INTERNATIONAL ORANGE: The Bridge Re-imagined

Kids from 2 dozen SF public schools reimagine and recreate the Golden Gate Bridge with artworks in various medium.

Through August 4 at the Mills Building, 220 Montgomery Street, San Francisco.

The exhibition curator is Richard Olsen. Presented by The San Francisco Arts Education Project in cooperation with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

posted by Phil Gravitt

'Earthquake' opens at the California Academy of Sciences

A whole lotta shaking going on....

http://www.examiner.com/article/earthquake-opens-at-the-academy-of-science

"Phantoms of Asia' at the Asian Art Museum

The new show at the Asian Art Museum is at the top my my Memorial Day Weekend picks but the rest of the shows around the bay ain't half bad either. The "Cult of Beauty," the V&A's tribute to Victorian arts and crafts is still at the Legion while the de Young features several shows, including one showcasing the cutting edge prints of Roy Lichtenstein and Claes Oldenburg. There is art from Nigeria at the Cantor and SFMOMA is hosting the first of many tributes to the Golden Gate Bridge which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year.

The red lotus that was just installed in the Civic Center Plaza is the outside symbol of an exciting, exhausting and bold exhibit inside the Asian Art Museum, now located inside the revamped  Beaux Arts building that formerly housed the old San Francisco Public Library.

http://www.examiner.com/article/take-an-art-break-this-memorial-day-weekend

Last DayBest of DoubleClickSF City Hall Gallery

Last day for Best of DoubleClick photo exhibit at SF City Hall Gallery. You can vote at the same time.

posted by Phil Gravitt

The world of the senses, Tibetan art at the Exploratorium

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-world-of-the-senses-on-view-at-the-exploratorium-san-francisco

Free admission this weekend

To the Oakland Museum and a dozen other places. Such a deal!


http://www.examiner.com/article/free-museum-weekend-around-the-bay-area?CID=examiner_alerts_article

“Scapes”Elena ZolotnitskyPaul Mahder Gallery

This solo exhibition of new oil paintings showcases Zolotnitsky's skill at portraying emotional facial expression with limited facial detail.

The show runs through June 12 at Paul Mahder Gallery on Sacramento Street in SF.

The first two weekends in June, Zolitnitsky is participating in East Bay Open Studios, in Berkeley.

Paintings Tolstoy Cuture (left) and Nude on Green (right) shown above from artlondon.com

posted by Phil Gravitt

Buckminister Fuller at SFMOMA

To boldly go where no man has gone before," might have been Buckminster Fuller's motto, which is well demonstrated by the current show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). While not a retrospective, there is more than enough to overwhelm the visitor.
http://www.examiner.com/article/bucky-fuller-s-utopian-vision

On Apology CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art

On Apology is a study on the now prevalent spectacle of the public apology, and is produced by the graduating class of the Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice at the CCA Wattis Institute. The exhibition consists of two floors of video, several walls of text, and a 20 page paper handout.

The videos I found most intriguing were Australian Shaun Gladwell’s Apologies 1-6, six videos running a total of 27 minutes. I saw two of the six videos. In each one, the camera is looking down a different two-lane road blurring and stretching into the desert. A road kill kangaroo lies in the gravel on the left side of the road, fairly close to the camera, and in focus.

In one video, a white tractor trailer and a smaller black vehicle are coming up the road. A motorcycle rider dressed completely in black, riding a black motorcycle, crosses the screen and appears to almost run over the kangaroo. As the motorcycle rider parks nearby and walks toward the kangaroo, it becomes clear that the film is in slow motion and the distances are distorted.

The rider looks like he is almost standing over the kangaroo, however he walks about thirty feet back to the kangaroo from his motorcycle. The tractor trailer and black vehicle, which were close when the film started, are taking forever to get closer.

The motorcycle rider carefully looks over the body of the kangaroo, gently touching its head while brushing away flies. The rider's slow motion hand movements suggest he is wafting incense in a religious ceremony. Eventually the rider picks up the kangaroo and wanders out into the road, as if apologizing for what had happened before he arrived.

Gladwell didn’t stage the kangaroos; each sequence was filmed where the kangaroo was found.

