A friend sent me a link to the art work of El Anatsui after she saw his work at the Brooklyn Museum. El Anatsui "converts found materials into a new type of media that lies between sculpture and painting, combining aesthetic traditions from his birth country, Ghana; his home in Nsukka, Nigeria; and the global history of abstraction." His show, Gravity and Grace, at the Brooklyn Museum has "over 30 works in metal and wood that transform appropriated objects into site-specific sculptures."
On Thursday I attended a wonderful art auction benefiting Creativity Explored sponsored by Serena and Lily. I had first heard of Creativity Explored through work at CB2 and so was excited to support.
Creativity Explored is a San Francisco based nonprofit studio and gallery whose purpose is "to provide people with developmental disabilities the opportunity to express themselves through the creation of art. Additionally, we provide studio artists the opportunity to earn income from the sale of their artwork and to pursue a livelihood as a visual artist to the fullest extent possible."
While I did not win the piece I bid on, it was a lovely night supporting a wonderful organization. Original art from Creativity Explored artists can be purchased at the Creativity Explored gallery, on their website, and from Serena and Lily. You can also purchase textiles with prints of Creativity Explored work at CB2 which are all currently 10% off*.
*Disclaimer: While I do work at CB2, all views here are my own.
A few weeks ago, I visited the SF Moma with the goal of seeing the Cindy Sherman exhibit that has been getting press left and right. Deservedly so, but the exhibit that made me gasp upon entering was a different one, Field Connections. "Can there be architecture without buildings? What if a wall or a floor went on forever? What happens when people move through a room? From immersive installations to intricate drawings, The works in Field Conditions pose provocative questions about the construction, experience, and representation of space." Most dramatic was the dual installation above, but even smaller drawings done in graphite on beige paper were complex and visually perplexing. Anyone interested in modern art or architecture should put this on their SF to-do list before it closes on January 6. Quote and image from the SF Moma website.
[Images my own. Boxes on Allston between Milvia and MLK.]
Lately I've been running into common streetscape items turned public art all over the place. Here in Berkeley, I've been enjoying the 60 Boxes Project, part of Earth Island Institute's Streets Alive! Initiative, that has decorated utility boxes around the city. Near Berkeley High School are boxes commemorating famous grads of the school. Downtown are boxes in other designs by artists and I'm looking forward to stumbling across more.
My own college town, Ithaca, NY, is also tackling their utility boxes. 21 Boxes has 21 artists painting 21 boxes around the town. Learn more in this video. The two top images in the photo above are by artists Sean Chilson and Jay Stooks. Then today I found a post by HonestlyWTF on a project in São Paulo, Brazil, where Vivo telecom company recruited 100 artists to each redesign a public telephone for "Call Parade." I love the shape of these telephone booths to start with, the shape giving a bit of privacy and sound control without totally separating the caller from the street. With the added artwork, they go from well designed ubiquity to standout individual work I'd be proud to have on my street corner. Which is ultimately the goal of each of these community projects- to make a commonplace object into one that inspires civic pride.
Every since I was young, I have loved rundown buildings. I used to dream of spending a summer riding a motorcycle through the backwood highways of North Carolina and Virginia, taking photos of old barns to be published in giant tome. For the same reason, these images from Matteo Massagrande immediately spoke to me. They are (far far far more wonderful) cousins to images I have saved from site visits to old interiors projects. Something ties me to old things that have seen better days. I want to let them shine again, but not by cleaning them but by letting their stories show, just as Matteo has done.
I'm sitting in my kitchen/dining area looking at too many blank walls and wishing I could make it to New York's Annual Affordable Art Festival. Partner-in-Crime is in NYC right now, maybe he'll bring me back something to liven this place up. In its eleventh year, the Affordable Art Festival also runs in Los Angeles and Seattle, but somehow San Francisco is not on the list.
Original art should be more accessible, and the issue often isn't cost; there are plenty of young and undiscovered artists who sell their work at (relatively) affordable rates. (And let's remember the art should be expensive enough to pay a decent living to the artist!) The issue often is the difficulty of connecting artists and art buyers in non-intimidating ways. Seems like the Affordable Art Festivals are doing just that.
Much of my work lately has involved the Power Shift 2011 conference and it's efforts to end dirty money in politics and to make BP pay for the damages to the Gulf Coast. Today is Earth Day and so I want to share a video of an unsactioned installation piece a group of activist artists put on at the Tate Britain two days ago, on the one year memorial of the BP oil rig explosion. One year into disaster, oil is still be discovered in the Gulf, the natural habitat as well as the local economy is still struggling, and BP has yet to pay affected communities the recovery funds they deserve.
The artists involved with this action/installation are calling for the Tate to disassociate with BP. From GOOD.is, "Here's the irony, though: Liberate Tate was actually founded during a 2010 workshop on art and activism sponsored by the Tate. During the workshop, the group says, the Tate tried to prevent participants from doing anything that would embarrass the museum's sponsors. Suffice it to say, that kind of backfired."
GOOD then asked, "Is this the most effective way to help communities damaged by oil extraction?" This is a questions I ask myself frequently, in many contexts. Yet, to me, for a group of artists this IS one of the most effective ways for them to help. I hope many of them take their activism to broader venues as well, but they applied the resources they had to a specific target while calling for a real tangible and achievable change. I may have to use this example in my next Theory of Change strategy training.
