2017 at YBCA

Artists Melissa Wyman and Jenifer K Wofford are teaming up for a one-hour extravaganza at YBCA as part of |https://100daysaction.net100| Days Action|'s fitness studio 24 Hour Resistance. They will be addressing some primary targets you should know about!

EKGT, music video and sing-along led by Jenifer K Wofford!
Introductory Self Defense, a workshop led by Melissa Wyman!

Wofford’s video (made with Alysoun Quinby and Harrison Dumont) provides a sassy mnemonic device for remembering some soft spots on an attacker’s body, 80s music video-style. Participants can sing along!

Wyman’s workshop provides an introduction to basic self-defense, including: balance, awareness and preparedness training, identifying and claiming personal space, and both effective de-escalation and attacking techniques.
.
Let’s get physical!!

More information here

Image curtesy of Jenifer K Wofford

I'm excited to team up with artist Laurel Shear for a two person show at Incline Gallery in San Francisco!

Push/Pull

Opening Reception: January 28 from 6-9pm
January 28 - March 4 2017

Laurel Shear makes lush oil paintings that oscillate between abstraction and representation, allowing and encouraging the paint to become a part of the narrative. Shears paintings draw inspiration from pop culture imagery, personal experience and the long rich history of Western Painting to create an unapologetically female voice. The attitude in her work and the images Shear chooses playfully and critically isolate the highly gendered way we are raised and manipulated by the culture at large.


For Push/Pull Melissa Wyman shares a series of paintings titled Navigation Dynamics. These works are a continued meditation on collaborative and combative spaces, using barriers and obstacles as a study into personal patterns of negotiation, and means of art making. In this work, Wyman exhibits findings from a series of experiments observing how seemingly conflicting materials might interact. Combining found scrap metals with organic matter from her environment, water, ink and rust are drawn together to connect the spaces in between in order to explore the dynamic interactions occurring among the materials. One work will be created during the opening reception with the help of the participating viewers.

More information here

Image: Negotiation Dynamics by Melissa Wyman 2017

January 2017

I've been working alongside fellow grapplers to create ongoing fundraisers for human rights using Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a platform.

I'm thrilled to report that we raised $2,000 to give to the ACLU - from many small-scale donations.

The Bay Area Grapple-athon was the first ever multi-club, gym-crawl, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fundraiser supporting human rights, inclusivity and community connection on and off the mat. All the contributions from the grapplers, gym hosts, raffle donations, or by people donating to the cause made a difference.

Stay tuned and find out about more Rolling For The People events and fundraisers.

Originating out of FOUR Elements Fitness with support from the FOUR Elements Art Series, The Rolling For The People Team is facilitated by grapplers Shawn Tamaribuchi, Vonique Stricklen, Melissa Wyman and Dion Burns . The team now consists of a growing group of grapplers training out of different gyms across the Bay Area and beyond. Putting political affiliations aside, the mission of this team is to recognize the rights and contributions of people of different ethnicities, religions, gender identity and sexual orientation both on and off the mat.

I will presenting a new work called The Negotiation Table at the Resistance Training - curated by Glen Helfand.

Opening Reception: January 18, 6-8pm

I will also be conducting a Collaborative Combative Drawing workshop as part of the show's programing on February 4th, 1-3pm.

I hope to see you at the opening or at the workshop - come and get some resistance training!

Exhibition and events offer a bolstering sense of community in the midst of a tumultuous political era.

On the eve of the inauguration, and into the first days of a new regime, Resistance Training, a presentation of recent a new artwork and activism, provides a needed opportunity to gather aesthetic and artist community forces and brace for what comes next. Organized by curator Glen Helfand, the exhibition focuses on aesthetic gestures that offer models of resistance to negative shifts and ideas for action, be they poetic, ideological, or forceful protest. The location on the Mills College campus offers the opportunity to create a space for gathering that draws upon intellectual resources and dialogs.

In the realm of fitness, the term resistance training refers to exercising muscles using an opposing force. The official transition of power to a game changing new U.S. president, which occurs on January 20, is a large, heavyweight force to oppose with the purpose of becoming stronger. Various communities, artists and activists, are banding together in dialogue and creative action to engage strategies for survival in what promises to be a challenging period.