In addition to Shaun Gladwell, the exhibit includes works by Erick Beltrán, Mark Boulos, Keren Cytter, Omer Fast, Ragnar Kjartansson, Amalia Pica, Slavs and Tatars, Cassie Thornton, Dawn Weleski, and Artur Zmijewski.

Photo from Apology To Roadkill 2007, Sydney Morning Herald

CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art On Apology
April 19 to May 19, 2012
Upper and Lower Galleries, Kent and Vicki Logan Galleries
1111 Eighth Street (at 16th and Wisconsin)
San Francisco

The CCA Wattis building appears to take up the whole block. Many rooms are just walls open to the high ceiling, reminiscent of a short, modern Cow Palace, except with wonderful natural light. Flash mob classes take place in the large wide center of the hall running the length of the building. Chairs, display tables and rolling billboards are moved into place for a class, and when it is over, people and equipment disperse quickly in all directions.

Some displays and projects from various design and graphics classes remain along the side walls. I walked along about 15 feet away, squinting while trying to make out the detail in each one without disturbing the small classes nearby.

One architectural model caught my eye. A large walled patio, built of tan cement, was populated with several white three-legged plastic tables, green and yellow shrubs, colorful curved rocks, and dark pools. Half the patio was shaded by a leaning wall awning above. I wondered why there were no chairs with the tables.

As I got further away, I looked back and realized it was an empty pizza box.

Parking is a little tight at CCA. If you don’t live close enough to walk, and don’t have a bicycle or motorcycle, take a cab. If you drive, I recommend a Smart car with curb feelers, a low profile windshield wiper, and the bumpers removed.

posted by Phil Gravitt

Weekend Picks; Theophilus Brown, Chinese Historical Society

Theophilus Brown at Thomas Reynolds Gallery. Three Horses
acrylic on paper. 4 x 6 inches. 1977

http://www.examiner.com/article/weekend-picks-theophilus-brown-andrea-schwartz-chinese-historical-society?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Friday night boogie at the de Young

It's Friday night and you just got paid? Well, if not, no matter because many of the Friday night events at the De Young are free! You can see a fashion show, watch a film or boogie to music by the Fashion Slaves who perform originals, including "Suffer for Fashion" and "Loud-Mouth Girl" along with their version of "Going Down."

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/weekend-picks-friday-night-at-the-de-young-botanical-gardens-oakland-museum?CID=examiner_alerts_article

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

Experience the fun and lively atmosphere of the DeYoung’s gargantuan Jean Paul Gaultier fashion exhibit. This King Tut Haute Tutu show is in the Herbst Special Exhibition Galleries downstairs, instead of the upper gallery sometimes remade into the world’s darkest dress shop for past fashion exhibits.

There is so much to take in, the DeYoung might need a golf cart to take absorption overload zombies back to their cars.


Gaultier creates wild and outlandish designs with incredible artistry and intricate detail, and somehow makes them look comfortable and sensible at the same time. Why put a bow there when whiskers are available?

The exhibit includes quite real animated mannequins, a large number of video screens, sketches, photos, and a moving runway of mannequins. Many collections are represented, including Mermaids, Hussars, Chic Rabbis, and Russian. Get up close and see the fabric is really 1000 hours of beadwork.

Mermaids photos above from Pinterest and Fashionising

Night of the Iguana photo below from nearfardarklight

posted by Phil Gravitt

SFMOMA purchases Edward Hopper's "Intermission"

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sfmoma-purchases-edward-hopper-s-intermission

Parallel Visions at Creativity Explored

 You Are Unemptiable by Louis DeMarco © 2010 Project Onward

Parallel Visions, the latest exhibition at Creativity Explored Gallery, shows work by artists from five different arts and disability organizations in conversation with work made by selected artists at Creativity Explored. The resonance felt between these artists, working in disparate studios across the globe, is uncanny and inspiring.

This show assembles a group of artists who emphasize drawing processes and repetitive mark making to create their work. A range of artwork is on view, though three distinct themes emerge: abstract works; figurative ink drawings; and, work comprised of poetic text and number systems.

More at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/parallel-visions-at-creativity-explored?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Weekend Picks: Chinese Historical Society, Mail Art, Intersection for the Arts

One of Jake Lee's watercolors of "Old Chinatown" now showing at the Chinese Historical Society (image courtesy Chinese Historical Society).

