C.V.

Click here to download C.V.

 

ELISSA CALLEN

Born in Los Angeles, CA
Lives and works in Oakland, CA

EDUCATION

(current graduate student)
2025-2027 Environmental Art and Social Practice MFA, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
2016 BFA California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

EXHIBITIONS

solo
2016
Holding Back & Letting Go, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

group
2021 
Trueque, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
2017
Trueque, Central Cultural del ISSSTE, Guanajuato, Go., Mexico
2016
Senior Painting Exhibition, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2015
Honeycomb, California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA
Resonant Conversations, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Open House, New York Studio Class, AICAD NYSRP Studios, Brooklyn, NY
Painting Expelled, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Contagious, California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA
2014
The 62nd Annual Visual Arts Scholarship Exhibition, Boone Family Art Gallery, Pasadena, CA

RESIDENCIES

2020
Biohue Residency, Placerville, CA
2017
Aguas Migrants Art Residency, Guanajuato, GTO, Mexico
2015
New York Studio Class, AICAD Residency, Brooklyn, NY

AWARDS

CNPS Workshop Scholarship (Vegetation Rapid Assessment/Relevé Certification)
Graduate Student Irwin Fellowship (Spring)
Graduate Student Irwin Fellowship (Winter)
UCSC Dean’s Travel Grant
Graduate Student Irwin Fellowship (Fall)
ARI Graduate Fellows Program
GANAS Doctoral Summer Bridge Award
GANAS Doctoral Summer Bridge Fellowship
California Invasive Plant Council Symposium Scholarship
California Native Plant Society Conference Scholarship
East Bay Relief Fund, Center for Cultural Innovation
Artist Power Convenings, Artist Power Center, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Ted Doyle Scholarship
Faculty Honors Scholarship
Westerbeck Arts Scholarship
William B. Memorial Scholarship Award

SELECT TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2025- present
Teaching Assistant, UC Santa Cruz
Art 10D: 2D Foundation
Art 10E: 3D Foundation
Art 10F: 4D Foundation

Guest Speaker
2024
Invasive pigments as a catalyst for environmental engagement. 2024 Cal-IPC Symposium, California Invasive Plant Council, Online
Plant Pigments as Environmental Stewardship. Friends of San Pedro Valley Park, Online
2023
Natural Pigments from CA Fungi. McCloud Fungi Fair, McCloud Chamber of Commerce, McCloud, CA

Guest Lecturer
2026
Stories of Past and Present: Local Natural Colorants. Sam Mihara Day of Justice, Lick-Wilmering High School, San Francisco, CA
2025
Unconventional Conventional Materials. Art 8-Intro to Visual Thinking, Prof. Asma Kazmi and TA Eleni Berg, Art Dept, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
2023
CA Bay Area Invasive Inks. Art 141-EcoArt Matters: Environmental and Social Justice Art, Art Dept, Laney College, Oakland, CA

Instructor
2025
Rematriation of Art and Natural Color, Alliance for Felix Cove, “Tamal Liwa” Point Reyes National Seashore, CA (4-part series)
Colors That Follow: Fungi Pigments of Respected Native Landscapes, Los Angeles Mycological Society, Los Angeles, CA
An Ecological Dip into Fungi Dyes of Catalina Island, Catalina Island Conservancy, Catalina Island, CA
Natural Art Materials: Dyes, Paints, Printmaking, and More with Plant-based Color, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2024
Edible Plant Pigments, Junior Center of Art and Science, Oakland, CA
Natural Art Materials: Making Pastels, Inks, and Printmaking with Plant-based Color, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Fungi Inks & Pigments, Los Angeles Mycological Society, Los Angeles, CA
Mushroom Inks & Pigments, Sonoma County Mycological Association, Occidental, CA
2023
Making Inks & Pigments with California Fungi, Fiber Circle Studio, Petaluma, CA
Fungi Pigments, MSSF Mendocino Woodlands Camp, Mendocino, CA
Invasive Inks: Autumnal Bay Area Invasive Plants, Fibershed, Point Reyes, CA
Beautiful Weeds: Making Ink at Albany Bulb, Love the Bulb, Albany, CA
Drawing Fungi: Scientific Illustration, Los Angeles Mycological Society, Los Angeles, CA
Making Inks & Pigments from CA Fungi, Los Angeles Mycological Society, Los Angeles, CA
California Invasive Plant Inks, Theodore Payne Foundation, Sun Valley, CA
Exploring Northern CA Fungi for Natural Dyes, Warner Mountain Weavers, Cedarville, CA
CA Invasive Plants of Spring for Making Inks & Pigments, Point Reyes National Seashore
Association, Point Reyes National Seashore, CA
Making Inks Using CA Invasive Plants, Save the Bay, Oakland, CA
Making Pigments from Fungi, Mycological Society of SF 50th Anniversary Fungi Fair
Natural Dyes + Inks with California Fungi, SOMA Wild Mushroom Camp, Occidental, CA
2022
Indigenous Los Angeles and Native Plants, New Roads School, Los Angeles, CA

OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

SUSTAINABLE ARTS EDUCATION

2023
Papermaking from Scratch with Local Plants, Jane Ingram Allen, Fibershed, Point Reyes, CA
Teaching assistant, Mushroom Dyes of the Northern California Fungal Fibershed, Alissa Allen, Fibershed, Point Reyes, CA 
2022
Teaching assistant, Indigo Extraction Process—from leaf to pigment, Judi Pettite, Fibershed, Point Reyes, CA
Teaching assistant, Art and the Landscape: Colors of the NorCal Fibershed, Judi Pettite, Fibershed, Point Reyes, CA
Cochineal dyeing in the Zapotec tradition, Porfirio Gutiérrez, Fibershed, Point Reyes, CA
Lake Pigments, Natalie Stopka, Textile Art Center, Online
In Living Color: Pigments of the Past, Present, and Future, Julia Norton, NYC Crit Club, Online
Making Lake Pigments with Wild Plants, Karla Claudio-Betancourt, Herban Cura, Online
Mycopigments: An Exploration of Coastal Colors from Fungi, Alissa Allen, Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
2020
Making Paints, Inks & Stains using Indigo, Judi Pettite, Fibershed, Online
Ink-making and Foraging, Jason Logan, Albany Bulb, Albany, CA
2019
Botanical Inks and Lake Pigments, Judi Pettite, Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm, Santa Rosa, CA
Handmaking Botanical Watercolors, Judi Pettite, Tilden Regional Botanic Garden, Berkeley, CA
2018
Ochre Mineral Pigment Foraging, Heidi Gustafson, Oakland, CA
Botanical Inks, Babs Behan, UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, Berkeley, CA
2016
Modern Textile Design with California Native Plant Dyes, Sasha Duerr, Tilden Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Berkeley, CA

ECOLOGY & SCIENCE EDUCATION

2026
CNPS Vegetation Rapid Assessment/Relevé Certification Workshop May 19-21, 2026, Hastings Natural History Reserve, Carmel Valley, CA
California Native Plant Society Conference Feb 4-7, 2026, California Native Plant Society, UC Riverside, Riverside, CA
2025
Cal-IPC Symposium Nov. 9-11, 2025, California Invasive Plant Council, Ventura, CA
2024
Cal-IPC Symposium Oct. 23-25, 2024, California Invasive Plant Council, Online
Introduction to Ecology, Prof. Joseph Cannon, Spring 2022, City College of San Francisco, Online
Microscopy for Mycology, Dr. Brian Perry and Michael Wood, Workshop Jan. 2024, Sonoma County Mycological Association, Occidental, CA
2023
Mushrooms of the Cascadia, Noah Siegel and Christian Schwarz, 5-course webinar Nov-Dec 2023 , Backcountry Press, Online
Scholarship attendee, Cal-IPC Symposium Oct. 25-28, 2023, Chico State University, Chico, CA
Volunteer Field Assistant, Arctostaphylos manzanita ssp. laevigata DNA collection in Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve, CA Sep. 2023 with Morgan Stickrod, Lead Botanist, Sol Ecology
Volunteer Field Assistant, Arctostaphylos × benitoensis DNA collection in San Benito Mountains, CA Sep. 2023 with Morgan Stickrod, Lead Botanist, Sol Ecology
Volunteer Field Assistant, Rare plant seed collection for Cirsium hydrophilum var. hydrophilum  in Suisun Marsh, CA Aug. 2023 with Morgan Stickrod, Grad Research Botanist, SF State
2022
Scholarship attendee, California Native Plant Society Conference Oct. 20-22, 2022, San Jose, CA
Language of Restoration, B Teng, J. Lie, M. Anthonisen, and R. Binaoro (Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy), Workshop Oct. 19, 2022, California Native Plant Society, San Jose, CA
Introduction to Landscape Horticulture, Laura Forlin, Spring 2022, Merritt College, Oakland, CA
Form and Composition in Landscape Design, Christopher Grampp, Spring 2022, Merritt College, Oakland, CA

 

CV_ELISSA CALLEN (May 2026)