liz harvey
Liz Harvey and Kim Ip’s collaborative project, “Queer Ecologies: Stitching to a New Sparkle.” brings performance and sculpture into community spaces. Sitting at the intersection of dance, sculpture and textile art, the project explores the act of “queering” to engage with the plant world in a holistic and transformative way, exploding binaries such as human/not-human and natural/unnatural, and envisioning a future in which plants and humans have a highly celebrated connection. This interdisciplinary project weaves together references to time travel, human-plant relationships, and LGBTQ+ and Asian American and Asian-immigrant perspectives.
Above: Queer Ecologies: Stitching to a New Sparkle performance, 2022; collaboration with choreographer Kim Ip in partnership with Oakland Asian Cultural Center. Photo credit: Karen Goldman.
Queer Ecologies: Stitching to a New Sparkle
CV
Residencies, Grants and Awards
2023 In Cahoots Residency, Petaluma, CA
2022 California Relief Fund for Artists and Cultural Practioners
2021 Creative Capacity Quick Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, San Francisco, CA
2020 Creative Capacity Quick Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, San Francisco, CA
2018 Intersection for the Arts, Salesforce Park, Artist-in-Residence, San Francisco, CA
San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, Artist-in-Residence, San Jose, CA
2017 ICB Studios, Artist-in-Residence, Sausalito, CA
2016 deYoung Museum, Artist-in-Residence, San Francisco, CA
2015 Kala Art Institute, Artist-in-Residence, Berkeley, CA
Bay Area Discovery Museum, Artist-in-Residence, Sausalito, CA
2011 Creative Capacity Quick Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, San Francisco, CA
2010 Montalvo Arts Center, Irvine Fellowship, Artist-in-Residence, Saratoga, CA
2006 Peninsula Artists Fund, Peninsula Community Foundation, San Mateo, CA
2000 Dorland Artists Colony, Artist-in-Residence, Temecula, CA
1999 City of Los Angeles Artist-in-Residence Regional Arts Grant, Los Angeles, CA
1999 California Arts Council Artist-in-Communities, Boys and Girls Clubs, Long Beach, CA
1998 California Arts Council Artist Fellowship, Sculpture
1998 California Arts Council Artist-in-Communities, Boys and Girls Clubs, Long Beach, CA
1997 Side Street Projects, Artist-in-Residence, Santa Monica, CA
1996 California Arts Council Artist-in-Communities, Boys and Girls Clubs, Long Beach, CA
1992 L.A. Arts Recovery Fund Residency, Cultural Affairs Department, Los Angeles, CA
Solo and Two-person Exhibitions
2025 Liz Harvey / Strange Plants, City College of San Francisco Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023 Liz Harvey / the lost ones: iterations and murmurs, New Museum of Los Gatos, Los
Gatos, CA
Liz Harvey / the lost ones: iterations and murmurs, San Francisco School of Needlework
and Design, San Francisco
2022 Leeza Doreian and Liz Harvey: Material Conditional, Round Weather Gallery, Oakland,
CA (two person exhibition)
2019 Kairos, Plan-d Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 New Work, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA
2016 golden, Artist Studio, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
2015 leaf-secrets, Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito, CA
2013 SITE; Spring, Presidio, San Francisco, CA
2007 Fictions, Foothill College, Los Altos, CA
2006 Trying To Remember, Werby Gallery, California State University, Long Beach, CA (MFA
exhibition)
2005 Spread, Matrushka, Los Angeles, CA
2003 shy lemons greens cool chocolates, Greenleaf Gallery, Whittier College, CA
1999 Panabnorama, Edward Giardina Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
1997 Outerwear, Plastica, Los Angeles, CA
Selected Collaborative Performances
2023 Collaborative performance with Kim Ip: Queer Ecologies: Stitching to a New
Sparkle, San Jose, CA; partnership with San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
Sparkle, San Jose, CA; partnership with San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
2022 Collaborative performance with Kim Ip: Queer Ecologies: Stitching to a New
Sparkle, Oakland, CA; Lincoln Summer Nights, Lincoln Square Park
2019 the lost ones performance, Plan-d Gallery and the Los Angeles River, Los Angeles, CA
the lost ones performance, Yerba Buena Night, Jessie Square, San Francisco, CA
2018 the lost ones performance, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA
the lost ones: bodies of knowledge performance, Salesforce Park, San Francisco, CA
Field Work performances, Salesforce Park, San Francisco, CA
2017 the lost ones performance, Mono Marsh, Galilee Harbor, ICB Studios, Sausalito, CA
the lost ones performance, Ploughshares Nursery, Alameda Point Collaborative,
Alameda, CA
the lost ones performance, Yerba Buena Night, Jessie Square, San Francisco, CA
2016 the lost ones performance, deYoung Museum, San Francisco
