Through the Irvine Foundation’s New California Arts Fund grant, I was invited to do a project of my own choosing at the Oakland Museum of California. The grant focused on creating new engagements with their local, non-visiting community. I chose to work with a family vs. a community group in order to create a more intimate project that could elicit specific recommendations from the family for the museum. The project was titled “Tell Me Where the Mirrors Go.”

During a series of meetings and visits (onsite and off) the family shared their perspectives about the museum experience. Through them, and through the act of doing the project, lessons were learned in terms of how to not only reach but engage in meaningful ways: from the obvious (how can you be free when they are free?) to the foundational (who are you responsible to?). The project resulted in public events, a documentary short, and an in-gallery installation where their insights or impressions were installed adjacent to works of art.

 In 2015, I was invited to give a talk about “Mirrors” at the annual Western Museums Association conference.