The exhibition will include artworks, actions, and demos of strategies for survival. Artists include Luke Butler, Ana Teresa Fernandez, Sarah Hotchkiss, Omar Mismar, Melissa Wyman, Rachel Weidinger, Andrea Bowers, Alex Molinari, and others. Resistance Training also will include Post Fax, a faxing campaign targeting office workers, interns, and others with pertinent messages sent through a form more tactile, and perhaps urgent, than social media; and be an affiliated venue for 100 Days, an artist-organized calendar featuring one daily artistic response to Trump’s first 100 days in office.

January 18 - February 10, 2017

Join us for the FOUR Elements Fitness Art Series inaugural event, 'Pumping Patterns' by Melissa Wyman

Check the schedule of events below

What it is: A participatory event that explores collaborative and combative patterns (visual, physical, and mental) through specially constructed exercises and stimulating clothing in a gym atmosphere.

What this involves: Melissa Wyman is creating a series of recordings (photographs, drawings and paintings) of people engaged in physical activities adapted from gym challenges, brain stimulation games and everyday movement, while wearing a variety of matching and clashing designs. She invites all of you to join her at Four Elements Fitness wearing clothes of patterned materials (dots, checkers, plaid, seersucker, paisley, floral, leopard, vermicular – you name it.) If you don’t have such attire, there will be some available on site.

Thinking about patterns: In much of her work, Melissa investigates alternative means of negotiation. She has become increasingly interested in how mental patterns manifest in physical ways and vice versa creating patterns of emotions, behaviors, expressions and beliefs. She views people as walking manifestations of their patterning, interacting with each other in complex ways. Thinking about how daily routines shape one’s existence, and how the connectivity of the brain can be stimulated like a muscle, expanding and contracting based on usage, she is developing visual, mental and physical exercises as an intervention into staid, stuck and stubborn patterns – with oneself and with others.

Schedule:
5:30 - 6pm - Meet the artist, learn about the project and find out more about the Four Elements Art Series

6pm-7pm - The Pumping Patterns body-brain exercise class
+ Join in this group exercise class to strengthen neural communication, brain and body balance, flexibility and rigor, and bridge the gap between the two brain hemispheres. (Intensity level: low to medium)

7pm - 8pm - Open mat: Grappling and ‘Collaborative Combative Pattern Drawing'

+ Experience merging and clashing patterns in action! Spectators are also welcome. (Intensity level: medium to high, or what you make it)

+ + Enjoy refreshments!

* You can choose which activities you do and no prior experience is needed. Participants can receive a limited edition printed photo of the event.

The FOUR Elements Art Series is a new, vital platform for artists working in a range of media and at different stages of their careers to present their ideas. In addition to furthering their own artistic practices and experimentation, artists are also invited to respond directly to and activate the space through unique classes, actions, happenings, and events.

Please RSVP - space is limited.
FEF members: Free
Non-members: Door fee $15
Paid in advance $10

website link

Tickets available.

Fees support the Four Elements Art Series - the artists, materials, refreshments and the space

August 20th, 2016

As part off a Gathering of The Society for the Advancement of Bureaus and Offices at Southern Exposure in San Francisco, ACL will offer Dynamic Color Field Combat Training from 2-4pm.

The Association of Combative Landscapes (ACL) is a collaborative, non-profit, professional association dedicated to physical movement in contentious spaces. Drawing from the structure of Collaborative Combative Drawing, The ACL consists of members committed to productively channel spatial and economic aggressions while negotiating changing urban realities.

Through its specialized hand-to-hand Dynamic Color Field Combat Training and unconventional resources, the ACL provides members with tools for finding balance in conflictual situations, leveraging movement out of compromised positions and actuating advanced mark making/space claiming strategies. Utilizing invigorating and versatile conflict navigation, members are invited to become Special Operations Associates to further the association’s mission to equip a new breed of city dwellers for the increasing need for stability and revitalization.

Photos can be found here

I had the pleasure of organizing and facilitating a group of artists from (or affiliated with) the Bay Area to participate inaugural Sedona Summer Colony.

Participating artists from our group:
Michael Namkung, Mel Day, Amanda Curreri, Llewelynn Fletcher, Lukaza Brandman-Verrisimo, Grace Rosario Perkins, José Luis Iñiguez, Cara Levine, Weston Teruya and Melissa Wyman

During the period of July 1st – July 22nd, 2016 ten artists with a Bay Area connection will overlap time and energy with over 100 other artists and cultural producers to create work while interacting with the Verde Valley School, Sedona, its community, and the vibrant red rock surroundings. Time will be spent on collaborations as well as individual investigations, contemplations, and production.

