NATURE - BOUNDARY
Panel Conversation
Anja Ulfeldt, Carla Fisher Schwartz, moderated by Julianna Heller and Chance Cutrano
This panel features artists Carla Fisher Schwartz and Anja Ulfeldt in a conversation about how natural landscapes are translated between physical environments and digital spaces, and how these shifts shape the way we see and understand nature.
The discussion is co-moderated by Chance Cutrano, a climate and conservation leader, and Julianna Heller, a curatorial fellow and curator of IN FLUX.
Grounded in the Bay Area’s ecological context, the conversation explores how technologies such as mapping and 3D scanning intersect with lived environmental conditions, ecological impacts, and responsibilities.
ABOUT THE PANEL
Carla Fisher Schwartz is a visual artist and educator based in Oakland, CA. Her studio practice investigates the relationship between the mapped image and contemporary notions of exploration, virtuality, and the simulated environment through print media, sculpture and video installation. Her art has been exhibited at venues including the Chicago Artists Coalition (Chicago, IL), the Contemporary Print Media Research Center at UC Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA), The Mission Projects (Chicago, IL) and Gallery 263 (Cambridge, MA). Recent residencies include Stove Works (Chattanooga, TN), Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts (Nebraska City, NE) and Terrain Residency (Springfield, IL). She has been awarded the Cleve Carney Gallery One: Emerging Artist Award, a Vermont Studio Center Fellowship and a Paris Studio Residency at the Cite internationale des artes in Paris. Fisher Schwartz received her MFA in Visual Arts from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was awarded the Bell Cramer Award in Printmaking, and her BA in Studio Art from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is an Assistant Professor of Pictorial Art specializing in Digital and Hybrid Processes in the Department of Art and Art History at San José State University.
Chance Cutrano is a Bay Area-based climate and conservation leader whose work spans public lands protection, working-lands conservation, ecosystem and biodiversity restoration, and the defense of healthy rivers and oceans across Northern California and the United States. As Director of Programs at the Resource Renewal Institute, he bridges scientific research, policy advocacy, community organizing, and emerging environmental innovation to build climate resilience for communities and the ecosystems they depend on. A former Mayor of Fairfax and Marin County Transportation Commissioner, he brings deep experience in public governance and environmental policy. He serves on the board of International Rivers—a global organization that protects free-flowing rivers and the rights of communities that depend on them. He is a 2025 Sierra Club Visionary Award recipient, 2024 Coro Lead Bay Area Fellow, a 2023 J.M.K. Innovation Prize winner, and a participant in the 2023 de Young Open.
Anja Ulfeldt is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and project-based researcher whose work bridges sculpture, environmental science, and emerging technologies. Her practice focuses on climate-responsive installations, participatory systems, and site-specific projects that explore fog, water, infrastructure, and ecological memory. She grew up in Berkeley, CA, earned her BFA from California College of the Arts in 2001 and her MFA from Stanford University in 2014, and currently teaches while leading collaborative art–science initiatives that integrate public engagement, experimental fabrication, and digital media.
Julianna Heller is a curator and writer whose work centers on experimental exhibitions, interdisciplinary research, and artist-driven public programs. She holds an MA in Curatorial Practice from California College of the Arts and a BA in Art History from Emory University. She has organized exhibitions at the Wattis Institute, Diego Rivera Gallery, and Root Division, and has worked with Bay Area art organizations including FOR-SITE, Saint Joseph’s Arts Society, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, and 500 Capp Street. Julianna’s practice is grounded in a commitment to community, collaboration, and the politics of space.