Jerry Ross Barrish, 4th generation San Franciscan, studied sculpture and film at San Francisco Art Institute from 1970-1975 on the GI Bill. After receiving his BFA & MFA, Barrish completed three feature-length narrative films. Returning to sculpture in 1989, working in figurative assemblage of plastic found materials, represented in many permanent collections including The Oakland Museum of California, Berkeley Art Museum, Crocker Museum and, San Jose Art Museum. His 16-foot bronze commission “Bayview Horn” is installed at The Shipyard, new redevelopment area in the southern portion of San Francisco.

Barrish resides in Pacifica, where he serves as Artistic Director at Sanchez Art Center. He has recently moved his sculpture studio to a remodeled warehouse at 33 Bartlett Street in the Mission District in San Francisco.

Barrish is the subject of William Farley’s documentary feature film “Plastic Man, the artful life of Jerry Ross Barrish.” Barrish says, “If you watch the film, you’ll know more about me than my mother did.” www.jerrybarrish.com

Lynn Verschoor attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from South Dakota State University, her Master of Science degree in information media and instructional design from St Cloud State University and her Master of Fine Arts from the University of South Dakota. For the past 30 years she worked in the museum field as a gallery director, curator and for the past 20 years as the Director of the South Dakota Art Museum.

Janis Plotkin’s work as a community organizer led her to develop an early interest in film as a tool for communicating values, history and culture. Janis helped to program and produce the groundbreaking San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the first and largest film festival of its kind, where she was instrumental in building diverse audiences that reached 35,000 attendees, and programmed local broadcasts on public television KQED. She is currently Senior Film Programmer for the Mill Valley Film Festival. She has taught undergraduate film classes at Stanford University, University of California, Davis and San Francisco State University. In 2010 Plotkin joined with film colleague, William Farley to produce the documentary Plastic Man: The Artful Life of Jerry Ross Barrish.


About the Film: PLASTIC MAN: THE ARTFUL LIFE OF JERRY ROSS BARRISH
Directed by William Farley, Produced by Janis Plotkin

Sometimes an individual is compelled, in the face of daunting odds, to find his identity by making art and becoming an artist...

Jerry Barrish was the product of a hardworking family of Jewish boxing enthusiasts vaguely connected to the mob. It was these connections that got him started in the bail bonds business. Then he broke the mold, becoming the bailout guy for radical sixties protestors. “Don’t’ Perish in jail, call Barrish for Bail” was an anthem for a generation. Inspired by the times, he went one step further, embarking on a hero’s journey where art may be his salvation…

http://www.plasticmanbarrish.com/