When ceramicist Cathy Lu graduated from San Francisco Art Institute in 2010, she felt a little lost. She was working a retail job and didn’t have much money. She did have some friends at Root Division, however, and she applied for one of the community organization’s subsidized art studios.
“It made it affordable. It made me able to make art,” Lu told 48hills. “I got to teach through them, like sewing workshops. And the community is great. A lot of my best friends now are from Root Division.”
Lu recently moved back to the Bay Area to be an assistant professor at UC Berkeley’s ceramics department, after teaching at Tufts University for two years. And now, she’s being honored at Root Division’s Thu/23 benefit art auction.
Demetri Broxton, RD’s executive director, says Lu not only held one of her first major Bay Area exhibitions with the organization—she also embodies its ethos.
“It was kind of a coming-out of this really amazing artist that we all love and know her to be,” Broxton said. “This year at Flourish [another Root Division fundraiser], we made the move to honor artists, and we wanted to keep that momentum going. The whole idea is to make sure that everyone recognizes and realizes we center them, and it’s not just their artwork. It’s about the potential that Root Division has to propel an artist to the next level of their career. And Cathy Lu is the very best example that we could think of.”
Lu and about 160 other artists contributed art to the auction, and more than two dozen galleries—including Jonathan Carver Moore, Berggruen, Glass Rice, and Catharine Clark—are partners for the event.
In Broxton’s eyes, that speaks to how beloved the organization really is, and much how people want to support its unique model: 20 artist studios with rents at around half the market rate, free arts education to 900 low-income youth in San Francisco public schools every year, and exhibitions that are free to attend.
“We’re not only showing the artists in our studios, we showcase the works of over 200 additional artists each year,” Broxton said. “Every single artwork sold, every single raise of the paddle, every dollar that comes in helps us sustain this vital and creative ecosystem that we have here in the SoMa district.”
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Like Lu, painter and ArtSpan exhibitions and partnership lead Shrey Purohit is donating work to the auction. Purohit says he is inspired by the studio space he has had at Root Division since mid-June.
“I love the way that they form the artist cohorts, and they really treat us all like a community, in contrast to other studio buildings that just kind of pit us against each other,” he says. “We host a monthly artist critique where the artists go around and see the other artist studios and talk about their work. There’s a lot of friendly supportiveness.”
“To have a space amongst all this great art, like the exhibitions they have, leveled up the way I think about the work,” he continued. “On my way to my studio, I have to go through this large exhibition hall, and it feels like I’m really in touch with the art world.”
Elena Gross, director of exhibitions and public programs at the GLBT Historical Society, has figured on panels at Root Division. Earlier this month, she was part of a curatorial walk-through for collectors. Gross said she’s glad to give her time to help the organization.
“I think it’s one of the places where emerging artists especially can get an opportunity,” she said. “It helps to launch them further into their practice.”
Root Division is particularly dependent on its community for support nowadays, Broxton said.
“We no longer have access to federal funding for the arts, unless it’s around celebrating America at 250 years and dedicated to American exceptionalism [per the Trump administration’s new grantmaking priorities],” he said. “That creates a situation where we are all scrambling for the same funding from foundations, and we’re constantly getting letters that foundations have received record numbers of applications, like double what they’ve ever received.”
Such dark days make it all the more important for the auction not be just a way to support a great organization—it’s a lot of fun.
“It’s a rare opportunity to only collect local art, oftentimes at a bargain price, right? You have the opportunity to pay less than the retail value and walk away with incredible, extraordinary artwork from artists here in the Bay Area,” Broxton said. “You get to interact with the artists, the curators, and the gallerists. And we have amazing food this year! It’s a good time. We’re going to have good music, good food, good art, and beautiful people.”
ROOT DIVISION ART AUCTION October 23. Root Division, SF. Tickets and more info here. Catch Emily Wilson’s interview with Demetri Broxton on her podcast Art is Awesome here.
