The multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker pulls from a deep well of inspiration, spanning ancient civilizations, feminist history, and the forests of Muir Woods in works that merge film, sculpture, and anthropological study.

Tiffany Shlain’s moveable monument Dendrofemonology: Feminist History Tree Ring is on the move—soon to take up temporary residence in New York City’s Madison Square Park, where it serves as a focal point for her event, Mobilization for Women’s Rights and the Planet, on Sept. 21, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Coinciding with the start of Climate Week NYC and anticipating a historic election, Shlain’s daylong, public activation and rally will address a convergence of critical concerns in this dual “age of urgency.” 

And with the collision of her solo exhibition You Are Here at a New York gallery; the appearance of her sculpture Dendrofemonology at a Climate Week mobilization for women’s and environmental rights in Madison Square Park; and the opening of her most recent collaboration with husband Ken Goldberg, Ancient Wisdom for a Future Ecology: Trees, Time & Technology, at the Getty’s Skirball Cultural Center in L.A., this behatted blonde goddess of multidimensional creativity has never wielded more influence.

Last fall, Tiffany Shlain brought a feminist timeline to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the form of her piece DENDROFEMONOLOGY: A Feminist History Tree Ring. She annotated the cross-section of a 250-year-old deodar cedar with 30 wood-burned milestones highlighting women’s contributions to world history. Her first show with Nancy Hoffman includes a selection of tree-ring sculptures, as well as other works exploring feminism, philosophy, technology, neuroscience, and nature.

The piece is one of 12 multimedia works on view at Shlain’s debut solo exhibition, “You Are Here”, on view at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery (520 West 27th St.) beginning on Thursday, Sept. 5. For Shlain — a San Francisco-based multi-hyphenate whose previous credits include several films about feminist history, including “The Tribe”, a humorous examination of American Jewish identity through the lens of Barbie — the body of work is an outgrowth of her Shabbat afternoons spent among the redwood trees in Muir Woods National Monument and other state parks nearby. 

 “In the exhibition You Are Here, I will go back thousands of years in time, or thousands of miles in space, to reposition our relationship with nature and history,” explains Shlain. “By shifting our sense of scale, we see things differently: the earth, war, feminism, neuroscience, and our own lives. We gain a different perspective on where we are, and where we want to go.” 

Artist Tiffany Shlain’s sculpture “Dendrofemonology” chronicles women’s achievements stretching back 50,000 years, on the eve of an election in which women’s rights are at stake

On display from Nov. 1-4 in Washington, D.C., Tiffany Shlain’s Dendrofemonology remakes the historical tree ring into a timeline of the story of women and power in society. 

To mark the opening of her exhibition on Washington DC's National Mall, artist-activist Tiffany Shlain convened women trailblazers to mark the occasion.

Shlain’s new artwork Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring uses reclaimed cedar tree rings as a medium for re-writing women’s history with an “intentional counter-narrative to the typical patriarchal perspective.” 

For any artist, seeing a project expand and develop to reach new heights is one of the pinnacles of creative fulfillment.

“The worlds of art and science are set to collide every five years thanks to J. Paul Getty Trust and its collaborating institutions in the landmark event, PST Art: Art & Science Collide, returning in September 2024.”

“Creativity isn't limited to fine art for Tiffany Shlain (tiffanyshlain.com). The artist-in-residence at the Ferry Building's new Shack15 (shack15.com) is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, founder of the Webby Awards, and author of the national bestseller and winner of the Marshall McLuhan Outstanding Book Award, 24/6...”

“Where I live in Northern California, we’re surrounded by two things: some of the oldest redwood trees in the world; and some of the newest technology. My career began in the former, in a dual dance between making films and working in tech, until those two loves merged. ”

The old adage tells us to “stop and smell the roses,” but artist Tiffany Shlain advocates for stopping to count the tree rings. As a Bay Area native who grew up traipsing about the Muir Woods, Shlain has always had an affinity for trees, which only intensified in 2020, when she took to nature to fill her days....

“In Human Nature, I use a feminist, philosophical, and ecological lens to explore the humility and realignment we feel when we view ourselves in the context of deep time and nature. I want to conjure up the sublime: our sense of perspective, smallness, escape, refuge, and awe created by expansive vistas and towering trees that have stood as witnesses for thousands of years.”

In 2008, Tiffany Shlain’s father, Leonard, was diagnosed with brain cancer, and she began to change her use of technology when the two of them were together. “Some days he would have only one good hour,” she later wrote in the Harvard Business Review...”

Tiffany on the TODAY show with Hoda Kobt and Jenna Bush Hager. 

"I spoke with Tiffany Shlain, author of 24/6: Giving Up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection, to get her perspective on your situation. Tiffany is a modern polymath: a longtime tech aficionado who founded the Webby awards, filmmaker, and writer. Her writing focuses on the power of protecting your time and taking breaks from technology ...

Long ago, your workweek ended once you left the office — or so I have been told.  

But work culture has changed a lot in the past decade. Technology has ended the physical barriers protecting a workweek, and we’re always reachable and we’re always exhausted.  

When the pandemic blended our professional and personal lives by forcing many of us to work from home, we learned a valuable lesson about tech. It can be an incredibly useful tool for communicating with colleagues. But when used without care, it can hurt our productivity and our relationships.

Krista’s been in a conversation with Tiffany Shlain for several years about her practice of “Tech Shabbat.” For more than a decade, she and her family have taken a rest from screens sundown Friday to sundown Saturday; her book 24/6 is a kind of manual to open the practice to everyone. 

I USED TO feel good about getting work done throughout the weekend. I was a working parent starting an indie film studio, and anything that would help me stay on top of things was a win. Weekends were a chaotic mix of recreation and work ... (see PDF from printed article)

24/6 was featured in People Magazine. The book explores Tiffany and her family's decade-long practice of turning off all screens for 24 hours every week for what they call their Technology Shabbat. Character Day 2019 was all about the relationship between character + screens.

Are you productive? Efficient? Useful? More to the point, are you productive, efficient, and useful enough? These are the kinds of questions that arise when technology makes it easy to stay online and connected 24/7. But all this connectivity brings two unfortunate side effects.

Author Tiffany Shlain advocates for what she calls a 'technology shabbat' each week, and she joins Morning Joe to discuss the idea, which she writes about in her book '24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week.

In her new book 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week, Webby Award founder, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and mother of two Tiffany Shlain explores how turning off screens for 24 hours each week can work wonders on your brain, body, and soul.

After more than a year of being glued to their devices, a lot of kids will have trouble easing up on the tech that brought them comfort and connection during the pandemic.

Sourdough may be the celebrity loaf of #quarantinelife — and it is delicious and deserves all of the love and care and at least half of the amateur photos it’s getting — but it’s not the bread I’m suddenly baking.