ELISSA CALLEN
Born in Los Angeles, CA
Lives and works in Oakland, CA
EDUCATION
2016 BFA California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016
Holding Back & Letting Go, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
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
2023
California Invasive Plant Council Symposium Scholarship
2022
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
2015
Ted Doyle Scholarship
2014
Faculty Honors Scholarship
Westerbeck Arts Scholarship
William B. Memorial Scholarship Award
SELECT TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2024
Guest Speaker, 2024 Cal-IPC Symposium, California Invasive Plant Council, Online (forthcoming)
Instructor, Natural Art Materials: Natural Art Materials: Plant-based Dyes, Inks, Pastels, and Printmaking, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA (forthcoming)
Instructor, Edible Plant Pigments, Junior Center of Art and Science, Oakland, CA
Guest Lecturer, Plant Pigments as Environmental Stewardship, Friends of San Pedro Valley Park, Online
Instructor, Natural Art Materials: Making Pastels, Inks, and Printmaking with Plant-based Color, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Instructor, Fungi Inks & Pigments, Los Angeles Mycological Society, Los Angeles, CA
Instructor, Making Fungi Inks & Pigments, SOMA Camp, Sonoma County Mycological Society, Occidental, CA
2023
Instructor, Making Inks & Pigments with California Fungi, Fiber Circle Studio, Petaluma, CA
Instructor, Fungi Pigments, MSSF Mendocino Woodlands Camp, Mendocino, CA
Guest Lecturer, CA Bay Area Invasive Inks, EcoArt Matters: Environmental and Social Justice Art, Laney College, Oakland, CA
Instructor, Invasive Inks: Autumnal Bay Area Invasive Plants, Fibershed, Point Reyes, CA
Instructor, Beautiful Weeds: Making Ink at Albany Bulb, Love the Bulb, Albany, CA
Instructor, Local Plant & Fungi Inks and Pigments, Cat + Raven, Thousand Oaks, CA
Instructor, Drawing Fungi: Scientific Illustration, Los Angeles Mycological Society, Los Angeles, CA
Instructor, Making Inks & Pigments from CA Fungi, Los Angeles Mycological Society, Los Angeles,CA
Instructor, Invasive Inks: Making Natural Inks and Pigments, Theodore Payne Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Instructor, Natural Pigments from California Fungi, McCloud Fungi Fair, McCloud, CA
Instructor, Exploring Northern California Fungi for Natural Dyes, Warner Mountain Weavers, Cedarville, CA
Instructor, CA Invasive Plants of Spring for Making Inks & Pigments, Point Reyes National Seashore, CA
Instructor, Making Inks Using CA Invasive Plants, Save the Bay, Oakland, CA
Instructor, Making Pigments from Fungi, Mycological Society of SF 50th Anniversary Fungi Fair
Instructor, Natural Dyes + Inks with California Fungi, SOMA Camp, Sonoma County Mycological Society, Occidental, CA
2022
Instructor, Indigenous Los Angeles and Native Plants, New Roads School, Los Angeles, CA
OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
2024-Present
Learning Center Education Coordinator, Fibershed
2017-Present
Natural Pigment Maker and Dyer, Freelance
2020-Present
Landscape Designer, Freelance
2017-Present
Horticulturist, Freelance
2022-2023
Founder, Executive Director, Mxt Collective Arts Collective for Creatives of Multicultural Ties
2022-2023
Botanical Pigment Maker, Fibershed
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
2024
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