Panel: Women in Public Art

As San Francisco pushes to increase the representation of women in public art, three leading artists are shaping how women are seen and celebrated in the city, infusing the Bay Area landscape with powerful narratives of identity, history, activism and community. Moderated by Sarah Hotchkiss, artist and arts writer.

The panel discussion features Lava Thomas, Mildred Howard and Cheryl Derricotte—three accomplished artists who are making significant contributions to public art in the Bay Area. This conversation celebrates the unveiling of Lava Thomas’s "Maya Angelou: Portrait of a Phenomenal Woman" sculpture at the Larkin Street entrance of the Main Library. While San Francisco’s recent ordinance mandates that 30 percent of public art and street names honor women, the city's public spaces still reflect a history of underrepresentation. These artists will share their experiences navigating the challenges and opportunities of creating public art in a landscape where women’s voices are only beginning to be heard.

Lava Thomas addresses race, gender, representation and memorialization through a multidisciplinary practice that includes drawing, painting, photography, sculpture and installations. Rooted in her family's Southern heritage and inspired by socio-political events, intersectional feminism, and African American traditions, Thomas's work focuses on visibility, healing and empowerment in the face of erasure and trauma.

Thomas studied at UCLA's School of Art Practice and earned a BFA from California College of the Arts. She has received several awards, including the 2021 Academy of Arts and Letters Purchase Prize, the 2020 San Francisco Artadia Award and a 2019-2021 Lucas Artists Fellowship at Montalvo Arts Center. Her residencies include Facebook Los Angeles, Headlands Center for the Arts and Djerassi Resident Artist Program.

Their work has been exhibited nationwide in institutions such as the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum of the African Diaspora and the California African American Museum. Her art is held in the permanent collections of major institutions, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Studio Museum in Harlem. Her work has been featured in Artforum, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Hyperallergic and more.

Thomas is represented by Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco.

Mildred Howard is an acclaimed artist known for her sculptural installations and mixed-media assemblages. Her work has been exhibited in major galleries and museums across the U.S. and internationally, including SFMOMA, the de Young Museum and venues in Berlin, London and Paris. Her pieces are also held in the permanent collections of institutions like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Oakland Museum of California.

Born in 1945 in San Francisco and raised in South Berkeley, Howard was influenced by her parents' activism in civil rights and labor unions. She earned an MFA from John F. Kennedy University in 1985 and began her career in the early 1980s, initially as a dancer before transitioning to visual art. Howard's installations often explore themes of home, belonging and the impact of gentrification, with notable works like her 2005 red glass house at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma and her 2019 "TAP: Investigation of Memory" at the Oakland Museum of California.

Howard has received numerous accolades, including the Adaline Kent Award, two Rockefeller Fellowships and the Joan Mitchell Award. In addition to her art, she has contributed to community education programs, served as executive director of The Edible Schoolyard and taught at institutions like Stanford and Brown Universities. In 2023, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by California State University, East Bay.

Howard is represented by Anglim/Trimble in San Francisco.

Cheryl Derricotte is a visual artist. Her favorite medium is glass, and she also makes work on paper and textiles. Originally from Washington, DC, she lives and makes art in San Francisco, CA. Her art has been featured in the New York Times, The Guardian, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, KQED, MerciSF and the San Francisco Business Times. 

Derricotte was recently named a 2024 Emerging Public Artist at the international CODAworx Summit. In 2021, She was awarded the commission to develop a monument to Harriet Tubman at the transit-oriented development Gateway at Millbrae Station, the first sculptural tribute to the abolitionist in glass. Entitled “Freedom’s Threshold,” the monument was unveiled on March 16, 2023.

Her work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Glass, the deYoung Museum, the Historic New Orleans Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, the San Francisco Public Library and the National Association of Homebuilders. Cheryl holds a B.A. in Urban Affairs (Minor: History), Barnard College, Columbia University; the Master of Regional Planning, Cornell University and the Master of Fine Arts, California Institute of Integral Studies. A licensed city planner and member of the American Institute of Certified Planners since 1995, she served as the inaugural Professional Development Officer of the new Arts and Planning Division of the American Planning Association for three years from 2021 – 2024.

Derricotte is represented by re.riddle San Francisco.

Sarah Hotchkiss is a San Francisco artist and arts writer. In 2019, she received the Dorothea & Leo Rabkin Foundation grant for visual art journalism and in 2020 she received a Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California award for excellence in arts and culture reporting.

Connect:

Lava Thomas - Website | Lava Thomas - Instagram 

Mildred Howard - Instagram

Cheryl Derricotte - Website | Cheryl Derricotte - Instagram

Sarah Hotchkiss - Website | Sara Hotchkiss - Instagram