Deirdre Visser

For more than two decades, Deirdre Visser — queer writer, artist, and curator based in San Fran­cisco — has pursued oppor­tu­ni­ties to make visible unheard or too-long buried stories with the goals of nour­ish­ing discourse across differ­ence, build­ing commu­nity, and advanc­ing civic partic­i­pa­tion. As Curator of the Arts at CIIS, she devel­oped an exhi­bi­tion and publi­ca­tion program ampli­fy­ing the work of emerg­ing and mid-career artists, focused partic­u­larly on under­rep­re­sented voices. Then in 2019 Deirdre co-curated with Laura Mays the largest ever exhi­bi­tion of women wood­work­ers, Making a Seat at the Table, which opened at the Museum for Art in Wood in Philadel­phia that fall. Rooted in the same research, in 2022 she published the first ever history of women and gender non-conform­ing makers in wood, Joinery, Joists and Gender: A History of Wood­work­ing for the 21st Century. Today she is Curator of Applied Tech­nol­ogy at the Randall Museum in San Fran­cisco and she contin­ues to write at the inter­sec­tion of labor history and wood.

Topics / Strengths:
Developing a sustainable creative practice
Bridging art & craft
Exploring gender identity in craft
Building / designing an exhibition