Download Lessa Bouchard long CV

Lessa Bouchard
171 Bryant Apt i, Palo Alto, CA 94301
773-627-6038
www.lessabouchard.com
www.Arc-Hive.org
[email protected]
SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE
Lessa Bouchard is an interdisciplinary artist exploring varied expressions of memory, identity and
community. For 20 years she has addressed a wide range of social issues in her work- gender and
sexual orientation, disability rights, immigration history, and environmental issues- through theatre,
installation and performance art. She has been a teaching artist and program manager for a variety of
arts organizations in Detroit, Chicago, and Palo Alto. She currently maintains a studio as member of
the City of Palo Alto Cubberley Artists Studio Program (CASP), and teaches a variety of media
classes for the Children’s Fine Arts program at the Palo Alto Art Center.
EDUCATION
M.F.A., Interdisciplinary Art and Media, Columbia College Chicago
B.F.A., Theatre and Performance, University of Detroit Mercy
ACADEMIC/TEACHING
April 2010-Present
Children’s Fine Arts Instructor, Palo Alto Art Center
A variety of media art and book and paper classes for ages 4 -14. Classes include Media for Kinders,
Digital Photography, Claymation, Cut-out Animation, Digital Video Production, Holiday gift making and
Recycled Book and Papermaking. Media classes include introductions to Photoshop, Paintbrush, Frame by
Frame, I-Movie, I-DVD, & Final Cut.
1994-Present
Drama Instructor, program manager and guest lecturer for various after school, university and summer
programs with a particular emphasis on work with adolescents, in southeast Michigan (Matrix Theatre and
Mosaic Youth Theatre), Chicago (DramaSmarts, and University of Chicago), and Palo Alto, CA (Dragon
Theatre Company).
2007-2009
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media (Graduate Program) & TV Department
(Undergraduate Program), Columbia College Chicago
Led selected activities for the “Learning Community,” a multi-class program of the TV Dept. Classes
included: Aesthetics, Production and Editing 1 &2, Writing for TV. General Interdisciplinary Arts graduate
curriculum support- included Excel and Word documentation of media equipment specs and Mac & Adobe
graphics programs. Maintenance of computer labs, including Book & Paper Media Lab.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS/ PERFORMANCE ART and DIRECTING PROJECTS
2014
Reserved for Amy, by Ewa Nowicka. Video designer. MACLA
The Woman in Black, adapted by Stephen Mallatrat at the Dragon Theatre. Role of The Woman in
Black, dir. By Meredith Hagedorn
Arc:Hive presents A Moment (Un)Bound. A full production of a collectively written ensemble
performance based on materials collected from books donated to the Friends of the Palo Alto Library.
Producer/performer/designer Featured in Dragon Theatre’s Second Stage series, Redwood City.
A Moment (Un)Bound. Act 1. Featured in foolsFury’s Factory Parts iii, a festival of new work at the
ACT Costumeshop in SF. April
Arc:Hivists of A Moment (Un)Bound. 15-minutes of work in progress. Featured in foolsFury’s
Factory Parts ii, a festival of new work at the Noh Space in SF. Feb 7 & 8
2013
Whim: Extrapolating from Arc:Hive’s A Moment (Un)Bound, the Meridian Gallery in SF, part of
By Mainly Unexpected Means, Dec 7
Bell’s Books Since 1935. Site Specific program of Palo Alto Art Center’s Bibliophilia Exhibit at
Bell’s Books, Palo Alto Nov 11- 18
And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little by Paul Zindel. The role of Anna, dir. by Shareen Merriam at the
Dragon Theatre.
A Moment (Un)Bound by Arc:Hive. A 10-minute ensemble performance based on materials
collected from books donated to the Friends of the Palo Alto Library. foolsFury’s Factory Parts: a
festival of new work at the Noh Space in SF. July
All of This. Collaborative work w/Stacey Stormes. Series of 14 glass prints, 2 original electronic
sculptures and a 6 min. diptych animation. Inspired by “Spacebar (a Broadway Play by Kyle
Sugarman)” at City Lights Theater Company, San Jose. May/June
2012
Bell’s Books Since 1935. Short video documentary featuring Faith and Val Bell, mother and daughter
proprietors of a family run used bookshop in Palo Alto. 25 min. Featured on local Cable Access, won
an award for excellence at the Midpeninsula Media Center. Nov
Dogwoman in Palo Alto. A diptych of 15” x 15” digital prints mounted on foam documenting
Dogwoman at Bell’s Bookstore in Palo Alto, part of Graphite, Ink and Other Means: Cubberley Studio
Artists at City Hall Curated by Theres Rohan. Oct
Recognition. 15 screen multichannel video and sound installation featuring everyday people around
Los Altos, including a live feed of Main Street and Third in Los Altos. Faces of Los Altos Exhibition
at the Los Altos History Museum. May-Sept
Thicket: The Watershed Scuplture of Daniel McCormick and MaryO’Brien & Gregory Gavin’s
Riveropolis: The Orchard River 13 min. 2 short video documentaries documenting the community
art process of these featured artists as part of Shaped by Water: Past Present and Future, at the Los
Altos History Museum. Curated by Linda Gass
Dogwoman in LA. Interactive performance. Dogwoman collects connections with readers of books
and startles the locals at an LA party store. Part of the College Art Association ARTExchange.
Curated by Lauren Stark.
2011
The Lytton Café. 12 min. a documentary video installation about an independent Palo Alto café- its
regulars and how the place changes over time. Cubberley Open Studios, Dec
Between the Grapes and Thorns. A series of 3 video still prints, framed. Part of “Bloom: Artists in
Residence at Cubberley Center” at Palo Alto City Hall. Curated by Elise DeMarzo. Aug
Tongue of a Bird. Directed at the Dragon Theatre in Palo Alto. May/June.
Knees (30 s. video excerpt from Widdershins and Back Again) part of 30 Second Spot a New Media
Caucus Video screening at the School of Visual Arts, NYC. Curated by Mat Rappaport. Feb
2010
Offline. Installation of swaying bookshelves investigating the instability of text.
Oshibana. Translucent artist book series. Mixed Media: plastic, dried flowers, linen thread. Silicon
Valley Open Studios, Cubberley Artist Studio E-6. May
2009
The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson. The role of Vi, dir. by Ana-Catrina Buchser at the
Dragon Theatre in Palo Alto
Dogwomen of Columbia. Tic Toc Performance Art Festival, Manifest, Columbia College Chicago.
Widdershins and Back Again, 13 channel video installation, MFA Thesis, Columbia College
Chicago. April/May
The Going Back Project. Artist Book companion to thesis exhibition. April/May
2008
Hybridity. Original Solo Performance, Artist’s Salon, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago. Nov
The Blind, Performance Installation, La Lumiere, IN. Aug
Feeding the Moonfish by Barbara Weichmann, produced/directed with Image Unit and Core Project
Chicago. The Galaxie, Chicago. Aug
Clutch: Skeletonwoman Dreaming. Interactive DVD Screening with Krista Babbitt and Gianina
Lockley. Lost and Found, C-Spaces, Columbia College Chicago. Curated by Dax Tran-Cafee and
Image Unit
2007
Going Back: a Meditation on Longing. 6 channel video installation, triggered by floor mats. EZIO
boards & Director. Columbia College Chicago. Nov
Vestiges. Collaborative multichannel video installation with Stacey Stormes and Kristina Gosh,
Columbia College Chicago. Oct
“Greeting/Farewell.” by Maria Alos, paid performer. Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art
from Mexico City, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Aug
SkeletonWoman: Dreaming. Video-short Screening, Bagley Street Project and Around the Coyote
Arts Festival, Chicago. July – May 2009
Not So Loud. 5 min. w/Jenny Magnus, Prop Theatre. May
Floating. 2 min.Video short. Screening, Image Unit Salon. Feb
THEATRICAL DIRECTING PROJECTS
2014 Arc:Hive presents A Moment (Un)Bound Dragon Second Stages Series, Redwood City
2013 Arc:Hive work in progress foolsFury Factory Parts, Noh Theatre and ACT Costume Shop, SF
2011 Tongue of a Bird, by Ellen McLaughlin Dragon Theatre, Palo Alto
2008 Feeding the Moonfish by Barbara Weichmann The Galaxie, Chicago
2006 Grey by Grant Stokes, Lessa Bouchard and Garrett Prejean EP Theatre, Chicago
2003-2006 ACCESS Artist Development Showcase Reading Victory Gardens Theatre, Chicago
2002 The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance Planet Ant Theatre, Hamtramck, MI
*Nominated for Best Play 2002 by Between The Lines (Southeast Michigan GLBT Monthly)
2002 Party Girl adapt. of the novel by Lynne Ewing Matrix Theatre & Alternatives for Girls, Detroit
2001 Night, Mother by Marsha Norman Planet Ant Theatre, Hamtramck, MI
*Voted Best 2000/2001 Season by Detroit Free Press
2001 Jimmy’s Getting Better by Joseph Evans Matrix Theatre with Americorps, Detroit
2001/2002 Once Was Paradise by Shaun Nethercott Matrix Theatre and Detroit 300 Team, Detroit
1994/1995 Raincheck and Hannah Free by Claudia Allen POW! Trumbull Theatre, Detroit
ARTICLES AND PRESENTATIONS
2009 “Director! Who’s in Charge?” Contribution to Queer Relational Christina McPhee’s conversation on
queer relational aesthetics, discussing Carolee Schneemann, Linda Montano and Skeletonwoman:
Dreaming.-empyre- is a process based listserv on media art and culture, based in Sydney, hosted at the
College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, and founded in 2002 by Melinda Rackham.
2005 Recuerdos de los Repatriados: Remembrances of the Repatriated
Illegal Deportation, Memory and Performance Music, Performance, and the Racial Imagination
New York University, April
EthNoise! Music and Cultural PoliticsConference, University of Chicago, November
2004 Colloquium Participant:Mexican Amer Repatriation, el Colegio de Mexico, San Luis Potosi
2001 Recuerdos de los Repatriados: Remembrances of the Repatriated
Performance/talk back Beyond Boal Conference Grand Valley State, Grand Rapids, Michigan
NOMINATIONS AND AWARDS
2014 Juried into Cubberley Artist Studio Program, City of Palo Alto
2012 Zoomie Award for Excellence at the Mid Peninsula Media Center for Bell’s Books Since 1935
2009 Juried into Cubberley Artist Studio Program, City of Palo Alto; Moved in Jan. 2010
2005 Community Arts Assistance Program Grant from the City of Chicago
2003 Nominated by The Oakland Press for Outstanding Ensemble Play (2002/2003)
2002 Kellogg/Knight Foundation Scholarship for High/Scope Educational Foundation Adolescent
Trainer Certification
Directed The Elephant Man at Planet Ant Theater- Nominated by Between the Lines (Michigan
GBLT monthly) for Best Play 2001/2002
2001 Directed Night, Mother, part of the Best 2000/2001 Season, The Detroit Free Press
2000 Nominated by The Oakland Press for Outstanding Ensemble- David’s Redhaired Death
(2000/2001)
1997-2000 Geraldine Regal Memorial Scholarship for Theater, University of Detroit Mercy
1995 Midwest Aids Prevention Project & Michigan's Gay & Lesbian Community Community Service
Award for producing and directing gay and lesbian plays as Artistic Director of POW!