In the early 1960s, restaurateur Johnny Kan commissioned a series of water color paintings by artist Jake Lee. For many years, these stunning paintings hung in the private Gum Shan (“Gold Mountain”) dining room of the landmark Kan’s Restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

The fascinating back story at the NY TImes: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/us/11bcculture.html
http://www.chsa.org/

More weekend picks at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/weekend-picks-chinese-historical-society-mail-art-intersection-for-the-arts

Dale Erickson, Pam Heyda, Sandy Yagi

It's not often that three of my artists friends are showing their work at the same time.

Dale Erickson. Lemons and Reflections. ArtZone 461, SF

Pam Heyda, Gum Drop Boat, Studio Gallery, SF

Sandy Yagi,  Hummingshrew, Watercolor on paper,  2012, 16 x 11-5/8 

The Bone Yard, Berkeley.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/weekend-picks-artzone-461-studio-gallery-the-bone-yard-and-more?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Weekend Picks; Letterpress in Oakland, Nieto Fine Arts, SF History Expo

 John A. Nieto, photographs now at Nieto Fine Arts

From John A. Nieto's statement: "There’s an energetic match that’s unique to every photographer and their “work”. Because most of my images are fleeting moments of my life, they are a certain testament, or reflection of my attitude on life. A pathway to my beliefs. "

"I’ve often wished to photograph dancers and as I watched and participated in a night swim recently, I became mesmerized by the drama the underwater pool light cast and how it adds so much mystery to the beauty of witnessing a human body in full motion. These moments became the dancers I’ve hoped to photograph contained in the “Aquatic Ballet Series” shot in Palm Springs, California."

More at:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/weekend-picks-letterpress-oakland-nieto-fine-arts-sf-history-expo

Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art and Jewish Thought

April Gornick.  Light in the Woods, 2011

The inspiration for the “Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art and Jewish Thought” exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, is a commandment from the Old Testament: “When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, but thou shalt not cut them down.”

More at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/do-not-destroy-trees-art-and-jewish-thought-at-the-contemporary-jewish-museum-review?CID=examiner_alerts_article

The Cult of Beauty at the Legion of Honor

Frederic Leighton, Pavonia, 1858–9, oil on canvas. Private collection

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/the-cult-of-beauty-the-victorian-avant-garde-1860-1900-at-the-legion-of-honor-review

Katherine Westerhout at Electric Works Gallery

I just wanted to write a little note about how fascinated I was with Katherine Westerhout's photos of an abandoned indoor swimming pool, and her photo of calcification of lime mortar around the windows of an abandoned building, now on display at Electric Works Gallery in San Francisco.

Then I checked out Westerhout’s web site, which led me to search on “Calcification of mortar” and “Grossinger’s Pool,” which led me to more photos of abandoned buildings and blogs by Jonathan Haeber aka TunnelBug, which led me to read his senior thesis for a Landscape Architecture course on the history of miniature golf, but since it took up all my allotted writing time,

The End

posted by Phil Gravitt

Tables of Content: Ray Johnson and Robert Warner Bob Box Archive

"The most well-known unknown American artist" died in a suicide drowning 13 January 1995, after lifetime as unique and perplexing as his art.

Ray Johnson:Untitled valise from Bob Box Archive, 1988–95; mixed media; dimensions variable. Photo: Tod Lippy, from Esopus 16 (Spring 2011).


http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/tables-of-content-ray-johnson-and-robert-warner-bob-box-archive-at-the-bam?CID=examiner_alerts_article

More ways to avoid the Super Bowl (if you wish)

Free admission for the lunar year celebrations at the Asian and the SJMA plus Pacific Arts of Asia at Ft. Mason

Chair for the Palace, Pacific Arts of Asia

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/the-year-of-the-water-dragon-celebrations-at-the-asian-and-sjma

How to avoid Super Bowl Sunday

Blue Face with White Stripe" (1971), pigmented stoneware and porcelain, by Stephen De Staebler. (Photo: Philip Ringler)

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/how-to-avoid-super-bowl-sunday

Celebrate the Year of the Dragon

 Bowl with a pair of dragons. Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722). Porcelain with incised decoration, yellow glaze, polychrome enamels. China | Jiangxi province. The Avery Brundage Collection

As the Bay Area's Asian-American population approaches 2 million, its cultural diversity has grown. The Bay Area is now home to Mongolian, Tibetan, Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese populations, each with their own distinctive traditions and celebrations. Many of the celebrations are rooted in Buddhist beliefs, a spirit of sharing, a hope for abundance and prayers of peace. The Year of the Dragon's celebrations were kicked off with the first rain of the year - a good sign because it means abundance.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/year-of-the-water-dragon-celebrations-the-bay-area

Honoring MLK in 2012. SF events and activities

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/honoring-martin-luther-king?CID=examiner_alerts_article

YBCA choses a new director

Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Photo: Bethanie Hines Photography.

