JD Beltran

JD Beltran is a conceptual artist, designer, filmmaker, writer, and educator. Her award-winning work, which blends the narrative and abstract in investigating how materials tell stories, has been screened and exhibited internationally, including at the Walker Art Center, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The M.H. de Young Museum, The Getty Center, The Kitchen in New York, the MIT Media Lab, Cité des Ondes Vidéo et Art Électronique in Montreal, ProArte in St. Petersburg, Russia, The Fei Contemporary Art Center in Shanghai, China, the Kyrgyzstan National Museum, YBCA, the Singapore Digital MediaFest, Cite Des Ondes Video Et Art Electronique in Montreal, Canada, Sesto Senso in Bologna, Italy, Festival VIDEOFORMES in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Ping Pong Gallery in Guanzhou, China, the Ingenuity Festival in Cleveland, Ohio, the Biennale for Electronic Arts in Perth, Australia, and in the 2006, 2008, and 2012 ZeroOne New Media Biennials. The Cinema Snowglobe, her collaboration with Scott Minneman, achieved the international New Technological Art Award in 2014 with an exhibition in Ghent, Belgium in November 2014. She's been commissioned for public art projects in San Francisco, San Jose, Cleveland, Ohio, and St. Petersburg, Russia. Her work has been reviewed in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe, NPR, Wired Magazine, Art in America, ArtNews, the New Art Examiner, Art Practical, Art Papers, ID Magazine, 7x7, and Dwell. Her San Jose public art project was recognized in 2009 as one of the most outstanding public art projects in the country by the Public Art Network, and her "Magic Story Table" project in San Francisco, a collaboration with Scott Minneman, was recognized as one of the top interactive designs for 2010 internationally by I.D. Magazine. She's also been awarded grants by Artadia, the Workshop Residence, Stochastic Labs, the San Francisco Arts Commission, a Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Fellowship, and residencies at the Skowhegan School, the Pilchuck School (Hauberg Fellowship), the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Montalvo Arts Center. She has written columns on art and culture for both SFGate.com and the Huffington Post, and is a member of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. Beltran is the President of the San Francisco Arts Commission and is also faculty in the Film, New Genres, and Art & Technology Programs of the San Francisco Art Institute, where she also directs the school’s City Studio arts education program for under-served youth. She is also Adjunct Faculty in Graduate Design at the California College of the Arts.