Minoosh Zomorodinia on Drawing Inspiration from Nature, Ritual, and the Act of Walking

We’re still basking in the glow of our afternoon on July 18 with ✨ @minoosh_z ✨ It was a rare opportunity to step behind the scenes of Minoosh's practice and explore her unique approach to meaning-making. Drawing inspiration from nature, ritual, and the act of walking, she shared the roots of a practice she first developed in Iran through collaborations with artist collectives and personal rituals.

Here in the U.S., Minoosh continues to employ walking as a central way to examine history, place, and power. Her work asks: Who walked this land first? Who controls it? Who benefits, who has access—and who does not?

Using digital mapping technologies, Minoosh traces her movements and transforms those journeys into sculptural works that incorporate sound, video, and light. These layered works evoke histories of migration and colonialism while questioning ideas of ownership, identity, and the ways lived experience becomes embedded in the landscape.

Thank you to everyone who joined us to support Minoosh and build community. Your curiosity, generosity, and commitment to artists help sustain the vital role of arts and culture in the Bay Area. At a time when so many artists face the very real possibility of displacement, your presence reminds us that this community—and this work—matters.

Macro Waves -- Steadfast Re-Worlding

Thank you to all those who joined us for the @seedartistseries on April 25 to gather with Macro Waves to share in such a thoughtful, generous, and open exchange.
We are deeply grateful for the presence each of you brought into the space. Your generous energy, reflections, and willingness to engage helped shape the afternoon into something truly alive.

Together, we will explored their research and community-based creative practices, as exemplified in their project/exhibition 'Reworlding the Unimaginable.' In this work, they invite community members to collaborate on an interactive installation that weaves together technology’s ties to war, labor uprisings, technological change, and environmental climate crises—while highlighting tech justice activists and imagining pathways toward alternative futures and creative resistance.

We also want to extend our appreciation to the artists of @macro.waves for welcoming us into their studio and practice with such care and intention. Their work reminded us of the importance of collective imagination and the role that community—and our participation within it—plays in shaping more expansive futures.

Artist Heesoo Kwon on Family Archives, Inherited Objects, and the Creation of Nurturing Spaces

Thank you to everyone who joined us on November 8 at the East Side Arts Alliance Cultural Center @eastsidecultural to celebrate the work of artist Heesoo Kwon @leymusoom ! Heesoo’s conversation centered on Seven, Seven, Seven: Interwoven Memories—her residency project created in collaboration with Elena Serrano, co-founder of ESAA, and her daughter Ariana, honoring their family’s stories and legacy. Kwon shared about her vast and diverse art practice on family archives, inherited objects, and the creation of nurturing spaces. Kwon also presented on her past and ongoing works in which she crafts immersive digital worlds that reimagine matrilineal histories and queer the structures of familial relationships. Within these digital ethers, the artist conjures feminist utopia—realms of healing and liberation from the personal, familial, and ancestral wounds etched by centuries of inscribed patriarchy. We hope you found moments of meaningful connection—with the artist, the work, and one another. The afternoon felt deeply nourishing and re-energizing for us. Heartfelt thanks to Heesoo, Roberto Martinez (Program Director at EastSide Arts), and to all who came out to support and uplift these vital stories.

Artist Name Brown on Visions of Future Potentiality

A huge thank you to artist Name Brown @nyamebrown for opening up his studio to @seedartistseries on Saturday, August 23! Brown pursues complex themes through serial bodies of work and draws on a rich legacy of diasporic cultural practices and symbols. His Afrosurreal discourses build worlds where allegory and historical events interact with visions of future potentiality, resulting in paintings that articulate contemporary Black mythologies. We are beyond grateful to Nyame for opening up his studio for this rich mining of stories and exchange of ideas.

Good vibes, great people, & amazing art! Was a visit that lingered long after we said our goodbyes.

Art and Community with Juan Carlos Quintana

Bathed in sunshine in San Leandro, CA, Juan Carlos Quintana welcomed the SEE(d) Creative Network into his backyard studio in June 2025 to mingle, enjoy summer-inspired bites and wines, and, most importantly, dive into conversation about his in-depth art practice.

Quintana’s work layers sharp visual commentary, satirical edge, and multi-layered techniques. From large-scale paintings confronting Louisiana’s legacy of plantations and petrochemical industries, to boxed monotype sets, homages to Cuban artists, and intricate collages, his practice feels both urgent and alive. SEE(d) was honored to gather in community—witnessing, sharing stories, and appreciating what Juan Carlos’ art does best: communicate with vibrant intention and integrity.

email: director@seedartistseries if something catches your eye!