After a nationwide search, Yerba Buena Center for the arts (YBCA)  has chosen a new director, Marc Bamuthi Joseph ...

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/yerba-buena-center-for-the-arts-choses-a-new-director-marc-bamuthi-joseph

UC Davis receives $10 million dollars for new museum

 Maria Manetti Farrow, Jan Shrem, Chancellor Linda P. B. Katehi, Dean Jessie Ann Owens . Photo: Robert Durell.   

Jan Shem, proprietor of Clos Pegase winery in Napa Valley has just donated $10 dollars to UC Davis to help build a new museum.

The museum will serve as a teaching and cultural resource for the region and provide opportunities to share the university’s artistic legacy, enhance its fine arts collection, and create new partnerships and collaborations.

Slated for completion in 2015, the museum will be named for donor Jan Shrem and his friend and arts patron Maria Manetti Farrow.

Born in Colombia of Jewish-Lebanese heritage, Shrem grew up in Jerusalem and moved to the U.S. as a teenager. After studying at UCLA, he built a successful publishing business in Japan, studied enology at the University of Bordeaux and later created the 450-acre wine estate, Clos Pegase. Shrem is now a member of the Director’s Circle for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and serves on the board of the Family Winemakers of California.

“After our dear friend, Margrit Mondavi, introduced the idea of the new museum, we decided it would be an honor to join her in supporting this extraordinary university and in sharing its vision for the future,” Shrem said. “Our philosophy of giving rests on simple concepts: We believe that education and the arts should be accessible to all people. And we believe that a curious and open mind should be nurtured and supported. Fortunately, the project at UC Davis has introduced us to people who profoundly share this philosophy. It is with deepest pleasure that we are able to help bring this new museum to life.”

Shrem’s gift will be counted as part of The Campaign for UC Davis, a university wide initiative launched in 2006 to inspire 100,000 donors to contribute $1 billion in support of the university’s mission and vision.

To date, $749 million has been raised from 85,000 donors. The gift is one of the largest ever received for the arts at UC Davis, and is the largest gift received to date by the College of Letters and Science. It is the fourth largest cumulative gift from an individual donor to The Campaign for UC Davis, and the sixth largest gift from any donor to the campaign. 

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/university-of-california-davis-receives-a-10-million-gift-for-a-new-art-museum

SFMOMA Artists Gallery Portrait Show & Andy Warhol at the Berkeley Art Museum

 Winni Wintermeyer, Thao Nguyen, 2011

The focus this month is on the portrait at SFMOMA Artists Gallery Portrait Show as artists Kim Frohsin, Claire Pasquier, Winni Wintermeyer explore the portrait. The Berkeley Art Museum will be showing 40 of Andy Warhol's polaroid portraits of the famous and not-so-famous.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sfmoma-artists-gallery-portrait-show-andy-warhol-at-the-berkeley-art-museum

Bay Area artists to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge

My arms are flung across the deep,
Into the clouds my towers soar,
And where the waters never sleep,
I guard the California shore.
Chief Engineer, Joseph Strauss (upon completion of the Golden Gate Bridge, 1937)

Celebrated by poets and painters, known as the “gateway to the Pacific,” the Golden Gate Bridge has been considered the the iconic symbol of San Francisco since it was finished in 1937. 2012 marks the 75th anniversary of this remarkable landmark.

