Recology : The Art of Recycling Exhibition Talk

Join KALW to experience a special viewing and exhibition talk for Recology: The Art of Recycling, selections from Recology's Artist in Residence Program. Join artists Jane Kim and Kara Maria for a conversation with Deborah Munk, manager of the Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence (AIR) program at KALW's live event studio at 220 Montgomery. Come early to view works by Kim, Maria, and several other visual artists currently on view in the Mills Building and stay for a lively, climate week discussion. It's all part of KALW Earth Month, live at 220 Montgomery.

For 35 years, the Recology Artist in Residence Program has supported Bay Area artists. As part of the Sustainability Education Program, the four-month residency provides a rich and immersive environment for artists to develop their practice while deeply engaging with sustainability and community outreach.

​Since 1990, over 190 professional artists and 60 student artists from local universities and colleges have completed residencies. These emerging, mid-career, and established artists have worked across disciplines to explore themes of waste, resourcefulness, and ecological responsibility.

Deborah Munk is the Manager of the Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence (AIR) Program where she has worked with hundreds of artists and community members on projects ranging from performance to new media both at Recology and at various off-site venues and spaces. She has implemented AIR Programs at Recology facilities across the western region including in Portland and Astoria, OR and Seattle, WA, and continues to be involved with their growth.

Deborah also manages the Environmental Learning Center and Educational Tour Program providing tours to over 4,000 children and adults annually who learn about the importance of resource conservation.

Prior to joining the Recology AIR team, Deborah was the assistant editor of Art/Women/California 1950-2000: Parallels and Intersections, published by UC Press. She is a graduate of San Francisco State University and holds an MA in Education focusing on art and media.

Jane Kim is a visual artist, science illustrator, and the founder of InkDwell, a studio that explores the wonders of the natural world. Her art career started when she was a little girl obsessively painting flowers and bears on the walls of her bedroom. She received more formal training at Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Printmaking and then Cal State Monterey Bay, where she received a master’s certificate in science illustration. She has created large-scale public art across the country, including the Wall of Birds at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and produced works for the National Aquarium, the de Young Museum, Monterey Museum of Art, and more. She is the creator of the Migrating Mural campaign, a series of public installations that highlight wildlife along migration corridors it shares with people. She still enjoys painting flowers and bears, though nowadays she doesn’t get in trouble for painting on the walls.

Kara Maria is a visual artist working in painting and mixed media. Her recent work reflects on Earth’s biodiversity crisis and the role of animals in our increasingly unstable environment. Borrowing from the broad vocabulary of contemporary painting, Maria blends geometric shapes, vivid hues, and abstract marks with representational elements.

Maria received her BA and MFA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has exhibited her work in solo and group shows throughout the United States at venues including the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University, CA; the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA; the Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV; the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX; and the Katonah Museum of Art in New York.

Maria’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; the San Jose Museum of Art; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others. A native of Binghamton, New York, Kara Maria now lives and works in San Francisco, California.

There is a $10 - $20 sliding scale suggested donation for this event. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds.

Please become a KALW member today and receive your first drink on us at all 220 Montgomery events.

📍 220 Montgomery St., San Francisco, 2 blocks from BART/MUNI
🚪 Reception doors open at 5:00
🗣️ Program begins at 6:00
🆓 The event is free with an RSVP — and you are welcome to donate what you want

Please note:

• The event space is just to the left of the main entrance to the Mills Building at 220 Montgomery Street
• We recommend taking BART/MUNI, exiting at Montgomery, and walking two blocks north
• Ride-shares can drop off and pick up directly in front of the venue
• If you drive, there are several garages within two blocks of the event location

Host or Publisher KALW Public Media