Head Trip, performance, deYoung Museum, San Francisco
the lost ones performance, Artemis Gallery, San Francisco
the lost ones performance, ProArts Alley, ProArts Gallery, Jack London Friday Market,
Oakland
the lost ones performance, Artists Live Here, ProArts Gallery, Frank Ogawa Plaza,
Oakland
the lost ones performance, Filoli Estate and Gardens, Woodside, CA
2015 the lost ones performance, Yerba Buena Night, San Francisco, CA
2013 Line Chance Dance, performance, Armory Show & Tell, Armory Center for the Arts,
Pasadena, CA
2012 venus, zippers, zippers, lipstick; performance, International Home Performance Festival,
Oakland, CA
2010 Gulliver, performance, Final Fridays featured performance, Montalvo Art Center,
Saratoga, CA
2001 Wanderer, performance, during Trail Markers performance festival, Pasadena, CA
The Unquiet Grave, performance, Flop House performance series, CrazySpace, Santa
Monica, CA
1997 Thirsty? Performance at the L.A. River Festival, Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco Dyke Visibility Project, 1997: public art collaboration with San Francisco Dyke March activists and Moonlight Designs; San Francisco & Los Angeles, CA
Eye Spy L.A., Getty Education Institute, Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA, Kids Congress on Art, collaborative photo-based installation with middle school students
Art on the Bus, Long Beach Transit & Boys and Girls Clubs of Long Beach, CA
collaborative bus posters with children’s poetry, photography and drawing on 200 Long Beach Transit
1994 Post/Voice, Fairfax High School, Los Angeles, CA; public art collaboration with Los Angeles high school students
Sparkle, Oakland, CA; Lincoln Summer Nights, Lincoln Square Park
2019 the lost ones performance, Plan-d Gallery and the Los Angeles River, Los Angeles, CA
the lost ones performance, Yerba Buena Night, Jessie Square, San Francisco, CA
2018 the lost ones performance, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA
the lost ones: bodies of knowledge performance, Salesforce Park, San Francisco, CA
Field Work performances, Salesforce Park, San Francisco, CA
2017 the lost ones performance, Mono Marsh, Galilee Harbor, ICB Studios, Sausalito, CA
the lost ones performance, Ploughshares Nursery, Alameda Point Collaborative,
Alameda, CA
the lost ones performance, Yerba Buena Night, Jessie Square, San Francisco, CA
2016 the lost ones performance, deYoung Museum, San Francisco
Head Trip, performance, deYoung Museum, San Francisco
the lost ones performance, Artemis Gallery, San Francisco
the lost ones performance, ProArts Alley, ProArts Gallery, Jack London Friday Market,
Oakland
the lost ones performance, Artists Live Here, ProArts Gallery, Frank Ogawa Plaza,
Oakland
the lost ones performance, Filoli Estate and Gardens, Woodside, CA
2015 the lost ones performance, Yerba Buena Night, San Francisco, CA
2013 Line Chance Dance, performance, Armory Show & Tell, Armory Center for the Arts,
Pasadena, CA
2012 venus, zippers, zippers, lipstick; performance, International Home Performance Festival,
Oakland, CA
2010 Gulliver, performance, Final Fridays featured performance, Montalvo Art Center,
Saratoga, CA
2001 Wanderer, performance, during Trail Markers performance festival, Pasadena, CA
The Unquiet Grave, performance, Flop House performance series, CrazySpace, Santa
Monica, CA
1997 Thirsty? Performance at the L.A. River Festival, Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco Dyke Visibility Project, 1997: public art collaboration with San Francisco Dyke March activists and Moonlight Designs; San Francisco & Los Angeles, CA
Eye Spy L.A., Getty Education Institute, Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA, Kids Congress on Art, collaborative photo-based installation with middle school students
Art on the Bus, Long Beach Transit & Boys and Girls Clubs of Long Beach, CA
collaborative bus posters with children’s poetry, photography and drawing on 200 Long Beach Transit
1994 Post/Voice, Fairfax High School, Los Angeles, CA; public art collaboration with Los Angeles high school students
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Stitched: Contemporary Embroidery, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
2024 Size is Relative, Matrushka Construction, Los Angeles, CA
Love Lab, Junior Center for Art and Science, Oakland, CA
2023 Fight and Flight: Crafting a Bay Area Life, Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco,
Love Lab, Junior Center for Art and Science, Oakland, CA
2023 Fight and Flight: Crafting a Bay Area Life, Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco,
CA
AMEND, Rock Paper Scissors Collective, Oakland, CA (organized by Mending Collective)
2022 45th Anniversay Exhibition, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
2021 Terrain Biennial, Alameda, CA
2020 Spinning Yarns, ACCI Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2017 Detritus, ICA San Jose, CA