October - November 2015

I will be co-authoring work with students from Eastside Preparatory School in East Palo Alto and Gunn High School in Palo Alto during a one month residency at Djerassi! This will happen from October 20th to November 18th but I've already begun working with the schools.
Check it out and stay updated.

"Thanks to the collaborative efforts of OpenIDEO + Djerassi Resident Artists Program + interdisciplinary artist Mel Day, we’re excited to announce the recently awarded OpenIDEO Young Artists Fellowship Pilot Program at Djerassi in the fall of 2015.

OpenIDEO, an online global platform for social and environmental good, recently awarded Day’s concept as a result of the IDEO-sponsored challenge to cultivate creative confidence in young people. This unique, community-based residency is designed to cultivate and make space and time for the creative confidence of young people by building upon the network of existing local, national and international artist residencies. Our inaugural resident is interdisciplinary artist Melissa Wyman. Ms. Wyman was been selected to collaborate with local high school youth. In the context of Djerassi’s internationally recognized collegial and interactive environment, the young people and artist will co-author a creative work which will be presented to the local community."

http://youngartistsfellowship.tumblr.com


The Present Prize.

Thank you to the kind person that nominated me for this!
The theme of this prize is Family Matters focusing on those of us crazy artists who also have kids. There are a number of us, and the other artists are inspiring. Please take a look at the works and the statements and vote here, keep voting as long as you are interested until October 25th. All 16 artists are paired with each other in different rounds.

We had a bit of space to reflect on parenting as an artist for the Present Prize application - this is what I wrote:

Being a mother is the most challenging endurance project I’ve had the pleasure to be part of, and involves moving through the world with newly inspired vulnerability, tenderness, determination and grit. My work is informed by challenges and negotiation, and parenting two girls (five and one) gives me my fair share of both.

Finding uninterrupted time to develop ideas is an ongoing, colossal struggle. In an ideal world we would have quality, free or subsidized early childcare (crucial for gender equality) and a supportive system for family/career balance. I know that I am a better mother when I am working. I am a happier and more interesting (and more interested) person, and this has a positive effect on my girls. In turn, they are helping fuel my art practice. From scraped knees, midnight puke sessions and hospital visits to being ninja princesses saving the kingdom, they are giving me a greater reverence for life’s fragility and power, and a stronger will to create impactful work – one that I’m still navigating how to actuate.

RDX Games: Extreme Artworld Competition
at Root Division

I will be doing Combat Drawing as part of this full-on fantastic evening of art sports.

Saturday, June 13, 2015
"Root Division invites you-- artists, curators, writers, preparators, and arts enthusiasts-- to join us for an evening of riveting, never-before-seen art world stunts! Each pulse-racing game pits artists, curators and preparators against unfathomable odds-- and you can play along. Go behind the scenes with games like Preparapurgatory, prove your knowledge in the artist name spelling bee, battle in Combat Drawing, sing your favorite dense text in Theory-okey, or try your hand at Hyper Realist Pictionary."

Presenting at CESTEMER 2015

I will be giving a presentation on Collaborative Combative Drawing followed by the activity (Collaborative Combative Drawing) at the Cultivating Ensembles in STEM Education and Research conference hosted by University of California, Berkeley TRUST Center. The conference runs June 10th, 11th, 12th. My 20 minute presentation will be held on the 11th at the TRUST center, room 1 between 9am and 10:20 and Collaborative Combative Drawing will be in room 3 starting at 11:00.
For more information click here

Power Prep Workshop
at the Shadow Office!

Workshop with Melissa Wyman and Power Prep: Winning Readiness Training! Involving power posing and collaborative combative exercises to increase overall winning potential, plus street-style marker fight with Shawn Tamaribuchi from Four Elements Fitness.

This happened on March 14th in Oakland, California
See photos here

Monster Drawing Rally 2014 at Southern Exposure

Friday, July 11, 2014 - 6 to 11pm

At The Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

I will be doing the 6 to 7 pm shift.

Come watch me and a pile of other artists do live drawing and support Southern Exposure.

Soft Muscle at Root Division curated by Adrienne Heloise

I'm excited to be part of this show with 12 other spectacular artists. I will be showing a few of my recent paintings and the patchwork boxing gloves. I will also be conducting Fight Therapy for the Displaced on the closing night. Come and participate!