Yesterday was an action packed day with Catwalk for Kids, shopping at Halcyon's rummage sale, and drinks with a good friend at The Belvidere at Broad, my friend and I ventured over to The Vacancy Project at the abandoned Central National Bank. "The project hopes to creatively address and affect issues of building vacancy in Richmond by observing the history of the Central National Bank and its current state of decay and disuse. Lighting design in the space is compo...sed with respect to the building's architectural features, history, and deterioration. The project's sound design is composed of natural audio recorded at the Bank in 2011, and of local popular music recorded in Richmond in 1929. "
The project reminded me of wandering around an empty former bank in Philadelphia as part of my senior project. I can't spend time in old buildings without thinking about how they could be used today- clearly an objective of the project. There were slightly creepy aspects of the installation with the darkness and music, but overall the project presented an opportunity of resurrection for an incredible old building in an area of town that has been neglected but is central to the city's revitalization. The question is how can we do that responsibly.
This past weekend was a long weekend officially thanks to my DC-based nonprofit's policy of following federal holidays (including the Fourth of July and Inauguration.) I made it even longer by spending Thursday night at my neighbor across the street, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. On Thursdays the museum is open late and they have music and dancing. I joined several wonderful friends for salsa among the art. I see the museum every day but the light at 6:45 Thursday was beautiful so I took a few pictures.
Having seen some amazing art, Friday night one of my roommates and I went to figure drawing class at the Visual Arts Center. Having access to places like the VMFA (for free!) and Visual Arts is one of my favorite things about Richmond. Before class I grabbed dinner from Lamplighter.
[Woven BLT]
Saturday was the October Bizarre Market, hosted by Lamplighter. After I came home to cook dinner with two of my roommates- london broil, argula salad with raspberries and pine nuts, and roasted sweet potatoes.
[I like my steak rare.]
Followed by a night out on the town. Chalkboard paint has been all the rage on the design blogs for a year so I guess new restaurant/bar Friend of Pho got the memo. We left some artwork to commemorate the night.
This weekend was full of many of my favorite things- art, hosting parties, music, puppies playing outside and sports. And yes, it's Friday and I'm finally getting around to posting this. There's been a lot of work. In fact, the aforementioned music was work- work that includes going to see LCD Soundsystem for free. Yes, I do love my job.
Friday night I joined a friend in my old neighborhood for First Fridays. We made it to most of the galleries and saw several great exhibits. I loved Vadis Turner's "The Last Dowry" exhibit at Quirk. Body parts made out of costume jewelry, though the stomach does slightly resemble a rooster.
[The Last Dowry]
[Lantern making for the Inlight Festival] The Inlight Festival is one of the many Richmond events I missed out in my first year here. It's an art exhibition that includes a lantern parade. Before the festival, there are many chances to make lanterns including at First Fridays. We saw several other groups carrying around lanterns and were constantly being asked where we made them. I really enjoyed carrying our paper lanterns into one bar for dinner and other for drinks. We brought the ambiance with us.
Another neat exhibit was a collection of skateboards, many of which had some serious artwork on them. Of all the galleries, this exhibit had the youngest and most diverse crowd. My favorite part was the ability to actually made art at the exhibit.
[Love the participation of this exhibit]
[Congress on a skateboard]
Sunday was RUGBY DAY and the pups had a great time watching my roommate's team play. After we hosted a party that was a little less classy than our previous event, but somehow the rugby party had less bloodshed than Best Friends Day.
After weeks of not posting due to work travel and moving to a new place, I am back! Work took me to an incredible city for an architecture/art junkie like me. An incredible city to stroll and due to the location of the training and where I stayed, I also got to visit some less tourist-traveled areas of the city.
[Chicago metro map]
[Closeup of the car park/ apartment tower]
[Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavilion bandshell in Millennium Park]
[Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate, also known locally as 'The Bean"]
[Navy Pier]
I also got to spend a bit of time in the massive (and confusing maze of the) Chicago Art Institute.
[An early Jackson Pollack, The Key]
[Edward Hopper's Nighthawks is one of the popular pieces in the museum.]
[Toy by John Chamberlain]
[detail of Cireassian Calvary Awaiting their Commanding Officer by Alberto Pisini]
[VMFA]
[Woven BLT]
[I like my steak rare.]
[Love you Pip!]
[The Last Dowry]
[Lantern making for the Inlight Festival]
Another neat exhibit was a collection of skateboards, many of which had some serious artwork on them. Of all the galleries, this exhibit had the youngest and most diverse crowd. My favorite part was the ability to actually made art at the exhibit.
[Love the participation of this exhibit] 
[Congress on a skateboard]
[Chicago metro map]
[Closeup of the car park/ apartment tower]
[Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavilion bandshell in Millennium Park]
[Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate, also known locally as 'The Bean"]
[Navy Pier]
[An early Jackson Pollack, The Key]
[Edward Hopper's Nighthawks is one of the popular pieces in the museum.]
[Toy by John Chamberlain]
[detail of Cireassian Calvary Awaiting their Commanding Officer by Alberto Pisini]
[detail of Albino by Marlene Dumas]
