curriculum vitae

EDUCATION

Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Cambridge, MA. 2001-2004.                                                               
• Master in Landscape Architecture, First Professional Degree program.

Stanford University. Stanford, CA. 1996-2000.                                                                 
• B.A. With Distinction in Human Biology; concentration in “Human and Biological Diversity.”
• Phi Beta Kappa.

College Semester Abroad program, “Madagascar:  Ecology and Conservation.” 1998.
• Offered by the School for International Training, Brattleboro, VT.

GALLERY AFFILIATIONS

Hang Art Gallery.  San Francisco, CA. 2018-present.

City Art Cooperative Gallery.  San Francisco, CA. 2017-2018.

RESIDENCIES

Mountain Seas Art and Wilderness Retreat. Flinders Island, Australia. 2017.

Gullkistan Center for Creativity. Laugarvatn, Iceland. 2017.

EXHIBITIONS

Art on Paper (Hang Art group exhibition). New York, NY. 2022.

Seattle Art Fair (Hang Art group exhibition). Seattle, WA. 2022.

Fractal Plein (duo exhibition). Hang Art, San Francisco, CA. 2020.

Ecological Niche (duo exhibition). Hang Art, San Francisco, CA. 2019.

ArtSpan Benefit Art Auction (group exhibition). San Francisco, CA. 2019 & 2020.

Climate Art Show (group exhibition). Earth Action Initiative Conference, UC Berkeley. Berkeley, CA. 2019.

CONTEXT ArtMiami (Hang Art group exhibition). Miami, FL. 2018.

Isolations (solo exhibition). The Source LGBT+ Center, Visalia, CA. 2018.

2017 Northstar Watermedia Society National Exhibition (national juried exhibition; juror David Feinberg).  Blaine City Center, Blaine, MN. 2017.

Art-in-Neighborhoods Exhibitions. Mission Bowling Club, Ritual Coffee, Hotel Adagio, The Marker Hotel, & The Mosser Hotel, San Francisco, CA. 2016-2017.

SNAP! (Bay Area juried exhibition; jurors Priscilla Otani, Stephen C. Wagner & Michael Yochum). Arc Gallery & Studios, San Francisco, CA. 2017.

Fusion (national juried exhibition; juror Olivia Ongpin). Arc Gallery & Studios, San Francisco, CA. 2015.

Earth Compressions (solo exhibition). Guren Art Gallery, The Cleveland Botanical Garden. Cleveland, OH. 2011.

University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center (institutional collection). Beachwood, OH. Installed 2010.

74th National Midyear Show (national juried exhibition; juror Ronnie Landfield). The Butler institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH. 2010.

Gateway to Imagination (national juried exhibition; juror Caroline Brooks). The Farmington Museum, Farmington, NM. 2010.

PUBLICATIONS

Sears, Darren. “Fracturing & Fluidity, Isolation & (Dis)integration: Mapping Ecological Islands & Edges in Painting & Music,” International Journal of Cartography 1-22 (2023): https://doi.org/10.1080/23729333.2023.2225951.

Sears, Darren. “Across Edges: Art to Cartography; One Landscape to the Next,” Proceedings of the International Cartographic Association 4, 98 (2021): https://doi.org/10.5194/ica-proc-4-98-2021.

Sears, Darren. “Worldviews: Art, Cartography & the Power of Places Beyond,” Cartographic Perspectives 97 (2021): https://doi.org/10.14714/CP97.1685.

Sears, Darren. “The Other Urban Jungle,” My Liveable City 5, no. 2 (July-September 2018): 72-76.

Wiesenberger, Trudy. Artwork from the Collection of University Hospitals (University Hospitals, 2016), 136.

Sears, Darren. The Palms of Posada Amazonas & the Tambopata Research Center (unpublished guidebook, 2001).

