Portfolio Reviews, Fall 2022

The Office for Public Art is hosting a portfolio review session to give artists the chance to receive feedback on their work from national and local artists, curators, and arts administrators. Artists can reserve 25-minute time slots with a reviewer of their choice over Zoom.

Portfolio reviewers for the evening are: artist Kipp Kobayashi (Los Angeles, CA); multi-media artist, filmmaker, and engineer Mikael Owunna (Pittsburgh, PA); artist and cultural worker Nataša Prljevic (Brooklyn, NY); and public art consultant Shelly Willis (Sacramento, CA).

Participants can register for up to TWO review time slots. Registration will close on October 17, 2022. Registrants will be REQUIRED to submit their portfolios in advance. OPA will contact all registrants on October 18, 2022 with details and deadlines for portfolio submissions.

Cancellations and no shows will not be refunded. Please choose your time slot(s) carefully; we cannot accommodate requested schedule changes. Please arrive at your session on time. Reviewers cannot extend your session if you sign in late.

About the Reviewers

Kipp Kobayashi

Kipp Kobayashi is an artist interested in the traces of human activity and how they transform the structures and systems of our physical world into living entities of our collective thoughts, action and experiences. His work stems from his background growing up as an Asian American which has led to a lifelong interest in deconstructing our preconceived notions of who we are and what we are; breaking them down into the most basic elements of human and natural factors to better understand the unique sets of combinations and patterns that define a more nuanced interpretation of identity and cultural belonging.

Mikael Owunna

Mikael Owunna is a Nigerian American multi-media artist, filmmaker, and engineer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Exploring the intersections of visual media with engineering, optics, Blackness, and African cosmologies, his work seeks to elucidate an emancipatory vision of possibility that pushes people beyond all boundaries, restrictions, and frontiers.

Owunna’s work has also been featured in media ranging from the New York Times to CNN, NPR, VICE, and The Guardian. He has been commissioned for major public art installations by organizations including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Foundation, Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh, Pittsburgh International Airport, and Orange Barrel Media.

Nataša Prljevic

NATAŠA PRLJEVIĆ is an artist and cultural worker from Užice, Serbia based in Brooklyn, NY. Rooted in collage and assemblage practice, Prljević is committed to collaboration and collective work which center poetics and politics of conflict, diasporic intimacy, and art as a tool for rehearsal of transnational solidarity and imagination. In the past ten years Prljević worked and studied with art and cultural workers, educators, healers, activists, collectives, and organizations from all over the world. Prljević is one of the initiators of HEKLER, an artist-run platform and transnational collective that focuses on critical and experimental examination of hospitality and conflict.

Shelly Willis

Shelly Willis has more than three decades of experience planning, curating, and managing the production of hundreds of temporary and permanent artworks throughout the country.

As the Director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission’s Public Art Program from 2007-2017 she managed the City and County of Sacramento’s Art in Public Places Programs, including the $8 million dollar Sacramento International Airport and the $9.5 million Entertainment and Sports Complex public art programs. Willis came to Sacramento after six years of managing the University of Minnesota’s public art program where she also taught public art courses in the Departments of Urban Studies and Landscape Architecture.

As a private consultant since 2017 her clients have included, among others, the Cities of Sparks, Nevada, West Sacramento, San Leandro, Palo Alto, Elk Grove; the Port of Oakland and the County of Sacramento; artist’s Mildred Howard, Lava Thomas, and Janet Zweig; The McConnell Foundation, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the Rail Arts District in Napa; and Napa Redevelopment Partners, Fulcrum Properties, and Riverview Capital Investments.

Last year she curated and managed 18 temporary projects throughout the State of California, as part of the State’s “Your Actions Save Lives” campaign which was designed to keep Californian’s healthy during the pandemic.

Registration

Registration is $12 per review; limit two reviews per person.

This registration link will redirect you to Eventbrite where you will complete your registration.