Extinction Series
October 7 – 30, 1993
Created to inform, inspire and engage, my art is rooted in science, politics (social and ecological issues), the beauty of life on Earth and is designed to move people, to encourage awareness and to create positive change.
Working in all media, with an emphasis in photography, painting and text, I am drawn to creating art in, with and for community.
“Part of her subtext is the belief that everyone can make a difference regarding the problems of this world.”
Diane Armitage
for The New Mexican
Bobbe Besold is a founder of the community engagement project Rivers Run Through Us www.riversrunthroughus.org (from 2011 to the present), artist in residence with Global Warming Express (Global WE) – the climate change organization created and led by kids, and a core member of SFRTCC (Santa Fe River Traditional Community Collaborative).
Some of her public Water Work in the past 15 years includes the award winning underpass “Watershed”, the “Water Is Life” event at the Botanical Garden in Santa Fe, “Downstream” (fungi project below the Santa Fe sewage treatment plant), “Welcome to the Waterhood” at SFAI, “Mapping the Santa Fe River”- a workshop for Americore at SFAI, “Water Weaving Women” (with Dominique Mazeaud), “Flash Flood” climate event (SFAI and 350.org), the proposal “Water-ways/Water Street/Remembering the Rio Chiquito” (to paint Water Street) and most recently FLOW, the street art procession with Jo Christian. Besold has worked for Water awareness with public and private schools (at all levels), and multiple community groups: Santa Fe Watershed, Littleglobe, Santa Fe Railyard, Wise Fool NM, Warehouse 21, Audubon, Sierra Club, Meow Wolf, New Energy Economy, Wildearth Guardians, 350.org, and more, as well as curating numerous exhibitions/events.
Awards include residencies at the Santa Fe Art Institute, and four at the Vermont Studio Center, with grants from Fulcrum, Puffin Foundation, McCune Foundation, the City of Santa Fe (for FLOW), the John Anson Kitteredge Educational Fund, a Railyard Stewards grant to create an installation there, and more. The ACEC Award/Project of the Year was granted to her for “Watershed”, the underpass for the City of Santa Fe. Other grants helped create murals, a bus wrap, a billboard, community engagement projects, performances, events and exhibitions. Bobbe Besold has exhibited her visual art globally.
Education: BFA with honors from Alfred School of Art and Design, Masters study at the Visual Studies Workshop/Coach House Press/A Space and the Hummer Sisters.
Training: Arts Initiative with the Lincoln Center for the Arts, Moving Image Arts (the College of Santa Fe), Littleglobe and others.
“Part of her subtext is the belief that everyone can make a difference regarding the problems of this world.”
Diane Armitage, for The New Mexican
www.bobbebesold.com