Melt Installation – Nancy Brown

Reception/First Tuesday ArtWalk:
* October 3, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Exhibition Dates:
* October 3 – 31

On the heels of our amazing Artists in Residence, we have Nancy Brown’s installation MELT just above the parking area.

Artist Statement: MELT
What comes to mind when you think of snow and ice? Skiing in the Sierra Nevada? Glaciers calving in Alaskan waters? Polar bears lumbering across the polar ice caps? All of these things are at risk as we confront the risks of global warming.

Conceived during the snowiest winter on record in the Sierra Nevada, MELT was born during the hottest summer recorded on Earth. Record snow fall and a cool spring left California’s drought-dry reservoirs nearly filled to capacity. Next year? Who knows. Meanwhile, glaciers worldwide are disappearing and polar ice is shrinking.

Set on a hillside, MELT is comprised of a cascade of white marker flags that melt into a sea of blue flags, a reminder of what we can expect as our climate, locally and globally, is transformed.

Nancy Brown’s art practice is an investigation of how time and context transform matter and meaning. Using found, recycled, and re-purposed materials, she combines and arranges them to uncover unexpected relationships, often producing slyly humorous or uncanny results.

Nancy’s work has appeared in venues throughout North America, including MarinMOCA, Site:Brooklyn, and ART Santa Fe, where she was a 2019 Award Winner. In 2021, she was awarded a grant by the City of San Leandro for a site-specific outdoor installation of utility marker flags.

Nancy is a member of the Alameda County Arts Commission’s Artist Registry, and a regular contributor to benefit art auctions, including Root Division, San Francisco; Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara; and SomArts, San Francisco. She lives and works in San Leandro, California.