To celebrate the bridge's 75th anniversary,  fifteen artists from the Bay Area and around the world will create on-site installations responding to the bridge as an icon, historic structure, and conceptual inspiration. Adopting the title "International Orange" from the bridge's color and organized by the nonprofit FOR-SITE Foundation,  the exhibits and installations will occupy selected areas of all three floors and the spacious courtyard of the historic Fort Point building.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/nancy-ewart

Looking back at the year in art

"God created the Maharajas to provide a spectacle to humanity” wrote Rudyard Kipling, and the Asian did justice to his observation in their next big show, "Maharaja, Splendors of Indian's Royal Courts. There wasn’t an object in the show that wasn't embellished, inlaid with gems and gold, looped with sapphires and diamonds or outlined with pearls.The gaudy display was a reminder that today's 1% aren't alone in ignoring the misery outside their  mansions. 

The FAMSF gave us a feast of European art - from Pissarro to the splendors of the old masters to the subtle skill of 17th century Dutch painting in the Von Otterloo collection. 

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/masterworks-from-the-dutch-golden-age-at-the-legion-of-honor

Pissarro is probably the least well know of the impressionists and the show displayed his humanistic look at family, friends and the working people of the day as well as his political radicalism.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/pissarro-s-people-at-the-legion

The behemoth blockbuster of the year was the two-museum tribute to the Stein family. Most of us know of Gertrude, the contrary, cantankerous and sometimes charming women who is notorious for saying 'There is no there, there" when referring to Oakland. Using a wealthy of archival material, the show brought to life her and Alice and a multitude of the famous and infamous of the Parisian avant-guard for decades.

 Right across the road, at SFMOMA was an eloquent tribute to the family as art collectors. Seldom have so few bought so much art with so little money. It's difficult to say which is more amazing - the low prices paid for now priceless paintings by Cezanne, Picasso and Matisse or the Steins' (particularly Sarah Stein's) courageous support of art that was then new, provocative and revolutionary.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/masterworks-from-the-dutch-golden-age-at-the-legion-of-honor

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/the-steins-collect-matisse-picasso-the-parisian-avant-garde-review

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/seeing-gertrude-stein-five-stories-at-the-contemporary-jewish-museum-review

Across the bay, the Berkeley Art Museum hosted two unique shows, the first West Coast exhibit of the work of Karl Schwitters and "Create," a show of art made by artists with disabilities.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/kurt-schwitters-color-and-collage-at-the-berkeley-art-museum-review

"Create" highlighted the extraordinary contributions of three of the foremost centers for artists with disabilities, all located in the Bay Area: Creativity Explored (San Francisco), Creative Growth Art Center (Oakland), and NIAD Art Center (Richmond, CA).

As I said at the time, "It's really a shame to call them "artists with disabilities" because they are artists first, and mentally challenged second. Yet, to ignore their condition is to make light of the difficulties they face.

Thanks to the lack of a safety net, the disabled roam our streets, beg on the sidewalks, mutter to themselves, are messy, dirty, frightening. They challenge us to define what it is to be human. They test the limits of what we can do, can afford to do, have the will to do. Unfortunately, they can't always communicate how extraordinary they can be, with help, with encouragement, with love and a support system."

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/create-at-the-berkeley-art-museum-review

The MoAD brought us a rare look at original works by Romare Bearden, the vibrant quilts of the Siddis, part of the African diaspora in India and "Textural Rhythms," swing, jazz and be-bop in fabric and thread,

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/soulful-stitching-patchwork-quilts-by-africans-siddis-india-at-the-moaf

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/textural-rhythms-at-the-museum-of-the-african-diaspora-review

The CJM brought us the work and tragic life of Charlotte Salomon, considered among the most innovative artists of mid-century Europe whose work defies categorization, and continues to influence artists in unusual ways.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/cjm-presents-charlotte-salomon-life-or-theatre-review

In the galleries: Hosfelt bought up a rare look at works by Jay De Feo. Next year, a major traveling retrospective of Jay DeFeo's work, organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, will be presented at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the autumn of 2012.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/jay-defeo-at-hosfelt-gallery

These are a few of my favorite things from the rich offerings from my favorite city by the bay. But none of this would be possible without the people behind the scenes at the museums. I want to give a shout of thanks to the following: Jill, Robin Wander, Cheryl McCain and Peter Cavagnaro at the Berkeley Art Museum, Libby Garrison and Robyn Wise at SFMOMA. If I left out your name, accept my apologies.

