The artists

Founders

Leslie Kuo
www.localcolor.de

Leslie is a designer, artist, librarian and diversity advocate. She was born in 1981 in California and received her bachelor’s degree in plant biology at Yale University in 2003, where she met Sara Bouchard.

Since 2006, she has been based primarily in Berlin, working on independent and client projects about food, community, culture and nature. In 2014, her interest in working with communities and inclusion led her to earn her Master’s of Library and Information Science at the Humboldt University in Berlin. She is now working on increasing diversity in public libraries. Her library practice includes fostering collaborations between the public libraries and local artists who are immigrants and/or of color. Happily, the diversity office happens to be located in a “green library” where the staff has introduced indoor farming in the reading rooms!

Leslie has exhibited in Berlin, New York, Honolulu and beyond. She has worked as an artist-in-residence in Berlin’s Lichtenberg and Gropiusstadt neighborhoods.

Sara Bouchard
www.sarabouchard.com

Sara Bouchard is a multidisciplinary artist and composer who uses sound, installation, works on paper and performance to interweave American histories and the landscape. She is currently based in Richmond, VA, where she teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts.

Born in Stockton, CA, she received her BA in painting from Yale University in 2003, where she met Leslie Kuo.

She was subsequently based in Brooklyn, NY, for 13 years where she embedded herself in her local community through socially engaged art practices and American roots music. In 2017 she relocated to Richmond, VA, to study with sound artist Stephen Vitiello, receiving her MFA from VCUarts in 2019. Sara has exhibited internationally, including at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (CT), The Center for Book Arts (NYC) and in the Berlin Underground (Germany). She has performed extensively, including at The American Folk Art Museum (NYC) and numerous festivals. Her work is in a growing number of public collections, including the Princeton University Library (NJ) and the University of Richmond Library (VA). She is a 2018 CultureWorks grant recipient.

Contributors

Phoebe Kuo
http://www.phoebekuo.com

Megan Mock
http://www.meganmock.com