Art Notes: From Pulp to Puppets"WOW" moments on recent art outings

Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave
Legion of Honor
February 5, 2011 - June 5, 2011

The jaw dropping moment was learning de Borchgrave made the lace scarves and dress accents by delicately applying white paint to large sheets of lens paper. Incredibly real looking, as was the bead work created from finely dripped paint.


Diana Thompson
Re: Fence
An On-going Series of Crocheted Site-specific Art Installations

I ran across Thompson's web site while checking out an East Bay WordPress Meetup group. Among her other endeavors, Thompson crochets squares of yarn in chain link fences. Looking forward to a public show.


Corinne Gobet
Ceramic African masks and ceramic bowls

On display at this weekend's Mission Artists United Open Studios, many of Gobet's colorful and expressive masks and mini masks looked like carved and painted wood, even up close.


Niki Ulehla
Recology Artist in Residence

Residency Period: February 1, 2011 - May 31, 2011
Art and Puppet Show: Friday May 20, 2011 & Saturday May 21, 2011

Along with about 40 other people, I took the tour of Recology's dump site (or sea gull and pigeon sanctuary, depending on where you are standing) on Tunnel Road. A stylish woman from eCoexist in India was also on the tour. She said, “When people heard I was going to San Francisco, they asked if I was going to go shopping. I told them, ‘No, I’m going to the dump.’”

Part of the tour included the Artist in Residence studio, where Niki Ulehla was working on many puppets. The puppets are made from wood, leather, feathers, string, chopsticks, and anything else she can find in the drop off area where residents bring their own loads to the dump. You have to take the tour to see the artists in residents at work, as well as the large sculpture garden.

Recology hires Wingmaster Falconry to be on site six days a week with falcons and hawks, to scare away the pigeons and seagulls. Apparently they don't attack, just scare.

On the day of the tour, Steve Vasconcellos of Wingmaster brought two trainees. Covered in fine white fuzz, both looked like dandelions with beaks. "The Claw" above was just a few days old. "Mr. Cranky Pants" below was a few weeks old, and had dark feathers underneath his fuzz.

by Phil Gravitt