Artist Talk

Suzanne Lacy will present new works, as well as selections from forty years of activism, education, and what she has termed "new genre public art". Lacy is an internationally known artist whose work includes installations, video, and large-scale performances on social themes and urban issues. One of her best-known works to date is The Crystal Quilt (Minneapolis, 1987) a performance with 430 older women, broadcast live on Public Television. During the nineties she worked with teams of artists and youth to create an ambitious series of performances, workshops, and installations on youth and public policy, documented by videos, local and national news broadcasts, and an NBC program. Her work has been shown at the Getty, Tate Modern, and many art institutions around the world. She has received awards from numerous foundations, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Time, The Guggenheim, Rockefeller, Surdna, and Nathan Cummings Foundations. She also received the Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement from the College Art Association in 2010 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women's Caucus for Art in 2012.Lacy is the Chair of Public Practice at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. From 1987-97 she was Dean of the School of Fine Arts at the California College of Arts. Active in Oakland cultural politics, Lacy was a member of Mayor Jerry Brown's education cabinet and an Arts Commissioner for the City of Oakland.