• Arts
  • Creative Work Fund

Sue Mark of marksearch is collaborating with Advaita Society (Kala Art Institute) and the Golden Gate Branch of the Oakland Public Library on Commons Archive – reflecting an East Bay neighborhood in transition. The project invites community members to contribute and annotate materials that illustrate neighborhood history. This project builds on Mark’s 2013 relationship with Kala and the Golden Gate Library, when, through Kala’s Print Public program, she began amassing a collection of neighborhood materials and interviews. Now she and Kala will develop a neighborhood Archive Council to expand, shape, and sustain the project. Mark will create a mobile unit to foster further participation; and, with the Council’s guidance, organize community-led workshops. Installations of collected materials at the library will include projections onto its exterior. Further plans involve creating a lending process for archival materials, an online project site, and a structure for the archive’s long-term development. Sue Mark engages people in collaborative expressions of local history as a way to deepen bonds between people and their environments. Kala Art Institute is a community art-making hub and residency program offering professional facilities across print and digital media. It helps artists sustain their creative work and engages the community through exhibitions, public programs, and education.