Second Saturday Reception will be on Saturday, June 14, 2014 - 7 to 10 pm.
Closing Reception and Farewell to Root Division's 17th street location will happen on June 20th - 9 to 9pm.

3175 17th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Artist in Residence at Alter Space in San Francisco for the month of January

I will be conducting a public multi-artist drawing event on January 18th at 8:30 pm.

OVERVIEW: One large piece of paper, one central goal, multiple artists, power animals at the ready, drawing tools cocked and loaded, and the understanding that collaboration is messy… Whether negotiating personal or professional relationships or simply coexisting, everyone comes to the table with their own ideas. Sometimes those ideas fuse, sometimes they clash; often they do both. The harmonious side of human nature seeks a common ground, knowing there will disputed objectives before a new perspective can be adopted. Collaborative combative drawing utilizes the energy created by the inherent pushing and pulling in human relationships as a method of (art) production.

For her residency at Alter Space, Melissa Wyman invites fellow Bay Area artists to explore both the cooperative and combative sides of their personalities by going head to head in the creation of large-scale works on paper. Artists must push, pull, escape or outwit each other in order to complete a single drawing of their personal power animals. Melissa will coach participants in effective and relevant martial art/self-defense techniques for outmaneuvering the other participants and getting their drawing down on paper. The process will be frustrating yet exhilarating, and result in surprisingly dynamic, collaborative works.

Melissa will be doing a residency in the Jail Cell space for the month of January inviting private one-on-one and smaller group collaborations with a live multi-artist drawing event at 8:30 pm for the reception on the 18th. Collaborating artists will include: Olivia Mole, Michael Hall, Raphael Noz, Jena Sapinosa, Niki Shelley, and Liesa Lietzke among others.

See the resulting video here

Featured artist in The New Collectors Book 2014 Edition // page 68

online version available for viewing for a short time here
|available through http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984741356|amazon|
Go to website

An article by Glen Starkey about Collaborative Combative Drawing was featured in New Times.
Both in print and online.

Also see the video created by the local 'Going About' TV man in San Luis Obispo.

Collaborative Combative Drawing in San Luis Obispo!

Aug 2nd, Art after Dark / Combat Painting 6-9pm at the Steynberg Gallery. This will be an evening event and month long-show.
Go to website


Aug 10th, Collaborative Combative Drawing workshop at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. 1-3pm. Sign up now!
More information

OVERVIEW // Collaboration can be messy. Whether negotiating personal or business relationships or simply coexisting, everyone comes to the table with their own ideas. Sometimes those ideas fuse, sometimes they clash; often they do both. The harmonious side of human nature seeks a common ground, knowing there will be pushing and pulling before a new perspective can be adopted. Collaborative combative drawing utilizes the energy produced by this "pushing and pulling" inherent in human relationships to create surprisingly dynamic works of art.

Melissa Wyman, Bay Area social practitioner, invites pairs of San Luis Obispo artists to engage each other head-to-head in the creation of large-scale works on paper. Building on a basic martial arts/self-defense workout and preliminary drawing warm-ups, Melissa will coach participants in safe and effective techniques for exploring this new kind of collaboration. Participants will be encouraged to be both assertive and mindful as they push, pull, escape and outwit each other in attempting to complete a visual representation of their own personal 'power animal'. The results will be exhilarating, surprising, frustrating, and fun.

Teaching - Southern Exposure's youth program Mission Voices Summer 2013

Southern Exposure's Mission Voices Summer (MVS) is an arts program that gives youth the opportunity to exercise leadership skills in their community by exploring relevant social and personal issues through visual arts workshops. The intensive summer program focuses on arts-based community development by pairing local artists with teens. Youth learn to use the visual arts as a tool to express their creative voices and to make a visual statement about their ideas, interests, and ambitions through a series of workshops that result in a project presented to the public at Southern Exposure.

El Porvenir / What is to Come explores the theme of translation through movement, medium, objects, space, language and the senses through three projects:

The Three Projects Include:

Melissa Wyman and Sadie Harmon lead City Islands and Urban Obstacles a project translating the urban landscape of the Mission district into drawings, photos, and mobile islands that transforms Southern Exposure into an interactive obstacle course.

Whitney Lynn and Kellie Flint lead Take 2, a project exploring translation through the reinterpretations, reenactment and documentation of historical iconic images to produce photographs, tableaux vivants, videos and written work.

