In a world that seems so dark and overwhelming, it helps to make clearings to think. It’s now been 14 years since I started turning off my screens one day a week. It is still the day I rush towards. Just for a moment, to turn off everything coming at me, to hear what I’m thinking and feeling. Especially in these very intense days of world events, it allows me some space to try to gain perspective and figure out what I can do, as I extract myself from the warping cycle of news, email, text, and social.  

It was the best thing we did as a family when our kids were young, as I wrote about in my book 24/6. Now with Odessa almost 21 in college, and Blooma almost 15, and a full-fledged teen, it’s less of a family unit experience, but it is still a refuge. We still have our weekly Shabbats, with the best meal and conversations of the week and long walks in nature...a day with all laptops, phones, screens of any kind turned off, to give me the perspective I lose during the week.

I also still look forward to going back online on Saturday night each week to find out what has happened in the world. Lately, I'm always hoping -- each day -- that the hostages are released and there is bilateral ceasefire... some movement away from hate and towards reconciliation. I think about Northern Ireland and I've been listening to organizations like "A Land for All" whose mission states "a shared movement of Israelis and Palestinians who believe that the way towards peace, security and stability for all passes through two independent states, Israel and Palestine, within a joint framework allowing both peoples to live together and apart," recognizing both are indigenous to the land. You can watch their one-hour zoom here. Another organization I have written about before is Standing Together. led by a Palestinian (Sally Abed) and an Israeli (Alon-Lee Green). Both organizations offer important perspectives. I don't how we are going to get to a place where both Israelis and Palestinians have a homeland and peace, without anti-semitism and hate directed at anyone, but it's all I hope for.

In this month’s newsletter lots of art, books, things to check out. A full list below.

Love,

Tiffany

PS: This coming Thursday night in SF, please join me for a talk I'll be giving about my sculpture Dendrofemonology: The Feminist History Tree Ring on the National Mall and where it's headed next at a great spot in the city...More info below and RSVP here  

PPS. We have been working hard on our new film,The Teen Brain, coming out at the end of March.

PPPS: April 8, 2024 is the full solar eclipse. (It's also my birthday.)  I once heard that seeing the totality, when the whole sun is blocked by the moon, can make a religious person become an atheist and an atheist become religious...That definitely sounds like something I need to experience. The last solar eclipse, in 2017, my daughters and I donned our special solar glasses and joined the hordes of people on Mt. Tam in the middle of fog so thick we couldn't see anything. So this time, I am determined to experience the totality firsthand, so I'm am traveling with my family to Mazatlan, Mexico, one of the cities in the path of the totality.  Here is a list of the other places you can see it.

Forwarded this newsletter and want to receive them? Subscribe here

* Solo Exhibition at Nancy Hoffman Gallery in Chelsea in NYC opens September 5
* Exhibition with Ken Goldberg for Getty PST Art & Science Collide at the Skirball Cultural Center in LA, opens October 17

In this issue, things to ponder from Sharon Brous and Clarence Jones; art from Nancy Koenigsberg & Jody Guralnick at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, Adam Silverman at the Skirball Cultural Center, Jock McDonald at di Rosa, Young Artists for the Planet and Gertrud Parker at Marin MOCA, Day Jobs at Cantor Arts Center, Making Their Mark from the Shah Garg Foundation, the Unknown Museum at SFO, and Hayv Kahraman at ICASF; events from Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Bioneer's Conference, Esther Perel, Shi(f)t Happens, and Mill Valley Music Festival; things to watch from Abby Ginzberg, Talks by Dr. Sophia Yen, and Jocelyn Mangan; books from Dr. Michael Rich, Ellen Galinsky, Scott Snibe and Charan Rangarath; and new projects from my family's next generation: Odessa, nieces Claire Brooks and Maya Man and nephew Chella Man. 

With a rich history of female artists from Ruth Asawa's breastfeeding sculpture to Barbara Stauffacher Solomon designing the main sign at Ghirardelli Square, I'm honored to be asked to share highlights from Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring installed on the National Mall in DC last fall and our plans of where the moveable monument is headed next in 2024 at the COL Gallery, this Thursday, March 21 6pm to 8pm.

RSVP here

This NYTimes op-ed by Rabbi Sharon Brous feels like just the words to read right now.

