Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Program

Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Program Recology hopes to encourage people to conserve natural resources and promote reuse. Art exhibitions are free and open to the public.

The Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Program is an art and education initiative that provides local artists with access to materials, a stipend and studio space. The Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Program (AIR) is an art and education initiative that provides local artists with access to materials, a stipend, administrative support, and a studio space. Through our programming

, Recology hopes to support artists while encouraging folks to conserve natural resources, reuse, and recycle. Art at the Dump
Founded in 1990 by artist and activist Jo Hanson, the AIR Program provides artists with access to materials, a stipend, and a large studio space. Over 150 professional Bay Area artists and 50 university and college student artists have completed residencies and have made art from materials discarded in San Francisco. The studios are located at the San Francisco Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Center, a 46-acre facility that includes the transfer station, the Household Hazardous Waste Facility, the Organics Wing, the Public Reuse and Recycling Area (“The Dump”), and other recycling facilities. Artists have scavenging privileges for four months and 24-hour access to the company’s well-equipped art studio. At the end of the residency, the public is invited to attend the artist’s exhibition. Work made during the residency becomes part of the Recology permanent collection and continues to be shown in exhibitions both locally and nationally. Applications are accepted June through September through SlideRoom for the following year and are evaluated on quality of work samples, resume and the applicant’s proposal. The Recology AIR advisory board / selection committee is made up of artists, curators, gallery owners, and educators and meet in the fall to review applications and choose artists. Apply at recologyair.slideroom.com

The program’s outreach activities target the general public, school children and the Bay Area arts community. By supporting artists who work with re-used materials, Recology hopes to encourage people to conserve natural resources and promote new ways of thinking about art and the environment. To receive announcements, please email [email protected]

Our collaborative exhibition, “Recology Retrospective,” is now on view at Heron Arts (Heron Arts), featuring works by Re...
08/19/2026

Our collaborative exhibition, “Recology Retrospective,” is now on view at Heron Arts (Heron Arts), featuring works by Recology AIR alumni created during and after their residencies. Open by appointment from July 18–September 3 at Heron Arts (7 Heron St, San Francisco).

Join us this Saturday, August 22 from 1-3 PM for a special exhibition walkthrough with the artists and Recology AIR staff! Visit the link in our bio to learn more! 🎨♻️

💫 Featured artist Susan Leibovitz Steinman (Susan Leibovitz Steinman) was a 1991 Recology Artist-in-Residence. Swipe through to explore highlights from her residency exhibition, “Art From The Wastestream.”

Artist Susan Leibovitz Steinman creates large scale public installations with multiple stakeholder participation to address ecological, social and economic concerns and community-voiced needs. Based in CA, she is an “itinerant social sculptor,” who travels globally to create street front, temporal, improvisational, performative artworks. Her EOE Projects (equal opportunity eating) model low cost green techniques and social strategies on public land for public use, food rights, natural asset protection, bioremediation, ecological revitalization and tourism for clean local survival.

Our collaborative exhibition, “Recology Retrospective,” is now on view at Heron Arts (Heron Arts), featuring works by Re...
08/18/2026

Our collaborative exhibition, “Recology Retrospective,” is now on view at Heron Arts (Heron Arts), featuring works by Recology AIR alumni created during and after their residencies. Open by appointment from July 18–September 3 at Heron Arts (7 Heron St, San Francisco).

Join us this Saturday, August 22 from 1-3 PM for a special exhibition walkthrough with the artists and Recology AIR staff! Visit the link in our bio to learn more! 🎨♻️

💫 Featured artist Nemo Gould (Nemo Gould) was a 2007 Recology Artist-in-Residence. Swipe through to explore highlights from his residency exhibition, “Waste Deep.”

Self-described “Chairman of the Hoard” Nemo Gould is a master accumulator, of both materials and building techniques alike. His Oakland studio is a veritable museum of old objects and technology which he blends into his signature style of kinetic sculpture. His work pushes the limits of found object art and challenges the viewer to experience art through interaction and experience. Gould received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1998, and his MFA in sculpture from U.C. Berkeley in 2000. His work is featured in museums and collections throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Our collaborative exhibition, “Recology Retrospective,” is now on view at Heron Arts (), featuring works by Recology AIR...
08/17/2026

Our collaborative exhibition, “Recology Retrospective,” is now on view at Heron Arts (), featuring works by Recology AIR alumni created during and after their residencies. Open by appointment from July 18–September 3, 2026 at Heron Arts (7 Heron St, San Francisco).

Join us this Saturday, August 22 from 1 - 3 PM for a special exhibition walk through. Visit the link in our bio to learn more! 🎨♻️

💫 Featured artist Nasim Moghadam () was a 2024 Recology Artist-in-Residence. Swipe through to explore highlights from her residency exhibition, “Echoes of the Shattered.”

Nasim Moghadam, a multidisciplinary installation-based artist, explores discrimination, hyphenated identity, and the constraints placed on women, their body and their voices in her work, crafting narratives inspired by global endeavors for women’s unalienable rights. Meticulously exploring materials symbolizing femininity and societal constraints, she allows materials to guide her creative process and shape the trajectory of her work. Born in Iran, Moghadam holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and serves as an Adjunct Professor at the California College of the Arts and Foothill College. She has earned awards from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, H.A.R.D. Foundation, and an Outstanding Graduate Award from SFAI. She has also received fellowships and residencies at Kala Art Institute, Cubberley Artist Studio Program, and Building 180.

