The Public's Role in Sherk's Public Art Practice
Forty years ago, Bonnie Sherk launched an ambitious, precedent-setting mission to improve the sustainability and livability of communities sharing the Islais Creek Watershed in San Francisco, California.
Instead of burning out, Sherk's fervor regarding this urban greening project seems to grow with each passing decade. Perhaps it is fueled by the project's increasing and accelerating accomplishments. Residents in the eleven neighborhoods of the City that comprise the Islais Creek Watershed, including innumerable school children, have benefited from her efforts. Furthermore, the watershed itself is being improved by her interventions. These accomplishments are widely regarded. Yet there is another facet of her career that seems to merit more attention - Sherk also serves as an inspiring model for artists everywhere who share her commitment to energize their communities and restore their watersheds.
Her procedural strategies seem to have emerged from the realization that, despite her prodigious energy, watershed-scaled projects are not likely to be achieved by a single person. Thus, she has reached far into the communities she serves to invite partnerships with non-art organizations and agencies. The capacity to expand her art practice in this manner requires the skill to pry bureaucrats away from their standard agendas and prod them toward adopting environmentally-enlightened programs.
The following list of partners who have participated in Sherk’s “Living Library” projects is impressive:
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)
San Francisco Recreation and Park Department.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’
Holly Courts Public Housing
Center for Urban Forestry and Watershed Education.
RPD (Riverside Police Department?)
Department of Public Works
San Francisco Rotary Club
San Francisco Community Youth Center
Mayor’s Office of Youth Employment
Numerous schools
A third skill that applies to all large-scaled, long-term public art projects that Sherk seems to have mastered involves acquiring funding to support them. Over the years, Sherk’s projects have been funded by the Mayor’s Office Community Development, Proposition 84, and the San Francisco Foundation. She is astute at delivering direct e-mail appeals to her supporters. Evidence of her abilities was recently affirmed when her organization, “Life Frames, Inc.”, was awarded a multi-year grant (2013-16) from The California Strategic Growth Council to continue to develop the Bernal Heights Living Library & Think Park.