2016 Conceptual Craft, Artemis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Confluence, Bellwether Sculpture Exhibition, City of Bellevue, WA
2015 Odyssey, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
2011 Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Compost: cemetery: concepts, G2/Thick House Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 Monster Drawing Rally, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
2007 Drawn In, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Pillow Talk, Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2006 Labirinti, Museo Archeologico, Amelia, Umbria, Italy
TranSFOrm and ReLAX, P. Casero Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Money is no object, AM project, Los Angeles, CA
2004 Un/Dressed, FiberScene, http://www.fiberscene.com/galleries/gallery27.html
2002 Cross-Pollination, Los Angeles Arboretum, Los Angeles, CA
2001 Unwearable Art: Clothing in New Media, Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco
Cross-Pollination, Holland Tunnel Gallery, New York, NY
Trail Markers performance festival, Pasadena, CA
2000 Pop Tarts, Highways, Santa Monica, CA (curated by Deborah Oliver)
Nonzero Sum Games, at the Brewery project, Los Angeles, CA (Liz Harvey,
artist/organizer)
Project Wall, drs and collaborators, Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, CA
One Night Stand, Plaza Motel, Los Angeles, CA
Handy Work, Works Gallery, San Jose, CA
The Spurgeon Experience, Spurgeon Building, Santa Ana, CA (curated by Mike
McGee & Max Presneill)
1999 Pros and Protégés, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA (catalog)
Urban Girl-illas, Inshallah Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
works.in.the.round, Ed Giardina Gallery, Santa Ana, CA (4-person show)
1998 L. A. Freewaves, Sept. 8-Oct. 4, 1998; Website at MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
Comestible Compost, Gallery 207, West Hollywood, CA
It's A Girl!, Gallery 207, West Hollywood, CA (3-person show)
One Night Stand, Farmer's Daughter Motel, Los Angeles, CA
Sweet'n Low, Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1997 Celebratory Moments, SITE Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Splice, Side Street Projects, Santa Monica, CA
Thread, Spanish Kitchen Studios, Los Angeles, CA
SaFARi: FAR Bazzar at the Old Zoo, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles: At the Center & On the Edge--The Collectives, Laband Art Gallery,
Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
Blood, Sweat, & Tears; Los Angeles: At the Center & On the Edge--The Issues,
Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Primary Colors, a collaborative exhibition between Gallery 825, SITE, and Watts
Towers Arts Center, Los Angeles, CA
On the Small Side, Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Gift: Tree Sitings, collaborative installation with children from the Boys
and Girls Clubs of Long Beach, SITE Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1996 Downtown Lives!, DADA, Los Angeles, CA
Open Exchange, Armory Center, Pasadena, CA
Detours '96 at the Venice Boardwalk, Venice, CA
Women in Action: Artistic Evidence, University Art Museum, CSU Long Beach, CA
Reach, window installation, Full Moon Gallery, FAR, Los Angeles, CA
Chance and Desire, SITE Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1995 DADA Downtown Art Tour, SITE Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
On Site at the Gate, Angel's Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, CA
The Courthouse Spectacle, Art Galleries, California State University, Northridge, CA
1994 FAR Bazzar, Bingo Building, The Brewery, Los Angeles, CA
FARParked, Venice Art Walk, Venice, CA
Downtown Lives!, DADA, Los Angeles, CA
Mixed Media on the Move, Traction Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
1993 The Shooting Gallery, Arboretum Studios, Santa Monica, CA
Press & Bibliography
2024, Matthew Harrison Tedford, Stitching Nature Together, Bay Nature
2023, Fight and Flight: Crafting a Bay Area Life, Digital catalog
Francisco Examiner
2021 Samantha Lyons, "The Queer Ecologies of Liz Harvey," Feral Fabric Journal
"Artist Liz Harvey's Works on Display," Alameda Sun
2016 Pairshaped org, Collaboration with poet Katia Noyes
2003 Eve Wood, “A Little Wit”, www. artnet.com
2000 Charlene Roth, “Nonzero Sum Games”, New Art Examiner
1999 Pros and Protégés catalog, Armory Center for the Arts
1998 Jody Zellen, "Spectacle", Site Street Magazine
Robin Podolsky, "Fellowship of Proximity", L.A. Culture Net
1997 Vanessa Vanderzanden, "Sex Objects Come Together as Art", Daily Bruin
Los Angeles, At the Center & On the Edge, Smart Art Press, Santa Monica, CA (catalog)
"Young Artists Create Bus Posters", Los Angeles Times
Myrna L. Aguilar, "Art Cruises City Streets", Daily Forty-Niner
"Exhibit for Art, Poetry", Long Beach Press Telegram