An exquisite gathering at Renée Gertler's Studio

For those who joined @seedartistseries studio visit with Bay Area artist Renée Gertler @renee_gertler — the word of the day was exquisite! Renée shared her conceptual ideas and working processes around her labor intensive drawings and sculptures amidst a community of supporters and art enthusiasts. Gertler’s sculptures employ papier-mâché, minerals, crystals, beadwork, and textile techniques that she learned from her mother. She regards the sculptures as feminine abstractions–their shapes and contours reference the female form in mysterious, non-literal ways. Gertler’s drawings engage with concepts, memories, and sensibilities regarding logic and intuition, as expressed through number patterns, colored pencils, and airbrush techniques. The drawings use an optimistic pastel and technicolor palette popular of the cultural landscape of 1980s Los Angeles.

Renée also shared her love of collecting and her own rituals of daily practice. Together, we discussed how artists create physical objects that can inhabit very deep, metaphysical ideas. The generative sharing felt important and relevant to our current times. We are so grateful to Renée for opening her studio to us, and to the collectors and supporters who joined in the spirit of belonging. Many artworks are available, so please email us if something catches your eye! director@seedartistseries.com

SEE(d) Artist Series with Shirin Towfiq at Clio's

It was a deeply meaningful @seedartistseries program with artist Sharon Towfiq on December 7, 2024! Artist @shirintowfiq shared her fascinating, multi-layered creative process, while cultural anthropologist Cari Borja @drcariborja led a thoughtful Q&A in the very cool back room at Clio’s. Shirin spoke about her family’s history—being from Iran but unable to return—and how immigrant families persevere and adapt. She explored how she is reclaiming her cultural heritage, navigating layers of loss, grief, absence, storytelling, reverence, identity, and the search for home. The conversation also touched on how symbols like magic carpets and gold thread serve as metaphors for time travel, connecting to both the past and future. Shirin shared how discovering a long-lost family archive offered new context for understanding her parents’ and grandparents’ lives in Iran—hugely inspirational material for her current work. Huge thanks to Clio’s Oakland for co-hosting the event with us! And for so many of you who came out to support!!✨✨

SEE(d) at 500 Capp Street with yétúndé olágbajú

Thanks to all who joined us on Saturday September 14th @500cappstreet to explore and learn about artist yétúndé olágbajú's work and collaborative practices.

A special shout-out goes to yétúndé olágbajú who traveled from Los Angeles and put great care into their presentation. We loved their focus on collaboration, learning/unlearning, care, improvisation, play, and honoring ancestors. This approach enriched our discussions about their various bodies of work and their perspectives on lineage—collecting, distilling, liberating (as seen in the ‘Mammy’ series), as well as photographing family memories, performance, braiding and creating rituals. We also appreciated their exploration of home and Sankofa, which in Ghanaian poetry signifies the importance of revisiting the past to gain knowledge and hold onto it. In the case of yétúndé, they don't hold it, but rather, share that knowledge with others.

We are grateful for the generous support of Gui, Alex, and Lian at 500 Capp who welcomed us so graciously into the historic space.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 9th, for yétúndé’s celebration and culminating exhibition of their year-long residency, ‘a spiral fuels and fills,’ also at 500 Capp Street in San Francisco.

Artist Lisa Blatt Pushes the Boundaries of Perception

It was another dreamy SEE(d) studio visit—this time with artist, Lisa Blatt (@lisa_blatt) in the Minnesota Street Projects Studios in winter, 2024. Blatt shared her fascinating artistic practice that explores the complexity of creating landscape images that push the boundaries of perception. Using a traditional 4 x 5 camera (now digital), a tripod and herself, the artist’s project involves travel (mostly solo and often with scientists) to extreme climate locations — White Sands, New Mexico, Iceland, Antarctica, the driest desert, the deepest lake in the Andes, among many others. The images that result are exquisite interpretations of what the land has to say.

Our deepest gratitude to Lisa for opening her studio and sharing her daring and courageous process that often yields surprising results — ‘The Corruption Series’ comes to mind. The artist’s more recent heatscapes use infrared technology to document sites where troubling events have occurred. She contemplates what stories do these sites tell?