At a time when the future of Earth often seems in jeopardy, “Asteroid Eaters in Space,” a new work by Sara and Ezra Mann, suggests that there’s some hope yet.
That’s the message conveyed by a mixed-media collage made by Sara Mann and her five-year-old son, Ezra, which was among the artwork displayed at “Mother of Collaboration,” the inaugural exhibition of the Good Ship Dodo, an alternative art space at 3234 Folsom St.
The Good Ship Dodo is the brainchild of San Francisco artist and mother Ilana Crispi, an associate professor of ceramics at San Francisco State University’s School of Art.
The goal, said Crispi, is to “create opportunity for showing things that you might not be able to show in the white box gallery space.”
With the opening show held on Mother’s Day, the closing one on Father’s Day, and four Sunday workshops in the weeks between, the Mother of Collaboration project enables children to engage in creative processes that allow imperfection and play. The workshops, all of them free and led by different mother and child duos, produce paper maché and cardboard sculpture, art zines, and ceramic cups.
During the opening, Crispi barbecued in the space’s backyard, and children smashed geodes and built objects from Legos. For the first show, 15 mother-and-child pairs worked with materials including seeds, fiber and recycled yarn. Around 100 people — families, neighbors, passersby — attended the opening, which culminated in the artists sharing stories about their pieces.
“It’s really exciting to see such powerful pieces while also celebrating the community and what it takes to continue being a maker and a mother,” said Crispi, who noted that the show helps break through the isolation imposed by Covid-19. Of the Good Ship Dodo, she said, “I wanted this to be more accessible for doing work that’s more experimental, maybe more performative, that could move a little bit more quickly and be more spontaneous.”
Participants can take their handiwork home or leave it displayed in the space. Passersby can appreciate the work through the studio’s window or come inside for a closer view. The ceramic cups will be placed in the window gallery, then exchanged by their creators after the show.
Crispi’s display on May 11 was made with a combination of materials, including clay sourced at Alemany Farm and Fort Point, and reclaimed wood. The final product features a coiled pot made by Crispi, with carved illustrations by her six-year-old son, Davi, mounted on a log base.
On May 18, Erica Gangsei and her daughter Frances, 6, led a “Protest Poster Making” workshop.
With a background in activism, Gangsei contributed a large wearable puppet used at the Women’s March in 2019 and also supplied books, a wall of ideas, and a playlist to facilitate the creative process.
With the only guidance being “make your voice heard,” participants designed posters that read, “you don’t hate Mondays, you hate techno-feudalism,” and “no shipping nice people.”
Updates about upcoming workshops will be posted on Instagram.