Shirle Gottlieb, "Powerful Tribute to Women in the Arts", Long Beach Press-Telegram
Lectures & Public Speaking Engagements
2022 Artist Talk: Liz Harvey & dani lopez, Foothill College (virtual)
Artist Talk: Stitching for Survival, San Francisco School of Needlework & Design (virtual)
2021 Artist Talk: Queer Textiles, Liz Harvey & dani lopez, Textile Arts Los Angeles (virtual)
2020 Textile Slam!, Textile Arts Los Angeles (virtual)
2016 Artist Talk, LitQuake Lit Crawl, Bird & Beckett Books, San Francisco, CA
2013 Visual Thinking Strategies and Perception, MBA in Design Strategies class, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2007 Artist Talk, Fictions, Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, CA
2003 Artist /Educator Talk, Art History class, Libby Lumpkin, CSU Long Beach, CA
Artist Talk, Fiber Studies class, CSU Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
Artist Talk, Contemporary Art History class, Biola University, La Mirada, CA
Public lecture, shy lemons greens cool chocolates, Whittier College, Whittier, CA
Artist Talk, Painting class, Whittier College, Whittier, CA
2001 Artist Talk, Working Artists class, Senior University, CSU Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
1999 Artist Talk, Cross-Cultural Studies in Art Education, CSU Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
1998 Artist Talk, Daybreak Women's Shelter, Santa Monica, CA
1997 (Re)claiming Space: Examples of Lesbian Activist Art, Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Studies class, University of California, Los Angeles
1996 Feminist Art, Evenings for Educators, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA
Public Collections
San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA
Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Los Angeles, CA
Education
2007 California State University, Long Beach, M.F.A. Sculpture
1984 University of Nevada, Reno, B.A. in Fine Art
Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
Teaching, Museum Education, and Education Program Leadership
2024-present Education and Community Engagement Manager, Sonoma Valley Museum
of Art, Sonoma, CA
2019-2024 Teaching Artist, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA
2017-2024 Regional Coach, Turnaround Arts California, San Francisco Bay Area
2018-2024 Visual Thinking Strategies Trainer, San Francisco Bay Area
2019-2023 Program Coordinator, Upward Roots, Oakland, CA
2018-2020 Teaching Artist, Museum of Childrens’ Art, Oakland, CA
2015-2019 Teaching Artist, LEAP…imagination in learning, San Francisco, CA. 2006,
2007-2018 Regional Director, Visual Thinking Strategies, San Francisco, CA
2006-09 Arts Integration Coach, East Oakland School of the Arts, Oakland, CA
2006-07 Program Director, Imagine Bus Project, San Francisco, CA
2005-07 Art Education Faculty Fellow, CCA Center for Art and Public Life, Oakland, CA
2005-06 Teaching Artist, Civic Arts Education, City of Walnut Creek, CA
2001-05 Artful Weekends Manager, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2003-04 Adjunct Faculty, Art Department, California State University, Long Beach (Art 300: Art, Adolescence, and the Child), Long Beach, CA
2001-04 Teaching Artist, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1993-2005 Curator of Education, University Art Museum, CSU Long Beach, CA
1991-1997 Teaching Artist, Eagle Rock Junior/Senior High School, L.A., CA
Teaching Artist, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, L.A., CA
CAC Artist-in-Residence, Boys and Girls Clubs of Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
Teaching Artist, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA
Teaching Artist, Barnsdall Junior Arts Center, L.A., CA
Teaching Artist, Very Special Arts/Nevada, Reno, NV
Teaching Artist, Pasadena Alternative School, Pasadena, CA
Teaching Artist, Community Magnet School, L.A., CA
Teaching Artist, More Than Music, L.A., CA
Teaching Artist, Westside Arts Center, L.A., CA
NEWS & PROJECT INFO
Check out Matthew Harrison Tedford's article about Liz Harvey's "the lost ones" in Bay Nature Magazine
Mending Collective
Liz Harvey & Leeza Doreian are Mending Collective. Mending Collective, founded in 2017, is a collective of artists who wish to create a space for people to come together to learn and practice visual mending techniques. We are concerned with economic models built on burgeoning consumption and waste specifically within the garment industry, but indicative of production in general. We explore the traditional practices of mending as a means to counter this narrative. We offer the shared sensory, economic, and social experiences of mending together. In mending, one becomes aware of the quality of the clothing one wears, skills development meets the bounty of benefits for the mender in the actions of mending, and frugality’s inherent sensuality becomes apparent.
