Through their roles as collaborator, fabricator, arts administrator, and volunteer, Carissa Lillian Clark (she/they) considers showing up and doing the labor as her most practiced skill as an artist. In 2012, she co-founded and -operated Utila Art Space in Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras; from 2014 to 2018 she co-founded and -operated the Sanctuary in Arcata, California; in 2020 to 2021 she was a working member of Dream Farm Commons in Oakland, California. Clark is an interdisciplinary, project-based artist who is always learning from the working artists in their family and communities. Through visual, craft, and performative mediums, they use site-specific materials to explore themes of death, interconnection, transformation, and desire. Clark lives and works in a small town on unceded Wiyot territory in northern California.
Education
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2021 B.F.A Individualized: Sculpture and Community Arts, California College of the Arts, Oakland, Ca.
2010 - 2018 College of the Redwoods, Studio Art for Transfer, Eureka, Ca.
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Exhibitions
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2023 Odes, the Sanctuary, Arcata, Ca.
2023 Outer Roominations, Bluffhaüs, Table Bluff, Ca.
2023 Dada Cabaret, Synapsis Nova, Eureka, Ca.
2023 Spiritual Detour -> This Way, Brenda Tuxford Gallery, Eureka, Ca.
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2022 The Card Show, Epitome Gallery, Eureka, Ca.
2022 Zero to Fierce: 8th Annual Women's Festival, The Arcata Playhouse, Arcata, Ca.
2021 Class of 2021 Showcase, California College of the Arts Digital Exhibition, San Francisco, Ca.
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2021 Dreamlines and Dirt Scars, Solo Exhibition, Dream Farm Commons, Oakland, Ca.
2021 Out in the World: Creative Practice by College of the Redwoods Alumni, Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, Ca.
2020 Yozo Hamaguchi Scholarship Exhibition, CCA Libraries Digital Exhibition, Oakland, Ca.
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2019 On Borders and Boundaries: Global Artists at CCA, CCA Hubbell Street Galleries, San Francisco, Ca.
2019 Handiwork: Spring Ceramics Guild Exhibition, Treadwell Gallery, California College of the Arts, Oakland, Ca.
2019 CCA Ceramics Program Exhibition, California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Arts, Davis, Ca.
2018 Soft Thoughts, Isabelle Percy West Gallery, California College of the Arts, Oakland, Ca.
2018 MW Shop Show, The Sanctuary, Arcata, Ca.
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2018 Future Formers: A Visual Art Exhibition of College of the Redwoods Alumni, The Sanctuary, Arcata, Ca. North Coast Journal, Gabrielle Gopinath, Face/Off, www.northcoastjournal.com/humboldt/face-off/Content?oid=8697092
2017 The Trajectory presents Monsterpiece Cabaret + Exhibit, Synapsis Nova, Eureka, Ca.
2017 Subjective Realities, The Sanctuary, Arcata, Ca. KHSU, Wendy Butler, 2017, Artwaves: Subjective Realities, www.khsu.org/post/artwaves-subjective-realities-arCata
2017 Juried Student Exhibition with Jurors Hirsch Perlman and Sarah Whorf, College of the Redwoods, Eureka, Ca.
2016 Evoking Value, Dresbach Hunt-Boyer Mansion, California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Arts, Davis, Ca.
2016 Juried Student Exhibition with Juror Brandice Guerra, College of the Redwoods Gallery, Eureka, Ca.
2016 Dear Friend, The Sanctuary, Arcata, Ca. North Coast Journal, Gabrielle Gopinath, 2016, Cult Following, www.northcoastjournal.com/humboldt/cult-following
2015 The Card Show, The Sanctuary, Arcata, Ca. North Coast Journal, Gabrielle Gopinath, 2015, Full House, www.northcoastjournal.com/humboldt/full-house Image reproduction.
