Margaret Tedesco
Margaret Tedesco (April 25, 1952 – October 18, 2025) was an American independent curator and visual artist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tedesco was one of the curators of the New Langton Arts in San Francisco, California; and founded [the 2nd floor projects] in 2007, an exhibition space and small press publisher. She had also worked as a graphic designer, modern dancer and choreographer.
Margaret Tedesco
- Name
- Margaret Tedesco
- Born
- 25 April 1952
- Birthplace
- Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Died
- 18 October 2025
- Place of death
- San Francisco, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- Visual artist, curator, dancer, choreographer
- Known for
- Performance art, installation art, photography, video art, modern dance, graphic designer
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Margaret Tedesco (April 25, 1952 – October 18, 2025) was an American independent curator and visual artist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tedesco was one of the curators of the New Langton Arts in San Francisco, California; and founded [the 2nd floor projects] in 2007, an exhibition space and small press publisher. She had also worked as a graphic designer, modern dancer and choreographer.
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Margaret Tedesco was an American artist, choreographer and curator, among other activities. The artist was born in Los Angeles. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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wikidata · Q136643933 · wikipedia · Margaret Tedesco
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Margaret Tedesco • Born — 25 April 1952 • Birthplace — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Died — 18 October 2025 • Place of death — San Francisco, California, U.S. • Occupation — Visual artist, curator, dancer, choreographer • Known for — Performance art, installation art, photography, video art, modern dance, graphic designer
Life and career
Life and career
Tedesco was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. In her early career in the 1980s she was as a modern dancer, and choreographer in Santa Barbara, California, and often worked with Laurie Burnaby. During this period she took dance workshops at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions). Tedesco moved to San Francisco in 1988, where she continued modern dance and she developed a new visual arts practice, and by the late 1990s her career focus turned to curatorial work. Her art practice was multidisciplinary in the mediums of photography, performance art, installation art, and video art. Tedesco's artwork has been exhibited internationally and nationally. For many years she was a graphic designer at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). She was a curatorial member of the New Langton Arts, a not-for-profit contemporary arts organization in San Francisco, California from 1999 to 2007. Around 1999, Tedesco co-founded Moving Target Series, a performance and exhibition pop-up in San Francisco. She founded [the 2nd floor projects] in 2007, an exhibition space and small press publisher, initially based in the Mission District out of her rented apartment. Additionally she assisted with the SFMOMA’s Open Space, and Visual AIDS exhibitions. Tedesco died of cancer in California on October 18, 2025.
Exhibitions as curator
Exhibitions as curator
• Seven Places of the Mind (2018), fused space gallery, San Francisco, California; curated by Tedesco • With(out) With(in) the very moment (2019), San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery in the War Memorial Veterans Building, San Francisco, California; curated by Tedesco • A Spirit of Disruption (2021), Walter and McBean Galleries and Diego Rivera Gallery at San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California; curated by Tedesco and Leila Weefur
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Margaret Tedesco was born at Los Angeles.
Birthplace
Los Angeles.
Birth place
Exhibitions as visual artist
• Fight and Flight: Crafting a Bay Area Life (2023), group exhibition, Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, California; including artists Libby Black, Craig Calderwood, Erica Deeman, Cheryl Derricotte, Ala Ebtekar, Liz Harvey, Angela Hennessy, Alexander Hernandez, Liz Hernández, Cathy Lu, Michelle Yi Martin, Adia Millett, Nasim Moghadam, Richard-Jonathan Nelson, Ramekon O’Arwisters, yétúndé ọlágbajú, Woody De Othello, Related Tactics, Charlene Tan, Margaret Tedesco and Leila Weefur, Lauren Toomer, and Jenifer K. Wofford
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Margaret Tedesco”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q136643933: Margaret Tedesco
General reference · Wikidata
References ==== External links
References ==== External links
• Video: Margaret Tedesco, The Poetry Center (2016), DOC Film Institute at SFSU via YouTube
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Hotchkiss, Sarah. Margaret Tedesco, Artist and Curator, Was the ‘Spirit of San Francisco’. KQED Inc. 2025-10-22.
- 2.Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Bay Area Now 4: Jul 16, 2005–May 27, 2006. 120. 2005.
- 3.Who painted that picture? Mayor and friends, that's who!. Santa Barbara News-Press. 60. 1987-05-01.
- 4.Spencer, Russ. The evolution of Art Who! Dance What?. Santa Barbara News-Press. 56. September 13, 1991.
- 5.Choreographers: Ideas dance in their heads. Santa Barbara News-Press. 39. October 5, 1985.
- 6.Breslauer, Jan (August 7, 1988). "LACE's School for the Imagination". The Los Angeles Times. p. 311–312, 314. Retrieved 2025-10-25.
- 7.Stein, Suzanne. Margaret Tedesco. SFMOMA Open Space.
- 8.Talk by Margaret Tedesco: "Love Letter to the Archive". CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts.
- 9.Margaret Tedesco. Premiere Jr.
- 10.Leila Weefur and Margaret Tedesco: Palms in the Fog, 2023. Museum of Craft and Design (MCD).
- 11.Hotchkiss, Sarah. At fused space, 'Seven Places of the Mind' Is No Slouch. KQED. November 27, 2018.
- 12.The Museum of Craft and Design Presents “Fight and Flight: Crafting a Bay Area Life”. Hyperallergic. May 2, 2023.
- 13.Hotchkiss, Sarah. 'With(out) With(in) the Very Moment' Honors Legacies of AIDS Activism Through Art. KQED. 2019-05-09.
- 14.Sussman, Matt. Material Witnesses: Art and AIDS at the San Francisco Arts Commission. ARTnews.com. June 19, 2019.
- 15.Wilson, Emily. Curators at San Francisco Art Institute Challenge “Same Old History” of “White Painter Dudes”. Hyperallergic. March 18, 2021.
- 16.Bravo, Tony. Spring marks return of big exhibitions, new takes in visual arts world. The San Francisco Chronicle's Datebook. March 22, 2021.
References
Citations
References
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General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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