lives in Los Angeles
For more information or to see images of other projects, please contact me at:
smcmenimen@gmail.com
Education
2014 University of California, Los Angeles, MFA in New Genres
2010 Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME
2008 BFA with High Distinction, Photography, California College of the Arts,
Oakland, CA
2002 University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
Solo and Two Person Exhibitions
2018 Garden, Forthcoming
2016 Lock-Up International, Istanbul, Turkey
Digestion Songs, Species, Atlanta, GA
2015 Plots, Cudayh, Los Angeles, CA
2014 Utopian Doghouse, Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles, CA
2013 Any Peak Will Do, Important Projects, Oakland, CA
2010 Prehistoric Future, Sight School, Oakland, CA
2008 Garwood, Queens Nails Annex, San Francisco, CA
Group Exhibitions
2018 Ecoshamanism, Leroy's, Los Angeles, CA
Challenger Deep, Garden, Los Angeles, CA
2017 CD SM KSS, Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
Sea Sick In Paradise, Depart Foundation, Malibu, CA
Overview, Samuel, Chicago, IL
The Butter Box, Falcon's Nest, Los Angeles, CA
Valegro, Mills College, Oakland, CA
2016 Summer Sculpture Show, NowSpace, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Sara Two, Hester, New York, NY
Damaged, Broken and Rejected, The Dump, Los Angeles, CA
2014 Slick Livin’, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
Women in Photography, Contact, Los Angeles, CA
Women in Photography, Photo LA, Los Angeles, CA
2012 Friends of Barry, Paule Anglim Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011 An Exchange with Sol Le Witt, Mass Moca, North Adams, MA Material Matters,
As Is Exhibitions, Oakland, CA
2010 There’s a Way in Which..., Playspace Gallery, San Francisco, CA
SK10, Tompkins Projects, Brooklyn, NY
2009 Task Curated by Oliver Herring, Folsom Projects, San Francisco, CA
One to Many, Partisan Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Residencies and Awards
Shandaken Residency 2016
Resnick Scholarship 2014
Collections
Whitney Museum of American Art Library
Harold Kaula, Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner
Press
2017 On Art and Surfing, http://www.flashartonline.com/2017/07/on-art-and-surfing-malibu/
2016 http://artforum.com/words/id=62945
Bibliography
2018 Human to Animal Communication Technology, Forthcoming
2015 My Life as a Man, White Horse Press
My artistic goals are to be in active dialogue with interspecies communication, material experimentation, and theory behind new definitions of ecology. My practice is informed by multiple modes of research. One is a traditional studio practice, where I make sculpture and video primarily involving formal decision making.
An applied form of my practice in the world is working as animal trainer. Through that work I am able to practically observe and learn about everyday animal to human communication and advancements within the field. Both my studio practice and my work as an animal trainer are informed by literature about the ecological, botany, anatomy and anthropology.
I consider my research and practice to be a form of embodied knowledge. Combined, material experimentation, animal training and engagement with the natural sciences allow me to learn what it means to grapple with materials and process rather than use just them as aesthetic symbols.