2015 Bodies of Work, College of the Redwoods Gallery, Eureka, Ca. North Coast Journal, Gabrielle Gopinath, 2015, Transfigured, www.northcoastjournal.com/humboldt/transfigured
2015 BIG & Little, The Sanctuary, Arcata, Ca.
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2014 Juried Student Exhibition with Juror Sanderson Morgan, College of the Redwoods Gallery, Eureka, Ca.
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2012 Utila Tridimensional, Utila Art Space, Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras
2010 Juried Student Exhibition with Juror Julie Alderson, College of the Redwoods Gallery, Eureka, Ca.
2009 I carry them with me, Solo Exhibition, The Front Gallery, Mckinleyville, Ca.
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Awards
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2022 Funds for Artist's Resilience Mini-Grant, Ink People Center for the Arts, Eureka, Ca.
2021 CCA Impact Award, California College of the Arts, Oakland, Ca.
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2020 Yozo Hamaguchi Printmedia Scholarship Award, Oakland, Ca.
2017 Cindy Hooper’s Innovative Idea Award, Juried Student Exhibition with Jurors Hirsch Perlman and Sarah Whorf, College of the Redwoods, Eureka, Ca.
2014 Ceramic Award, Juried Student Exhibition with Juror Brandice Guerra, College of the Redwoods, Eureka, Ca.
2010 Sculpture Award, Juried Student Exhibition with Juror Sanderson Morgan, College of the Redwoods, Eureka, Ca.
Professional Experience
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2023 Assistant Fabricator, Esther Elia, Albuquerque, NM
2022 Co-operator, the Sanctuary, Arcata, Ca.
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2020-2021 Exhibitions Intern/member artist Dream Farm Commons, Oakland, Ca.
2019 - 2020 Painter, Bristle Bros. Mural Company, Berkeley, Ca.
2018 - 2020 Studio Assistant, Trainhole Studios Artist Collective, Berkeley, Ca.
2018 Sculpture Department Lab Tech, California College of the Arts, Oakland, Ca.
2014 - 2018 Co-founder, Board Member, Lab Tech, Sign Maker, Event Coordinator, The Sanctuary, Arcata, Ca.
2016 Volunteer, Das Baumhaus: Project & Space for Sustainability, Berlin, Germany.
2015 - 2016 Ceramics Department Lab Tech, College of the Redwoods, Eureka, Ca.
2014 Volunteer, Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, Ca.
2012 - 2013 Lettering Painter, Urs’ Boat Shop, Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras.
2012 - 2013 Co-Founder, Teacher, Puppeteer, Collaborator, Utila Art Space, Bay Islands, Honduras.
2009 - 2010 Administrative Assistant, Arcata Arts Institute, Arcata, Ca.
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Lectures, Performances, Residencies
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2021 Artist-in-residence at Dream Farm Commons, Oakland, Ca.
2020 Artist talk, Dialogues and Practices graduate course, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, Ca.
2020 This Way Brouwn Map Collector, What We Want Is____: Ted Purves Scholarship Fundraiser, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, Ca.
2020 Ceramics hand-building workshop with Susanne Cockrell’s Social Works course, California College of the Arts, Oakland, Ca.
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2020 Project pitch speech for "Devil of an Ancestor" at Oakland Stock, Oakland, Ca.
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2019 Artist-in-Residence at the Sanctuary, Arcata, Ca.
2019 Artist talk and song leader, Response/Resiliency Mixer, the Sanctuary, Arcata, Ca.
2019 Performance, Primeval Intersection Showcase, Artist’s Television Access, San Francisco, Ca.
2017 Poetry Reading, Friday Poets, Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, Ca.
2017 Announcer, 1st Annual Dada Cabaret, Synapsis Nova, Eureka, Ca.
2016 Closing speech for the Sanctuary building’s 100th birthday celebration, Arcata, Ca.
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2015 Master of Ceremonies for the Sanctuary’s Multimedia Art Extravaganza, November to Remember, Arcata, Ca.
2012 English translation of Patricia Suarez’s speech for the opening reception of Utila Tri-dimensional, Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras.
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