Over the course of the last many seasons, Alicia Escott has been intimately relating to and reciprocating with these trees and the communities they build, through both habitat restoration and through the metaphors of mutual aid they inspire. Her practice includes making daily drawings  of acorns; planting and giving water to tiny seedlings; and being both a voyeur and participant in the oaks abundant life of intertwined relationality. This work include by products of human made worlds that intersect with these fire evolved communities, sometimes in devastating ways— melted plastic construction materials, remnants of burnt homes, and precious metals are also intertwined in this messy and abundant story and in Alicia’s investigations.

In a residency and exhibition at Dream Farm Commons Alicia Escott will be working from both sides of The Bay in collaboration with nearby Live Oaks. Seeking reciprocity, and asking consent to collaborate with the tree ( not a simple task!) will be the basis for an installation: a space that people can walk through, immerse in entangled drawings, sculptures, found materials from California burn sites, consent-asking videos, found pieces of technology, precious discarded fragments of oak trees, and local construction materials. Meditating on the Oak ecologies that Oakland took its name from, as lessons in community support, the artist will also plant oak saplings in the vicinity of the gallery during this immersive installation. 

Commune with the Oaks and Alicia in September as she builds out an installation in Dream Farm Commons as an October site for forms of reciprocal consent, and mutual aid.
 

You learn more about Alicia's work on her website and can connect with her on her instagram at @alicia_escott