Cushion Works is doubling down on what we’re best at: finding, sharing, and contextualizing artists, artworks, and legacies that largely exist outside of cultural and commercial mainstreams. We’ve got big ideas and want to stick around.

Help us keep Cushion Works weird.

All inaugural 2025 members receive a special-edition Cushion Works diner mug designed by Tamara Shopsin and Jason Fulford. Members at all levels further enjoy an annual party and the reward of supporting contemporary art and overlooked artistic legacies in a city soon to be overrun with a form of intelligence literally referred to as artificial.

Memberships begin with a yearly gift of $150.

Members ($150 / year)
• Mug & Party

Pair of Members ($300 / year)
• Pair of Mugs & Party

Special Members ($600 / year)
• Mug & Party
• Mystery Gift from Community Thrift

Very Special Members ($1000 / year)
• Mug & Party
• Very Special Treatment (no gala / inquire within)

Beyond membership, consider supporting our campaign with an inaugural donation. Cushion Works is now fiscally sponsored by local 501(c)(3) Independent Arts & Media, making your gift fully tax-deductible.

Of course you can have it both ways: Become a member and make a one-time donation.
Mail info@cushionworks.org for more information or to give through a donor-advised fund.

Help us achieve sustainability through community support! Your gift will allow us to:

• maintain our active schedule of free exhibitions and events like readings, screenings, and performances
• offer more direct support for artists and art workers
• honor at-risk histories and legacies
• ramp up our publishing program to spread the word beyond the Bay
• hire part-time staff

A Brief History

In 2017, back when this whole thing started, the big idea was to show the most compelling artwork in any medium in an intimate setting on a limited budget. Unpredictability was key. We made a home on the second floor of an active cushion factory in the Mission. From the jump, there was Zarouhie Abdalian, Brett Goodroad, Troy Chew, and Lutz Bacher. It was thrilling and good.

Things were mainly word of mouth in those early days. At some point, we finally created our first web site – a Google Doc last active for the Patty Chang show – and adopted the name of the cushion-making business downstairs. I began using the royal we, which I still do, despite the fact that it’s still just me behind the wheel.

Over the years, the CW community grew as more and more of you visited the space and pulled up a chair. We worked hard to forge a mission statement:

Cushion Works supports artists and artistic legacies through the production of exhibitions, programs, and publications. Rooted in radical Bay Area cultural traditions, Cushion Works privileges direct audience experience and strengthens community by generating conversation around art and its possibilities. By braking for the under-recognized, off-center, and regional, Cushion Works honors those artists whose practices are beyond trend, and places them in historical and cultural context.

40 exhibitions later, we’re lucky to be part of an active Mission-based arts ecosystem. We’re more committed than ever to maintaining our work in the Bay Area, and today we’re proud to launch our first ever appeal for support.

BECOME AN INAUGURAL MEMBER
OR MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TODAY

THANK YOU

Cheers to the artists, writers, performers, guest curators, visitors, door watchers, designers, fabricators, installers, technicians, gallerists, photographers, framers, archivists, community workers, legacy keepers, and friends who have already made Cushion Works the success that it is. Most of all, we thank Susan and Gary, the OG cushion makers who still occupy this great old building, produce custom cushions every day, and make this project possible. Further thanks to all those who have contributed to Cushion Works without the existence of a proper giving mechanism. Someone handed me/us five bucks the other day!

Yours truly,
Jordan Stein / Cushion Works