Her works have been featured in international festivals in Italy, Japan, and New York, as well as at venues such as SFMOMA, SOMArts, San Francisco Art Commission, Museum of Craft and Design, Southern Exposure, Minnesota Street Project, Aggregate Space Gallery, Root Division, Kala Art Gallery, and O’Hanlon Center.

✨CALL FOR STUDENT ARTISTS✨The Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco is seeking applications from local B...
08/14/2026

✨CALL FOR STUDENT ARTISTS✨

The Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco is seeking applications from local Bay Area college and university students for residencies beginning February 2027.

The awarded three student artists will receive a four-month residency at the San Francisco Transfer Station, access to discarded materials, an unrestricted monthly stipend, and additional support. We encourage emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in all disciplines to apply, including painters, textile artists, photographers, printmakers, those working in film, video and new media, and conceptual and installation artists. Applicants must live within a one-hour-drive of Recology San Francisco, *currently enrolled in a Bay Area university or college at the time of application and full duration of the residency.

*CCA exception: Students originally slated to enroll after the school's closure in May 2027 will still be eligible to apply, even though they are no longer enrolled at CCA.

Before submitting your application, you are required to join an in-person AIR tour (we recommend attending before you begin writing your proposal). You must repeat if it has been more than three years since your last tour. Tours can be booked on Eventbrite at recologyair.eventbrite.com. Applications accepted through SlideRoom at recologyair.slideroom.com.

🔗 Learn more about how to apply and book a tour via the links in our bio!

🗓Deadline: September 1, 2026

Image: Haley Mae Caranto, Broke to Bloom, 2026

♻🎨🛒

✨CALL FOR ARTISTS✨The Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco is seeking applications from Bay Area artist...
08/07/2026

✨CALL FOR ARTISTS✨

The Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco is seeking applications from Bay Area artists for residencies beginning February 2027.

The awarded applicants (six professional and three student artists) will receive a four-month residency at the San Francisco Transfer Station, access to discarded materials, an unrestricted monthly stipend, and additional support. We encourage emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in all disciplines to apply, including painters, textile artists, photographers, printmakers, those working in film, video and new media, and conceptual and installation artists. Applicants must live within a one-hour-drive of Recology San Francisco.

Before submitting your application, you are required to join an in-person AIR tour (we recommend attending before you begin writing your proposal). You must repeat if it has been more than three years since your last tour. Tours can be booked on Eventbrite at recologyair.eventbrite.com. Applications accepted through SlideRoom at recologyair.slideroom.com.

🔗 Learn more about how to apply and book a tour via the links in our bio!

🗓Deadline: September 1, 2026

Image: Miguel Novelo, Foto Fantasma 0-19 (detail), 2026

♻🎨🛒

✨CALL FOR STUDENT ARTISTS✨The Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco is seeking applications from local B...
07/31/2026

✨CALL FOR STUDENT ARTISTS✨

The Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco is seeking applications from local Bay Area college and university students for residencies beginning February 2027.

The awarded three student artists will receive a four-month residency at the San Francisco Transfer Station, access to discarded materials, an unrestricted monthly stipend, and additional support. We encourage emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in all disciplines to apply, including painters, textile artists, photographers, printmakers, those working in film, video and new media, and conceptual and installation artists. Applicants must live within a one-hour-drive of Recology San Francisco, *currently enrolled in a Bay Area university or college at the time of application and full duration of the residency.

*CCA exception: Students originally slated to enroll after the school's closure in May 2027 will still be eligible to apply, even though they are no longer enrolled at CCA.

Before submitting your application, you are required to join an in-person AIR tour (we recommend attending before you begin writing your proposal). You must repeat if it has been more than three years since your last tour. Tours can be booked on Eventbrite at recologyair.eventbrite.com. Applications accepted through SlideRoom at recologyair.slideroom.com.

🔗 Learn more about how to apply and book a tour via the links in our bio!

🗓Deadline: September 1, 2026

Image: Elizabeth Estrada, according to (detail), 2025

♻🎨🛒

✨CALL FOR ARTISTS✨The Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco is seeking applications from Bay Area artist...
07/24/2026

✨CALL FOR ARTISTS✨

The Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco is seeking applications from Bay Area artists for residencies beginning February 2027.

The awarded applicants (six professional and three student artists) will receive a four-month residency at the San Francisco Transfer Station, access to discarded materials, an unrestricted monthly stipend, and additional support. We encourage emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in all disciplines to apply, including painters, textile artists, photographers, printmakers, those working in film, video and new media, and conceptual and installation artists. Applicants must live within a one-hour-drive of Recology San Francisco.

Before submitting your application, you are required to join an in-person AIR tour (we recommend attending before you begin writing your proposal). You must repeat if it has been more than three years since your last tour. Tours can be booked on Eventbrite at recologyair.eventbrite.com. Applications accepted through SlideRoom at recologyair.slideroom.com.

🔗 Learn more about how to apply and book a tour via the links in our bio!

🗓Deadline: September 1, 2026

Image: Michael Hall, Handle with Care (detail), 2025

♻🎨🛒

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