The best in 2011

Add caption

I'm starting the yearly count down of the best and brightest for the year with "Bali, Art, Ritual and Performance, " at the Asian:

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/bali-art-ritual-performance-at-the-asian-art-museum-review

2010 SECA Award Winners

Ruth Laskey, Pagoda Red, Woven piece.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sfmoma-announces-this-year-s-seca-award-winners

Sunnyvale Pottery Studio Christmas Sale

 All this of Pot and Potter—Tell me then,
Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?
        Omar Khayyam—Rubaiyat. St. 87. FitzGerald’s trans.

 Danny Shue. @the artist. Oxblood glaze in a contemporary format.

 Here's another one in the sporadic series of "support your local artist and art organizations." ......
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sunnyvale-pottery-studio-christmas-sale?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Automata: Mechanical Wonders of the Nineteenth Century at SFO

Fiddler c. 1910 . probably by Renou . France .papier-mâché, fabric, paint, metal, glass, wood, hair  Collection of SFO Museum

If you are stuck out at SFO this holiday season, this exhibit can help you pass the time. The new exhibition features exquisite mechanical figures and musical machines from the 19th century.

Before the Industrial Revolution, automata were created mainly as one-of-a-kind scientific experiments, political or religious theater, and given as diplomatic gifts. Eventually they became promotional devices to attract sales. French manufacturers later incorporated mass-production technology to produce musical automata, musical dolls, clockwork singing birds, and tableaux méchaniques (mechanically animated scenes) to meet the increasing demand for these new forms of entertainment.

From the mid-1800s to the 1900s, automata served as parlor entertainment. Many skilled artisans were required to manufacture these clockwork machines. They were not considered toys for children, but rather items of social privilege and status - which didn't prevent me from wanting to play with them!
Continue reading  Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/automata-mechanical-wonders-of-the-nineteenth-century-at-sfo#ixzz1ex7tq6Yi

Busy times at Chez Nancy's

I've been busy reviewing art and even posted a new food recipe up at my food column at the Examiner.com

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/nancy-ewart

I want to do a longer piece on Bernini and more on the Venetian painters who are up at the de Young - heck, whole encyclopedias have been written about Bernini and Titian. Do you think I could be contented with just one column?

Vegetarian pot pie

http://www.examiner.com/budget-grocery-in-san-francisco/vegetarian-pot-pie-for-thanksgiving

Later in the week, I'll start my promotion pieces for local art fairs and community centers. There are so many local art centers that are desperately trying to survive. Financial support is being cut back in all areas but remember the motto "art saves lives. Feeding the soul is important in desperate times.

Bernini's "The Medusa" at the Legion

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Medusa, 1640s. Carrara marble. Musei Capitolini, Rome

This piece is so delicately beautiful and the level of craftmanship is so high that it has to be seen to be believed. At the press preview today, John Buchanan, the Director of the Museum, hinted that there will be more exchanges between the Capitolini Museum in Rome and the Legion. No details yet but keep tuned to this space ...

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/bernini-s-the-medusa-at-the-legion

Children's Creativity Museum

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/children-s-creativity-museum

Anonymous Was A Woman 2011 awards

Anonymous Was A Woman announced the ten artists selected to receive the Foundation’s annual award. The “no strings” grant of $25,000 enables women, over 45 years of age and at a critical juncture in their lives or careers, to continue to grow and pursue their work. Lauren Katzowitz Shenfield, director of the program, explained, “Anonymous Was A Woman Awards are synonymous with important recognition in artists’ personal and artistic development. The financial gift helps artists buy time, space, materials, and equipment, often at early stages of a new project, and, sometimes, recover from traumatic life events. In itself, the Award helps artists feel recognized and honored by other distinguished women who seek no credit for the role they play.”

Jungjin Lee, Buddha on hand made paper.

For me the real beauty in photography is not the end product but the process. My images are a means of metaphorical expression: not a representation of the actual world, or a reconstitution of visual beauty, but a basis for fundamental meditation. The photographs represent thoughts incapable of being expressed in words, asserted, or emphasized as a single argument. My THING series, unlike my past works, approached me from objects which were near and familiar to me. The familiarity means a waiting and a private communication between the thing and myself. And that familiarity turns into an estrangement through the vacating of thoughts. The act of vacating, like the blank spaces of my work, makes the thing dream of itself as well as me.

