Tara Pilbrow Dance & Maurice Ramirez present

Uplift

A series of dance films highlighting the talent and diversity of Alameda's Artists

Tara Pilbrow Dance & Maurice Ramirez present

A series of dance films highlighting the talent and diversity of Alameda's Artists

Uplift

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About UPLIFT

Shining a light on the artists working in our city, UPLIFT is a series of short dance films celebrating the talent and diversity of the Alameda arts scene. Set in a variety of locations across the Island, each film focuses on the work of one local artist.

People fall in love with Alameda because of its small town vibe, and its quaint Victorians, few think of it as an arts hub. Working away in the streets, studios and public spaces of this small town is a community of artists whose work and influence spreads across the Bay, and throughout the World.

The team

Maurice Ramirez
Video

Pons Maar
Editing

Ben Juodvalkis
Music

Tara Pilbrow
Choreography

Simple Pursuits

JP

Frary

A visit to JP’s website gives you a very, very brief introduction to his work:

"JP Frary has been designing and building furniture in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1995. His work often contains recycled materials and is built with an emphasis on simplicity of form."

This is not because JP is a man of few words - far from it, JP has an endless stream of stories to share (indeed his 2nd career is as a storyteller), but more because he has a very uncomplicated, bullshit-free relation to his artwork. He makes what he feels inspired to make because something in a particular form calls to him. He starts with a simple idea and follows it, riffing, iterating, stretching and zooming in on it until he finds satisfaction.

There is a friendly ‘little man’ who stands at the door of JPs studio to welcome visitors. As the narrative of the piece developed he became something of a White Rabbit character, leading Hannah into the swirling spirals of JP’s fantastical wooden world.

www.jpfrary.com

Bolo-Lala

Inertia

Shawn

HibmaCronan

Shawn, in his own words:

Shawn HibmaCronan is a Bay Area native who studied sculpture and furniture at the California College of the Arts. He utilizes a range of traditional and cutting edge fabrication processes, to create objects in which no material is disguised and no mechanism is hidden. His work is often meant to be picked up, sat in, climbed on, and rolled around; hopefully providing a memorable experience for the curious. He strives to create iconic artwork that viewers find strikingly novel, yet familiar; with forms that all walks of life could find magnetic and disarming. Ultimately he believes that craft is paramount; that it is important to create lasting objects that are well made and timelessly beautiful, inside and out.

Tara, on discovering the depth of one of Shawn's most enduring obsessions:

For as long as I have known Shawn there has always been a Ford van occupying more than half of his studio space. When I arrived at the end of last year to interview him for the Uplift project, I expected us to get carried away with one of his newer projects, but when I asked for an update on "Inersha" (his street-legal sculpture) I realized that nothing could beat the unadulterated enthusiasm and excitement he shares when talking about it. He bought the1963 Ford Falcon Deluxe Club Wagon in 2008 and since then he has “made and remade every single part of the thing.”

Inertia also features “Ground Looper” a piece created for the @sfmoma Artist Soapbox Derby.

www.shawnhibmacronan.com

My Multiple Me's

Contact at contact@tarapilbrow.com