CONFERENCES

“Allure & Apprehension, Preciousness & Precariousness: Mapping the Islands of Lord Howe and Robinson Crusoe,” North American Cartographic Information Society 2023 Annual Meeting. Minneapolis, MN, October 2023.

“Fracturing, Flux & Fragility: Mapping Ecological Islands & Edges,” 2023 International Cartographic Conference. Recipient of CaGIS International Conference Grant. Cape Town, South Africa, August 2023.

“Connection & Captivation, Sustainability & the Status Quo: Might Musical Maps Move Us?” Other Cartographies (pre-ICC workshop). Cape Town, South Africa, August 2023.

“Mapping Island Nature: Realities & Imaginaries, Fracturing & Fragility,” American Association of Geographers 2023 Annual Meeting. Denver, CO, March 2023.

“In & On, Around & Above: Mapping Island Experiences,” North American Cartographic Information Society 2022 Annual Meeting. Minneapolis, MN, October 2022.

“Aesthetics of Biogeography: Seeking, Perceiving, and Sharpening Ecological Edges,” American Association of Geographers 2022 Annual Meeting. Virtual, February-March 2022.

“Across Edges: Art to Cartography; One Landscape to the Next,” 2021 International Cartographic Conference. Florence, Italy, December 2021.

“Musical Space, Geographical Time,” North American Cartographic Information Society 2021 Annual Meeting. Oklahoma City, OK, October 2021.

“Worldviews: Art, Cartography & the Power of Places Beyond,” North American Cartographic Information Society 2020 Annual Meeting. Virtual, October 2020.

Co-organizer. Galápagos to the World: Evolution & Ecocities in Earth Year 2020. Organized by Ecocity World, 2018-2019 (conference not realized for lack of funding).

“Image of the Ecosystem: Planting, Identity & Environmental Consciousness,” The Death & Life of Social Factors: A Conference Reexamining Behavior & Cultural Research in Environmental Design. UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, April-May 2011.

Case Study, Parque Nacional da Tijuca (Rio de Janeiro), Large Parks, New Perspectives. Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA, April 2003.

DESIGN

Associate and Senior Designer. Terrain Studio, San Francisco, CA.  2014-2016.
• Selected Projects: Xing Yuan Lake New Town Parks and Waterways (Hanzhong, China), Nanjing Youth Olympic Park (Nanjing, China), Longfor Mixed-Use Retail Development (Chongqing, China).

Designer.  SWA Group, Sausalito, CA.  2010-2014
• Selected projects:  Shuangda Qixianling Rainforest Resort (Baoting, China), Envision Smart Energy Campus (Nanjing, China), Ningbo Waterfront Master Plan, Ningbo Civic Plaza, Ningbo Eastern New Town Government Center (Ningbo, China).

Director of Design. Han Group Associates, New York, NY.  2009. 
• 2013 International Garden Expo (competition entry; Suncheon, S. Korea)                           

Designer.  Martha Schwartz Partners, Cambridge, MA.  2007-2008; 2002 & 2003.
• Selected projects: Nakheel Tall Tower (Dubai), Yongsan International Business District (winning int’l design competition entry with Studio Daniel Libeskind; Seoul, S. Korea), Al Sowah Master Plan (Abu Dhabi), Solarium Jungle Park (Liberia, Costa Rica), Baskerville Wharf (Birmingham, UK).

Designer. SWA Group, Dallas, TX. 2004-2007.
• Selected projects: Victory Park & Plaza (Dallas, TX), JW Marriott Hacienda Pinilla resort (Guanacaste, Costa Rica), Haicang New Town (Xiamen, PRC), Villages of Indian Creek master plan (Tunica, MS).

MEMBERSHIPS

Board Member, Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard & MIT. 2019-present.

Board Member, Pacific Musical Society & Foundation. 2018-present.

Member, U.S. National Committee for the International Cartographic Association, Cartography and Geographic Information Society. 2022-present.

Member, American Association of Geographers. 2021-present.

Member, North American Cartographic Information Society. 2020-present.