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WALKS   WORDS   UPCOMING
Former Fresnans (2012-ongoing)

Former Fresnans is an imaginary sculpture park in Fresno’s Tower District, based on the ancient Greek technique of the memory palace. Built with former Fresnan’s living in London, New York City, San Francisco and Oakland, each sculpture records the memories of a walk between two places the former Fresnan considered home in their new city. For more information on the project, see my interview with Donald Munro in The Fresno Bee or my book chapter in New Directions in Radical Cartography.

The memory palace contains work created in collaboration with Courtney Amchislavsky, Kelsey Bergstrom, Duane Boutte, Tiffany Chandler, Andrew Guagliardo, Richard Giddens, Kenney Greene, Erin Jacoby Hickman, Kahliah Laney, Alex Lawrence, Phoebe Lehr, Patrick McNaughton, Bryan Miller, Carla Ogden, CeCe Olesa, Richard Sanchez, Ashley Semrick DesRochers, Grace Poole, Brett Van Aalsburg, Robert Voris, & Justin Weatherby.

I am always looking for former Fresnans  for one-on-one walks. Email blakemwalks@gmail.com to set one up.

A cherry tree with a large knothole in the back alley of Good Company Player’s Second Space. Inside the knothole is a chess board, with pieces resembling the Roosevelt School of the Arts’ Class of 2000. Created with Justin Weatherby.

Former Fresnans is sponsored by the Fresno Arts Council, who provide organizational support and fiscal receivership for the project.