UNFOLD Projects, in partnership with ICA San Diego, is pleased to present Exhibition 01: We Must Imagine it, the first iteration of an exhibition series exploring regenerative materials and processes in art and design.

The exhibition features artists from the Guild for its first Edition at UNFOLD Encinitas, highlighting individual practices shaped by collective experimentation, shared learning, and material innovation.

As part of ICA San Diego’s and UNFOLD Projects’ partnership in regenerative design, contemporary art, and forward-thinking creative dialogue, this exhibition invites audiences to engage in conversations around ecology, collaboration, and the future of making.

Featured artists: Daniella Algarate, Debbie Bean, Brillan De La Cerda, Nik Gelormino, Aaron Glasson, Stephen Hartzog, Laura Huerta, Miki Iwasaki, Jason Lane, Christine Lee, Heather Levine, Annalise Neil, Britton Neubacher, Nicholas Pourfard, Sasha Seyb, Vince Skelly, Margaret R. Thompson, Lani Trock, Lauren Verdugo, Ren von Hasseln

The exhibition will be on view from May 30 through August 2, open Saturdays from 11 AM–4 PM.
Additional weekday visits are available by appointment. Please direct your request to hello@unfoldprojects.com

Filial01 by Britton Neubacher

Image by Phillipp Scholz Ritterman

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For millennia, people have brought plants and flowers indoors for their pleasure, tradition, and even health. When flowers are removed from their natural surroundings and repurposed into bouquets and flower arrangements, gardening evolves beyond a practical skill into the realm of art-making. Beyond the Bouquet highlighted this art-making tradition and explored the newest trends.

In this exhibition, both local and international artists experimented with concepts of nature, two and three-dimensional creations, an “alternative concept of beauty,” and the blurred line between art and craft using a wide variety of media.

Beyond the Bouquet was funded in part by Heather and Paul Haaga.

Featured artists and curator

Featured artists included: Alison Franchi, Justina Freel, Felisa Funes, Cherrie Hoa Mai, Karen Kimmel, Kaz Yokou Kitajima, Rebecca Louise Law, Britton Neubacher, Helen Rae, Natalia Stuyk, Joy Taylor, and Tiffanie Turner.

Curated by Cristeen Martinez.

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Forces of Nature, the Airport Arts Programme’s 2019 temporary exhibition is now on full display.

The exhibition features artwork and collections that explore the complexity, fragility, and beauty of San Diego’s natural landscape.

The year-long airport-wide exhibition features distinct installations by 16 different artists and organisations.

Exhibition highlights include:

• Glittering mini universe sculptures created by Sasha Koozel Reibstein, in direct response to the brilliant and diverse landscapes of San Diego;
  
  
• Immersive plant installations by botanical artist Britton Neubacher showcase the inherent artistry in nature, encouraging the viewer to look from the perspective of the natural world;
  
  
• Suspended cardboard sharks painstakingly constructed from hundreds of precisely cut pieces of cardboard and flat reed individually fit and glued together by artist William Feeney.

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Diverse works of art speak to the relationship between humanity and nature through the lens of protecting our natural resources. Featured artists include Courtney Mattison, Annalise Neil, Kline Swonger, Oscar Romo and Britton Neubacher. Curated by Danielle Deery. Show runs February 10, 2024- May 26, 2024.

This exhibition is a collection of plant-based sculpture and assemblage created by Britton Neubacher, M.A. (B.A. and M.A. in Women’s Studies with a focus on community organizing) and full-time artist. Neubacher’s sustainably-minded work explores nature’s organizing principles of adaptation, integration, and renewal through fractal geometries and “suspended animation” materials. This show is hosted by Cal State University at San Marcos in the Kellogg Library and runs through July 23rd, 2023. It is free and is open to the public.

https://biblio.csusm.edu/context-library-series/neubacher/
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“Organized Chaos” is a sustainably minded botanical showcase drawing on the healing effects of plant fractals and sacred geometry. Botanical artist Britton Neubacher employs “power” shapes, the Fibonacci sequence, and Op Art visuals to offer a mesmerizingly immersive space for healing and transcendence inside our challenging times.

A focus on preserved mosses, plants, and foliage moves us beyond single-use materials into more focused conversations between people and nature. Fecund and untamed elements are juxtaposed with the geometry of nature’s organizing principles, illustrating the intimate relationship between chaos and order. What feels like a chaotic breakdown of our bodies and our planet could be fertile composting material for more optimized systems of wellness. “Organized Chaos” and its focus on ecological sustainability offers a hopeful view into all life as regenerative and learning in every moment, even as it seemingly unravels.

Neubacher’s installation is creatively inspired by the optical illusion artist Vasarely, Altarpiece No. 1 by artist-mystic Hilma af Klint, and the “higher ground” permaculture mounds supporting medicinal flowers and herbs. The pyramid shape stimulates plant growth, going back to the gardening techniques of ancient Egypt, and remains a mystical symbol for life after death. Physically, pyramids have a strong ionization effect within the body, producing negative ions that in turn strengthen well-being. It is said that meditating or just taking a nap under a pyramid helps to synchronize the seven central energy centers of the body. The form is grounding and ascending at once.

Like the pyramid, human bodies are a meditation between the earth and the cosmos. “Organized Chaos” celebrates the growth edge always alive within the natural world and the transformation that’s possible as we walk along it.

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