More award winners at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/anonymous-was-a-woman-2011-awards

Asian Art Museum: free Sunday admission and Be The Match Marrow Registry drive.

Pixlar animator Sanjay Patel's cartoons decorate the courtyard and the outside walls of the museum. @Asian Art Museum/Sanjay Patel.

Read more at:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/asian-art-museum-free-sunday-admission-and-be-the-match-marrow-registry-drive

Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Courts at the Asian Art Museum

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/maharaja-the-splendor-of-india-s-royal-courts-at-the-asian-art-museum-review

Masters of Venice: Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power at the de Young.

 Paolo Caliari, called Veronese.  Lucretia.  ca. 1580-1583.  Oil on canvas.  Gemäldegalerie of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. courtesy FAMSF/Andrew Fox

The de Young Museum is hosting another not-to-be-missed show - an exclusive presentation of 50 paintings by sixteenth-century Venetian painters Titian, Giorgione, Veronese, Tintoretto, Mantegna, and more,


Review at:  http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/masters-of-venice-renaissance-painters-of-passion-and-power-at-the-deyoung

Pissarro's People at the Legion

Self-Portrait

“Pissarro’s People,” opening this weekend at the Legion of Honor, brings together more than 100 paintings, showing his humanistic viewpoint through portraits of his family and paintings of working class people. Pissarro was the most modest, the most committed to the original principles of Impressionism, the most politically radical and for us, the least known.
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/pissarro-s-people-at-the-legion

Richard Serra Drawings at SFMOMA

Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective is the first-ever overview of Serra's drawings. This traveling exhibition brings together roughly 70 works made over the course of some 40 years—including many of the artist's sketchbooks that have never been shown before—and is presented chronologically, tracing Serra's ever-evolving ideas and methods since the 1970's.

Long before the 20th black on black painting the show became, dare I say it, boring? Would I be considered a philistine for saying so? Probably. One thing is for certain; if it weren't for Serra's international reputation, no museum would be showing all of these without some serious editing.


Click on the link, earn the writer a penny:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/richard-serra-drawings-at-sfmoma

Open Studios, 3rd weekend

 "Mermaids at the fountain." Nancy Ewart. Ink and watercolor on paper, 2011

Weekend 3, October 15 & 16, highlights SOMA, the Tenderloin, Potrero Hill,
and Bayview.

I'm showing this weekend so I hope to see some of you there (Nancy Ewart, 689 Bryant St, #27). I'm having a half off price on lots of items so there will be bargains galore. 

SOMA Artists Studios at Bryant at 5th have 35+ artists showing everything from puppets to pottery to painting. 

More images at my Flickr account: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49938734@N06/


689 BRYANT ST @ 5th ST. SAN FRANCISCO, CA

The studios are easy to get to by walking, bicycling or by public transportation. All featured studios are close to the CalTrain station and only a few blocks from Market St. BART stations. Several MUNI bus routes run to the neighborhood including the 9, 10, 12, 15, 27, 30, 45, 47 and metro lines N and T.
Nearby street parking is available.

SATURDAY ONLY RIDE the SOMA BUS!
October 15th, 12-5pm: Download the bus map here: http://www.somac-sf.org/free-open-studios-bus.html

Click at the link and earn me an extra penny: 
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sf-open-studios-weekend-3

Free Family Day at the Yerba Buena Gardens

And all museums within the area...

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/yerba-buena-family-day-october-16th?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Weekend Picks for October 6th - 9th

Haven't got plans for the weekend? Here are a few suggestions..

 At the Asian Art Museum: Ha Insun , working with pencil on Korean mulberry paper, explores the hidden afterlife of broken ceramics. She is part of the Seoul-based art collective, Ipgim, whose work reflects the emerging feminist art movement in Korea today.

More at:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/creativity-explored-open-studios-asian-art-museum

Jay DeFeo at Hosfelt Gallery

In the first West Coast exhibition of Jay DeFeo's art in fifteen years, Hosfelt Gallery presents a focused investigation of some of the formal and metaphoric themes that run through various bodies of work made in the two decades between the completion of her legendary painting The Rose and her death in 1989. The exhibition includes approximately 40 works, including paintings, drawings and unique photographic-based works, many of which have never previously been exhibited.

Review at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/jay-defeo-at-hosfelt-gallery