Liz Harvey & Leeza Doreian are Mending Collective. Mending Collective, founded in 2017, is a collective of artists who wish to create a space for people to come together to learn and practice visual mending techniques. We are concerned with economic models built on burgeoning consumption and waste specifically within the garment industry, but indicative of production in general. We explore the traditional practices of mending as a means to counter this narrative. We offer the shared sensory, economic, and social experiences of mending together. In mending, one becomes aware of the quality of the clothing one wears, skills development meets the bounty of benefits for the mender in the actions of mending, and frugality’s inherent sensuality becomes apparent.
Instagram: mending_collective
themendingcollective@gmail.com
the lost ones, a collaborative performance project
Article in Feral Fabric, 2021
"the lost ones" project brings people together with critically endangered plants on the IUCN's "Red List" from spots around the world and asks viewers to contemplate their fragile status while helping to complete an embroidered wedding garment that details over thirty such plants, all from formely colonized countries. Starting with the late 19th-century as an arbitrary marker for when our current mass extinction began to fully get under way, varous iterations of the piece have brought a queer lens to referencing two 19th century figures, Marianne North, a 19th century English botanical painter, and Mary Seacole, a 19th century Scottish-Jamaican nurse, entrepreneur, and author who used her knowledge of plants to healing effects. Their stories reflect and refract ideas about race and the passionate connection with plants these women displayed.
"the lost ones" project brings people together with critically endangered plants on the IUCN's "Red List" from spots around the world and asks viewers to contemplate their fragile status while helping to complete an embroidered wedding garment that details over thirty such plants, all from formely colonized countries. Starting with the late 19th-century as an arbitrary marker for when our current mass extinction began to fully get under way, varous iterations of the piece have brought a queer lens to referencing two 19th century figures, Marianne North, a 19th century English botanical painter, and Mary Seacole, a 19th century Scottish-Jamaican nurse, entrepreneur, and author who used her knowledge of plants to healing effects. Their stories reflect and refract ideas about race and the passionate connection with plants these women displayed.
Lauren Muscatine, science journalist, joined performances in 2018-19 to engage in conversation with myself and guest stitchers about medicinal plants; how plants "clear space;" plant extinction, migration, and adaptation; and rewilding.
Begun in October 2015, "the lost ones" has been mounted over 18 times i varying iterations, combining dance, craft, and botanical references. Collaborators include choreographers Mary Armentrout, Cherie Hill, and Megan Nicely and science editor Lauren Muscatine.
Begun in October 2015, "the lost ones" has been mounted over 18 times i varying iterations, combining dance, craft, and botanical references. Collaborators include choreographers Mary Armentrout, Cherie Hill, and Megan Nicely and science editor Lauren Muscatine.
Liz Harvey was an Artist in Residence at In Cahoots in January 2023. She has been a 2018 Artist in Residence through Intersection for the Arts at Salesforce Park in San Francisco and 2018 Artist in Residence at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. She was a 2017 Artist in Residence at ICB Studios in Sausalito, a 2016 de Young Museum Artist in Residence and was the 2015 Winter Artist in Residence at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito.