PRESS

• December 11, 2012 TFST Artist Feature: Karen Cusolito
  • “Artist Karen Cusolito has worked in many media, from painting to assemblage to the mighty large-scale metal humanoid sculptures that prowl like so many praying giants in the yard at American Steel Studios. Karen is also the founder at the massive Oakland, CA workshop; it is home to painters, glass artists, fabricators, soapmakers, a compost worm farm, urban greening experts, and performers and artists of all types……”
• December 1, 2012 Karen Cusolito Lights Her Artwork on Fire
  • “With its head bowed to the ground, the 6-ton sculpture Achmed is meant to signify a humble relationship with the Earth. Cusolito assembles the sculptures from found metal objects, saying, “There were occasions where I’ve actually taken part of the building down and built it into a sculpture because it had just the right texture or just the right angle. Of course, then when it started raining inside, I’d think, I gotta replace that rain gutter…..” > watch the video
• September 7, 2012 Super Video
  • “A video by the the band and singer artist Artist: Derron Album: Neverland Music: Dennis Kuhn Text: Derron, Victoire Laly Directed by BlackSundays Edited by Peter Thom. It includes imagery from works of Karen Cusolito as the background” > watch the video
• August 17, 2012 Energy to Burn: Oakland’s American Steel Studios
  • “The next time you catch yourself feeling like you’re doing pretty well with what God gave you, and giving back to the community in proportion with how much you’ve been favored by it, you might want to wangle an invitation to American Steel Studios in Oakland. If you’re lucky, you might run into Karen Cusolito, the dynamo behind the place……” > read the article 
• April 24, 2012 Emotionally Charged Scrap Metal Sculpture
  • “This massive figurative installation by mixed media artist Karen CuSolito stands a staggering 30 feet high. The California-based sculptor’s towering figure of a woman titled Ecstasy is made of 9 tons of salvaged steel. The sculpture depicts an emotive woman who has slung her head back in a state of euphoria…..” > read the interview 
• March 15, 2012 Civic Center: A blend of all things San Francisco > read the interview
  • “Stretching from Leavenworth Street to Franklin Street and from Market Street to Turk Street, San Francisco’s Civic Center is a blend of cultural and arts hub, classic architecture, homeless encampment, grassy plazas, government offices, produce market, historic sites and protest venue….In front of Lawrence Halprin’s fountain on Market is the plaza’s latest art work, “Dandelion” by Karen Cusolito. This is part of the ARTery Project, an initiative to beautify the central Market Street corridor….”
• November 29, 2011 Burning Man alternative: A tour of S.F.’s public art > read the article
  • “Standing 30 feet tall with head thrown back looking up at the sky, “Ecstasy” by Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito on Hayes St. and Octavia St. certainly captures its title emotion….”
• October 11, 2011 Time elapse by JoEllen Depakakibo of Ecstasy in SF > watch the video
  • “A time elapse video created by an image taken every 6 seconds, created by JoEllen Depakakibo, of Ecstasy being removed from Octavia Green, Hayes Valley. Amazing!”
• September 1, 2011 Quadrocopter Flyby of Ecstasy in San Francisco at the 1:30 mark > watch the video
  • “ An aerial flyby of Ecstasy at Octavia Green in Hayes Valley by Robert Mcintosh. A unique vantage point!” Weekend in SF from robert mcintosh on Vimeo.
• May 11, 2011 Bay Area arts news, May 12 > read the interview
  • “The program temporarily places original installations by San Francisco artists in vacant and underused storefront windows and exterior walls. This year’s main visual event is “Market Street Blooms,” two large steel sculptures called “Dandelion” and “Valiant Flowers” by Karen Cusolito, measuring 20 feet high and 14 feet wide, which have been installed on the north and south sides of Market Street at U.N. Plaza, thanks to support from the Black Rock Arts Foundation (the Burning Man nonprofit)…..”
• June 27, 2011 Market Street Blooms > full story
  • “The Black Rock Arts Foundation is honored to be part of the effort to revitalize the Central Market area in San Francisco in collaboration with the San Francisco Arts Commission, and we love sharing and supporting Karen Cusolito’s sculptures…”
• May 18, 2011 Feel the magic – oh, try – on mid-Market > full story
  • “The walk started at Sixth Street and progressed to U.N. Plaza (“We have reached the playa,” said Kary Schulman), where the Black Rock Arts Foundation has sponsored Karen Cusolito’s knockout steel flower sculptures, facing each other across Market Street….”
• May 13, 2011 Market Street Blooms at UN Plaza > read the interview
  • “The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), in partnership with the Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF), presents Market Street Blooms, an installation of two of Karen Cusolito’s large flower sculptures at U.N. Plaza and across the street at 1123 Market Street. Cusolito and BRAF’s Executive Director Tomas McCabe spoke with the ARTery Project about how Dandelion and Valiant Flowers, previously installed in the desert at Burning Man, can be engaging and sympathetic to diverse communities….”
• April 15, 2011 Ecstasy, Patricia’s Green, Hayes Valley > read the interview
  • “This 28-foot-tall sculpture is called “Ecstasy,” installed in the park Patricia’s Green in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. It is by Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito and on display until October…..”
• April 11, 2011 Community Photo of the Week: “Ecstasy” at American Steel > see the photo
  • “Bayless snapped this photo of artist Karen Cusolito’s sculpture “Ecstasy.” “The sculpture itself first caught my eye as I was driving past American Steel studios on Mandela Parkway,” Bayless wrote in an e-mail. “The first time I saw it, I did a double take. I made a quick, but legal, u-turn to show it to my wife and four-year-old son. He was intrigued about how it was made…..”
• January 25, 2011 Huffington Post: Oakland’s Art Explosion > full story
  • “Evidence of beautification projects can be found throughout the city. The soaring, humanist, sculptural figures of Karen Cusolito seem ubiquitous as well.”
• August 31, 2010 Hayes Valley Sculpture “Ecstasy > read the article
  • A 28-foot-tall figurative sculpture made from salvaged steel….”
• August 26, 2010 Best of Burning Man: Photos from festivals past > see the images
  • “These massive steel sculptures of male and female figures are by the Bay Area’s Karen Cusolito. They weigh more than 5 tons each. More Burning Man….”
• May 29, 2010 “Ecstasy” > read the interview
  • “In the little neighborhood known as Hayes Valley in San Francisco there is currently an installation hovering over the cafes, restaurants and shops. This statue, “Ecstasy,” was first displayed at the Burning Man festival in 2007 and was created by Karen Cusolito and Dan Lowry. It is part of a larger installation called “Crude Awakening,” which depicts eight large metal figures surrounded by a wooden oil derrick…..”
• March 25, 2010 Panel Discussion : Temporary Public Art Installations > full story
  • The Palo Alto Art Center 1313 Newell Road Palo Alto CA 94301 7:30pm “Tomas McCabe, Executive Director of the Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF), Crimson Rose, Vice President of BRAF & Burning Man founding Director, and artists who have worked with BRAF to install their artwork in San Francisco and other cities…”
• March 19, 2010 Hayes Valley Art Coalition Featured Artist > read the article
  • “First displayed at the Burning Man festival in Nevada in 2007, Ecstasy is one of the eight monumental metal figures of the artists’ masterpiece, Crude Awakening. In Crude Awakening, these eight figures surrounded a 99-foot tall wooden oil derrick in gestures of prostration, worship and exaltation. The figures represented the ‘faithful’; the religious peoples of the world in their various postures of worship, all joining together in homage of the ominous symbol of the oil derrick. The installation culminated in a massive firework and fire display, and in the burning of the oil derrick. It was the biggest and most memorable burn to date at the Burning Man event….”
• March 19, 2010 Hayes Valley Welcomes Ecstasy > full story
  • Opening Reception Patricia’s Green at Octavia and Hayes Streets San Francisco, CA “The neighborhood continues to welcome Ecstasy. Besides all the great photos on flickr, they’re blogging about Ecstasy out there! How fun is that? Clearly the neighborhood loves her, and it looks to me like she is loving them back. So if you want to read how San Francisco and especially Hayes Valley is falling in love with Ecstasy, read these!”
• March 17, 2010 Hayes Valley Welcomes Ecstasy > read the article
  • “In February, during the installation of Ecstasy, we stopped by to say Hi, sans camera, to Karen Cusolito and her crew who were doing the installation. Feeling foolish, on my job and my joy with no way to take photos who do I run into but a woman on a bike with a gorgeous camera, who of course goes to Burning Man and knows Dan and Karen’s work…..”
• March 1, 2010 Ecstasy > read the interview
  • “First displayed at the Burning Man festival in Nevada in 2008, Ecstasy is one of the eight monumental metal figures created by Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito. Joyous in her escape from fossil fuels, Ecstasy will be celebrating an oil-free future for all of us….”
• February 25, 2010 Lucent L’Amour 2010: Outside with the Artists > watch the interview
  • Britt talks with artists Jeffrey Vincent Parise, Nature Dreamweaver, Robin Banks of Art Customs and The Antfarm Collective, Dominque Robuc of Fishbone, and Karen Cusolito hours before the start of Lucent L’Amour.
• February 20, 2010 “Ecstasy” in San Francisco > read the article
  • “The Black Rock Arts Foundation is proud to support the installation of Karen Cusolito’s sculpture Ecstasy at Patricia’s Green in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, ….”
• February 14, 2010 Valentine’s Day Ecstasy on Patricia’s Green > read the interview
  • “There have been a half dozen temporary art installations at Patricia’s Green since then that have met with varying degrees of success, but nothing has quite taken the neighborhood’s immediate fancy like Best’s pagoda until this week’s latest artwork magically appeared. It’s a huge metal sculpture by Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito entitled “Ecstasy” that was part of a larger installation at the 2008 Burning Man Festival at Black Rock Desert, Nevada. ….”

RECENT EXHIBITIONS

• 2019 “Tumble Leaf” Series, Petaluma Art Center, Petaluma, CA
• 2012 – 2019 “Tumble Leaf” Series, “Seussiqle,” Autumn Lights Festivals, Oakland, CA
• 2017 – present “Eileen,” Manu,” “Kneela,” and “Trumpet Flowers” Paradise Ridge Winery, Santa Rosa, CA
• 2015 “Canopy,” Zener – Schon Gallery, Mill Valley, CA
• 2014, 2015 “Tumble Leaf” Series, Summer Sculpture Exhibitions, Filoli Gardens, Woodside, CA
• 2015, 2016 “Tumble Leaf” Series, Bottle Rock Music Festivals, Napa, CA
• 2013 – 2014 “Dandelion,” “Trumpet Flowers,” Uptown Art Park, Oakland, CA
• 2010, 2012 “Infinitarium,” Black Rock City, NV, Outside Lands, San Francisco, CA
• 2012 – 2013 “Dandelion,” “Trumpet Flowers,” Market Street, San Francisco
• 2009 – 2011 “Ecstasy,” Hayes Valley Art Coalition, San Francisco, CA 2009 “Ecstasy,” “Epiphany,” “Achmed,”“Eileen,” Manu,” “Kneela,” and “Mumbatu,” Fire Arts Festival, Oakland, CA
• 2009 – 2010 “Passage,” Burien Interim Art Space, Burien, WA