Sarah Matik and Whitney Lynn lead The Whole Package, a project examining the imagery, intentions and branding behind current pop stars to create new pop personas using collaborative direction and performance.



Also in June

I will be taking part in Southern Exposure's Annual Monster Drawing Rally. Come see art making on the spot and buy it! Support Southern Exposure!

Location: THE NWBLK 1999 Bryant Street (at 18th), San Francisco
Tickets: $15 & up donation at the door
More information

Obsolete Californias Fight Therapy and Combative Drawing*

For the month of January the Collective Shipping & Receiving will be taking over the StoreFrontLab at 337 Shotwell Street in San Francisco with their show/ Installation and event series titled Obsolete Californias.
Their theme explores the relics and customs of Californias that no longer exist and proposing contemporary opportunities for exchange.

In collaboration with Shipping & Receiving, (Torreya Cummings & Heather Smith) I will facilitate historic and contemporary battles that will play themselves out on the mat during this metaphorical wrestling event.

Or for something lower impact, there will be Combative Drawing Battles with everything done on paper.

What: Fight Therapy & Collaborative Combative Drawing
When: Saturday January 12th (5 to 8 pm) & Sunday January 13th (2 to 5 pm).
Where: StoreFrontLab 337 Shotwell @ 17, San Francisco

Listed on FunCheap

Collaborative Combative Drawing at Southern Exposure

Friday, November 9, 2012, 7:00 – 9:30 pm
Saturday, November 10, 2012, 12:00 – 6:00 pm
Attendance limited.

Artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor Melissa Wyman invites visitors to go head-to-head in a battle of wills to determine the final outcome of a collaborative (and combative) drawing. In a sumo-style drawing session, pairs of artists must push, pull, or escape or outwit each other in order to complete a single drawing of their personal power animals. Each player will be asked to choose an animal to draw, and may come with his or her own partners, drawing tools, and source images or work with the materials and people on site. Prior to the matches, Melissa Wyman will lead workouts and drawing warm-ups, training participants in safe and effective fighting techniques. Physically combative participation is encouraged but not required.

Fight Therapy Portraits

Come write on, draw on, and deface my paintings at Error Plain 206 (Gallery) in Chicago for the Chicago Arts District 2nd Friday. August 10th from 6 to 10 pm. 1932 S. Halsted St. #206, Chicago, IL 60608. There will also be live Fight Therapy sessions. This show is curated by Chicago based artist Sarah Lenore Nelson.

Southern Exposure's Monster Drawing Rally

I will be taking part in Southern Exposure's Monster Drawing Rally on June 8th. Come see me draw from 8 to 9 pm at the Verdi Club in San Francisco. View information about Southern Exposure's Monster Drawing Rally here

Interview in Revista M (Las Ultimas Noticias)

Las Ultimas Noticias is a widespread Chilean Newspaper.

Read Page 1 here
Read Page 2 here

The article is written in Spanish about the time that I was living in Chile with my husband Dion. Our fighter/photographer friend, Shawn Tamaribuchi, came to visit us and snapped a few family portraits while I was 6 months pregnant. The interviewer became interested in the imagery of a women fighting a man in front of the military school.

Photos by Shawn can be purchased here.

Backwards Beasts

You roll away your stone, I'll roll away mine...
Curated by Jason Hanasik

You roll away your stone, I’ll roll away mine is a series of week long solo exhibitions organized by artist Jason Hanasik. Noticing the generative nature of the intergenerational relationships in his own life, Hanasik tasked each invited artist to create a week long solo show with the stipulation that the artists collaborate with someone significantly older or significantly younger than they are. The result is a captivating series of projects which eloquently build on top of each other to collectively explore the themes of isolation, miscommunication, and expectations.

Please join us for three receptions, one for each artist:

On Sunday, November 6th from 7:30-9:30, Abner Nolan: Babble

On Sunday, November 13th from 6-8pm, Patrick Hillman: Sets & Reps

On Sunday, November 20th from 6-8 pm, Melissa Wyman: Backwards Beasts

Visiting Artist

at Aguafuerte in Santiago, Chile

Galería Espora and Aguafuerte have embarked on a project that aims to encourage an active relationship between production, curatorial practice, exhibition and, finally, the sale of prints. Galería Espora’s featured artists have been selected specifically for their diverse styles with interlinking themes. 24 signed editions (organized into folders with works from 3 of the artists) will be available for sale through Galería Espora. Stay tuned...