Lobot Gallery and Artist Collective

From 2014-2016, I was part of a coordinating collective that ran Lobot Gallery in Oakland until it succumbed to gentrification in 2016. We managed 24 artist studios, a print shop, a wood shop, a music studio and a large gallery space that hosted everything from noise shows to art installations to clothing swaps to Seder dinners.

Shepherding a live/work artist collective demands unsexy things like spreadsheets, listservs, phone calls, leases, and meeting facilitation under fluorescent lights. In addition, I helped organize events; facilitated art builds; interviewed applicants; updated web pages; cared for an elderly warehouse cat; built and painted walls; stuffed several tons of trash into dumpsters; made peace with neighbors; and fixed washing machines. Sadly these kinds of underground and non-commercial spaces are increasingly difficult to sustain in the Bay Area.