I was supposed to get this newsletter out weeks ago but was head down on my new film, so this show just closed but please do check out the amazing work by Nancy Koenigsbeg & Jody Guralnick at Nancy Hoffman Gallery's website here.

This show by David Silverman at the Skirball Cultural Center, on view through January 2025, features pottery made from clay, water, and ash from all fifty American states, Washington DC, and the five inhabited US Territories, to celebrate American pluralism and fostering human connection. This is where Ken and I will have our exhibition for the Getty's PST Art & Science Collide initiative this fall, opening Oct 17. 

Jock McDonald is a dear friend and a great artist who has a powerful projection at the di Rosa Center. Be sure to check it out along with the other show there, LIGHTFAST: Intertwine.

For Earth Day 2024, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art is connecting middle and high school with professional artists to explore creative responses to climate change. I'm happy to participate working with young artists from Marin City for a day at my studio to create an artwork together. You can see an exhibition of the resulting works from all the different groups of artists and youth April 22 – 29 with an opening reception on Earth Day, April 22, 5:00 – 6:30 pm. And be sure to check out the exhibition Gertrud Parker: The Impossible  (1924-2021) "who made radical experimentation with craft and materials (she worked with guts) the wellspring of her extraordinary, decades-long practice" before it closes on March 31.

This show, featuring work by Barbara Kruger and Ken's and my good friend Julia Scher and many others, examines how artists' day jobs can offer outlets for creative growth.

This blockbuster show curated by Cecilia Alemani features works from 80+ of the most significant women artists from the last 80 years. This is one of the last weeks it's open. Run don't walk to see it.

In the 70's there was a magical place in my hometown of Mill Valley called the Unknown Museum. It was a foundational art experience for me. This show at the San Francisco Airport will be featuring work from there. Terminal 2. 

Hayv's work is so surreal and powerful.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's Restless Leg Tour is so good.  

The 2024 Bioneers Conference aims to "bring our best minds together to solve the world's biggest problems." My father used to speak at this conference a lot.

Esther Perel is such a brilliant relationship therapist. Don't miss her current tour bringing her wisdom to several cities across the US.

This summit meeting aims to empower women, girls and nonbinary people with the education, tools and resources they need to build the future we want led by the always powerful Kimberly Ellis. 

I love that Mill Valley has a first-class music festival; I go every year. The 2024 Mill Valley Music Festival features a great lineup -- don't miss.

This documentary about the funny, feminist, political leader Liz Carpenter screened at SXSW -- the perfect venue for a film about a Texas legend.  Definitely keep an eye out for this film.

Watch the video here from the always wise Dr. Sophia Yen to learn her philosophy about periods here. 

Jocelyn Mangan's TEDx talk on the need for diverse representation on boards is a must-watch.

Charan Rangarath's new book about memory and its potential is fascinating.

Almost out: Pre-order; Ellen Galinsky's fantastic new book upends the conventional wisdom about adolescence to show that it's one of the most exciting and promising eras of life. We loved working with Ellen on her research for our upcoming film The Teen Brain.

Just published: Dr. Michael Rich's new book is essential reading for parents navigating the digital age.  Dr. Rich was also such a great interview and resource for our upcoming film.

This smart, funny book breaks down everything you need to know about the most awkward phase of life. Essential reading for preteen parents. Vanessa also drops wisdom for our new film!

In Chelsey Goodan new book, on the "wisdom and power" of teenage girls, she shares what they have to teach the rest of us.

This book is a wonderful guide to raising happy and healthy sons.

Scott Snibbe's new book lays out an eight-step plan to a happier life geared towards people who don't believe in that sort of thing. For all the SKEPTICS. 

Kvelling over all the amazing projects from the next generation of our family!

Odessa has a beautiful mind. Her weekly newsletters are a peak inside of it. You can read it here and subscribe here.

So proud of my talented niece Claire Brooks for having her music featured on NPR! I love this song so much.

My niece Maya Man's new book that highlights her art project playing with the culture of Instagram inspirational sayings is so good. 

My nephew Chella Man's has an upcoming show with the Jewish Museum at Performance Space NY in May. Looking forward to it.

I was so moved by this message from MLK's speechwriter Clarence Jones.

Until next time....love, Tiffany

Did a friend forward you this email? You can sign up yourself here.