This summer, the Bolinas Museum is inviting the ocean inside and hanging the impossible depths of the world’s waters on its walls for all to see.
In the museum’s main gallery is an exhibition entitled Hold Fast, which will be on display until the final day of summer on Sept. 21. This multi-artist group show features the works of Charlie Callahan, Kristiana Chan 莊礼恩, Tanja Geis and Aubrey Trinnaman, all of whom work to connect their art and its audience with the ocean’s vast expanses of water.
Hold Fast is the first showcase in an ongoing series centered around earth, wind, fire, water, consciousness, perception and emptiness—the current and upcoming exhibitions in this series explore and engage with these globally-recognized terrestrial and spiritual elements.
“The works presented in Hold Fast explore the material and emotional power of water and its fundamental role as both a nurturing, generative force and as an agent of destruction, growth and change,” said Jessica Shaefer, executive director of the Bolinas Museum. “Working across mediums, participating artists … invite the viewer to consider ideas around oceanic biodiversity, ecological stewardship, resource extraction and the potential for a deeper understanding of the ineluctable interdependence of human and nonhuman beings.”
“Each artist has a unique personal relationship with local coastal life,” Shaefer continued. “Charlie and Aubrey are both based in Bolinas, and their respective creative practices reflect their deep commitment to exploring marine ecology; Tanja holds a master’s in marine management along with a master’s in fine art, and her process begins with extensive research and time spent physically engaging with a place or species; and Kristiana’s work engages with the political, historical and environmental heritage of the landscape and its material elements.”
Trinnaman is a Bolinas local and multi-media artist; her work reflects her curiosity and a deep, abiding respect for the environment and its inhabitants (both human and non-human).
“My style/creative process always starts with a question and ends up with questions too,” she explained. “I really like to collaborate with the elements and other creatures I am sharing place with. Creating feels perfectly imperfect, intentional and open to dialoguing with the material and will of entities outside of myself.”
“I feel thrilled to share the Bolinas Museum space with artists I admire and the artists who have curated and set up this exhibition,” Trinnaman continued. “The collection of works and artists included in this exhibition embody a really nice conversation and balance. There seems to be an overarching thread of empathy, admiration and concern for biodiversity.”
Another local-to-Bolinas artist featured in the Hold Fast exhibition is Charlie Callahan, who reportedly came to Marin to be closer to the coast in a very on-brand move.
“My style as an artist has been informed from oceanic subjects that display circular fractals patterns, whether that happens to be in sculptures or paintings,” said Callahan. “I am also influenced by artists that play with illusion, surrealism and poetry.”
Tanja Geis takes a research-based approach to their artwork, combining real-life experience and hands-on interaction with the artistic subject matter and source of inspiration. This allows them to uncover patterns that emerge, retreat and transform endlessly in the natural world.
“I create immersive, site-responsive drawings, installations and sculptures that emerge from deep research and intimate encounters with edge ecosystems and species disrupted by human activity,” explained Geis. “My work explores how queering, drawing close to and engaging with the overlooked or intentionally obscured impacts of humans on the liveliness of non-humans might foster empathy and transform our perception of our place in, and responsibility toward, the ecological web. The unseen ocean and the coast as threshold consistently recur as potent spaces for this inquiry.”
The final artist showcased in the Bolinas Museum’s Hold Fast collection is Kristiana Chan, who describes herself as a materials-driven multimedia artist. Chan considers the ocean a huge source of creative inspiration.
“My work is largely inspired by the intertidal zone and trans Pacific coastal histories of ecology and migration—I’d describe my style as distinctly aquatic with a touch of sci-fi,” said Chan. “I’m thrilled to get to show alongside two of my favorite artists and water people, Shao-Feng and Tanja. I’ve always admired how their relationships to the sea are woven into their artistic practices, and it’s really fun for our work to be in conversation with each other.”
Also open until the final day of summer is the Bolinas Museum’s photography gallery, currently hosting a compelling show called From Below by Shao-Feng Hsu. From Below features two parallel bodies of work from Hsu, whose photography utilizes both analog and digital methodology to capture oceanic images and the emotions and experiences they evoke.
“I use photography to reflect on embodied experiences with aquatic environments, currently focusing on the California coastline,” said Hsu. “I really appreciated the [Bolinas Museum’s] proximity to water. I could smell the salt in the air—it’s the perfect setting for the work. Seeing people walk into the museum with sand in their flip-flops, wearing beach ponchos or wetsuits, gave me an immediate sense of ease and belonging. It’s a place where people maintain a close, intimate relationship with the water—a relationship shaped by familiarity and lived rhythm.”
The works featured at the Bolinas Museum this summer include a wide variety of mediums and artistic styles, including an immersive video installation, multi-media sculptures, intricate charcoal drawings and monoprint photographs. Just like the ocean itself, those who would venture into the depths of this collection are invited to delve as deeply into the exhibition as their heart desires.
Guests are invited to engage with the aesthetic beauty and wonder of the works like awestruck snorkelers in a great coral reef, if they wish. Or, for a more adventurous deep dive that explores the intersectional depths of artistry and oceanography, one can sink into each work as though embarking on a submarine expedition into the Mariana Trench of artistic interpretation.
“Hold Fast and From Below showcase a variety artistic practices that are deeply engaged with the natural world, and the works presented invite viewers to consider their own personal connections with the natural environment,” concluded Shaefer. “Art can be a powerful access point for delving into complex topics like ecological stewardship and ocean conservation, and can help cultivate a deeper understanding of and empathy with the more-than-human world, upon which we are so dependent for our own species’ ability to survive and thrive on this planet.”
The Bolinas Museum is open from 1 to 5pm on Fridays and from noon to 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Admission to the museum is always free. To learn more about the museum and its exhibitions, visit bolinasmuseum.org.
