Temescal Amity Works is a two-year project by Susanne Cockrell and Ted Purves, sited in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland, where we also live. We maintain a storefront, a series of free publications, a website and a crop-sharing program called the Big Backyard. The Big Backyard is formed around a pushcart that we use to collect surplus fruit from neighborhood yards, which we give away at our storefront or re-distribute in the form of collective preserves and marmalades.

Our events and programs, such as neighborhood walks, movie screenings and thematic public meetings build on this contact. We publish a series of free postcards and maps that are made available at our storefront, local bookstores, cafes and libraries. One of our central concerns is to construct an aesthetic sense of communication that carries through these varied forms in a resonant and poetic manner.

We consider the project to be a social sculpture that specifically draws on models such as mutual-aid societies, barn-raisings, DIY collectives and urban communism. We are interested in how a specific community builds relationships through its personal and transactional economies, as well as how our project might overlay itself onto those relationships and brings them into a new focus.

Temescal Amity Works is created in collaboration with the Temescal Merchants Association and ProArts, and is funded by the Oakland Cultural Arts Fund, the Creative Capital Foundation and the Creative Work Fund.

If you would like to participate in the produce sharing or have any other questions about the project, flag us down when you see our cart rolling through the neighborhood. Alternatively, you can email us at bigbackyard@amityworks.org