Color of My Dreams (2002)

ZEUM, the Richmond Health Center and San Francisco State Fine Arts Gallery; Conceived by Seyed Alavi (seyedsite/publicart); Directed by Emily Keeler and Camille Olivier-Salmon; “The Color of My Dreams” involved artists and teachers working closely with the young artists in workshops and art classes in which they explored the metamorphosis of the butterfly as a symbol for transformation. They studied the process of change as a natural order in the universe, examining the needs and reasons for change, and finally exploring such related notions as hope and healing. Afterwards, the students utilized pre-cut paper butterflies as their “blank canvas”, on which to express their individual feelings and discoveries through a variety of mediums and materials. The exhibition was first mounted on the ceiling of the circular lobby of the ZEUM tower in The Yerba Buena Center. It then traveled to other locations including the Richmond Arts Center and The Fine Arts Gallery at San Francisco State where the exhibition was part of a group Co-Lab: New Generations, show organized by the San Francisco Arts Commission in conjunction with that University.