utility boxes turned public art

[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.

[Top images from 21 Boxes Facebook page, bottom images from HonestlyWTF]

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. 

learning sf: sticky art lab

[Storefront on University Avenue]

Despite being three blocks from my house, I first learned of Sticky Art Lab from an email about their upcoming holiday craft fair. Upon walking into the small art space, I fell in love. Sticky Art Lab is meant as a space for children and families to come create art together, whether in organized workshops with a specific project or in open lab time when they have the freedom to create, well, pretty much anything they can imagine. 

Frequently featured in 501 Families as a top activity for families, Sticky Art Lab also hosts workshops aimed at adults and has a gift shop in the front, so everyone can enjoy this space. I sat down with Rachel Knudsen and Angel Huntington-Ortega to learn more. Plus you can check Sticky Art Lab out in person this Saturday and Sunday at their Open House from 11am-4pm. 

[Sticky Gift Shop feature local artists]

How did the idea for Sticky Art start?

Rachel: I was working at a small children’s magazine, Skipping Stones, as a co-editor. Children were sending piles or artwork and articles and we’d spend hours looking and doing minimal editing and then sending the magazine back out to readers. I thought more people need to be doing this, sharing themselves and their art. I had this idea of that magazine but in a place, a place where people were just creating and doing and being together and doing it. Maybe it was 14 years ago. But there was travel, and having children, and life-- but that seed was there and anything I did seemed to grow that idea and finally it had to happen.

weekend review: weekday weekend

[Park at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in downtown San Francisco]

 I mentioned yesterday that I had a weekday long weekend with my friend/college roommate Laura aka Suits and Skirts. Laura and I always have excellent adventures, whether in New York, Richmond or now in the Bay Area. She was here for a business conference and afterward we met in downtown San Francisco. Spurned in our attempt to dine at 3pm at B Bar, we took pictures of the gorgeous Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and went back to Berkeley for Phil's Sliders followed by a late (gourmet) pizza dinner. 

The next day we headed to Napa, enjoying several vineyards and having a particularly wonderful time with the Resident Southern Belle at the Vintner's Collective. Our last day included Berkeley classics Philz Coffee, shopping at Jermey's Department Store, and great sushi for cheap at Manpuku before venturing back to the city for a night of fine wine and cheese at Mission Cheese, burritos, and The Mint Karaoke.

[Photographer Laura. Check her blog for more pictures]

[Making bird friends]

[Pizzaiolo in Oakland]

[Napa]

[At the first winery. We were asked twice this weekend if we are sisters, do you see the resemblance?]

[Empty wine crates]

[Bubbles on the patio. Ideal.]

[More bird friends]

[Toughest decision all week. Laura went with the platypus for her newborn niece.]

[On Valencia St]

[Books on books]