Category Archives: Art

Nov12

The Women’s Building

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One of my favorite places in San Francisco’s Mission District is The Women’s Building (known in Spanish as Edificio de Mujeres). I love its bright colors. I love the mural painted upon it showing strong and talented women from a variety of cultures. I love that it’s a community center owned by women.

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I don’t remember if I visited The Women’s Building on my first trip to San Francisco or if I discovered it later. I do know I was glad to see it down 18th Street on the recent autumn morning I explored Valencia Street.  (The Women’s Building is located at 3543 18th Street.) After eating a delicious vegetarian burrito at Taqueria El Buen Sabor (699 Valencia Street), I strolled over to The Women’s Building. img_7302

According to http://womensbuilding.org/about/mission-history/,

In 1971, a group of visionary women founded San Francisco’s Women’s Centers to incubate emerging Bay Area women’s projects. Having outgrown their tiny office on Brady Street, the group bought Dovre Hall in 1979, a former Sons of Norway meeting hall and neighborhood bar. The women transformed the four-story building into the first woman-owned and operated community center in the country: The Women’s Building.

Fifteen years later in 1984, seven muralists created one of the largest murals in San Francisco: MaestraPeace Mural. This magnificent piece of public art, which covers two sides of our building and reaches five stories high, depicts the power and contributions of women throughout history and the world.

img_7299In 1999, TWB underwent an extensive renovation and seismic retrofitting, reopening in September 2000.

The Women’s Building is a women-led community space that advocates self-determination, gender equality and social justice.

Each year we welcome over 25,000 women and their families, connecting them with social services, community involvement opportunities, the arts, wellness and educational events.

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Women%27s_Building,

The structure was built in 1910 and was originally known as Turn Hall because it was part of the Turnverein exercise movement.[2]

In the first year of operation, the Women’s Building was targeted by two attacks: an arson fire that caused $50,000 worth of damage,[4] and a pipe bomb set off on the front steps of the building.[5]

In 1997, the Women’s Building underwent a major renovation prompted by mandatory seismic img_7301retrofitting. In the course of that effort, it evicted the Dovre Club, a bar that had been in the corner of the building on 18th and Lapidge Streets since 1979.[6] The original owner of that bar had an oral agreement with the Women’s Center that the bar could stay in place during his lifetime; after his death in 1997, the bar made an effort to stay in place but ultimately relocated.[4]

I think if I lived in San Francisco, I would utilize the services offered in The Women’s Building. However, since I’m only a visitor, what I like best about the building is the mural.

The Women’s Building website (http://womensbuilding.org/the-mural/) says,

MaestraPeace Mural was painted in 1994 by a “Who’s Who” of Bay Area muralists: Juana Alicia, Miranda Bergman, Edythe Boone, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, img_7306Yvonne Littleton and Irene Perez.

One of San Francisco’s largest and best known murals, MaestraPeace and serves as a visual testament to the courageous contributions of women through time and around the world.

The mural was fully cleaned and restored in 2012 by the original muralists with the assistance of a new generation of muralistas.

Wikipedia, on the aforementioned website, adds,

the mural… covers both the outside of The Women’s Building as well as the interior entrance hall and stairway.[7] It features images of feminine icons from history and fiction, and the names of more than 600 women written in calligraphy.[8] img_7309

I spent most of my visit to The Women’s Building trying to get decent photos of the fabulous mural. It wasn’t easy for me to capture such large expanses of wall with my little digital camera. To get a much better idea of how stunning the mural is, check out The Women’s Building website, or, even better, take a trip to San Francisco and see it in person.

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I took this photo of the front of The Women’s Building while standing across 18th Street.

I took all of the photos in this post.

 

Nov11

Street Art in The Mission

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An important question, written directly onto the sidewalk. What’s your answer?

I spent a few days in the Mission District of San Francisco this fall.

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Stencil art I encountered in one of the mural alleys.

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_District,_San_Francisco,

The Mission District, also commonly called “The Mission”, is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, United States, originally known as “the Mission lands”[4] meaning the lands belonging to the sixth Alta California mission, Mission San Francisco de Asis. This mission, San Francisco’s oldest standing building, is located in the northwest area of the neighborhood.

I did a lot of walking between 16th and 24th streets and Guerroero Street and South Van Ness Avenue. Mostly I was looking at murals, but I was also enjoying the hustle and bustle of big city life. It had been a long time since I’d been around so many people and been able to do such intense people watching.

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Stencil art I encountered in one of the mural alleys.

There are murals all over the place in The Mission. I took a lot of photos of a lot of murals, planning to do a lot of blog posts featuring the often political art. Alas, while I was researching the murals, I found a disclaimer on the Balmy Alley murals page (http://www.balmyalley.com/Murals.html):

Please remember that murals are copyrighted works of art. Photographs are for your personal enjoyment only. Any photos OR video taken of copyrighted murals for the purpose of reproduction (including t-shirts, album covers, web sites, guide books, music videos, commercials, etc) can only be used with written permission from the muralist(s).

I’ve contacted the community-based mural arts organization, Precita Eyes Muralists Association, to get permission to use my photos of murals in my blog posts. Before they will grant me any permission, I have to complete a multi-page form. Completing the form is on my list of things to do, but I haven’t been able to get to it yet. There will be no photos of the murals of Mission District alleys for my readers for a while.

In the meantime, I will share some of the examples of street art I encountered while I was exploring the neighborhood.

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Mushroom drawn directly onto the sidewalk, on Mission Street, I think.

The artrepublic website (http://www.artrepublic.com/art_terms/39-street-art-html/) defines street art as

Street art is any art developed in public spaces. The term can include traditional graffiti art work, as well as, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting and street poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, flash mobbing and street installations.

Whereas traditional graffiti artists have primarily used free-hand aerosol paints to produce their works with ‘tagging’ and text-based subject, street art encompasses many other media, techniques and subject matter including: LED art, mosaic tiling, murals, stencil art, sticker art, street installations, wheatpasting, woodblocking, video projection, and yarn bombing.

(For a cool list of Top 10 Types of Street Arts, go here: http://listdose.co/top-10-types-of-street-arts/.)

Some people wonder if there is any difference between street art and graffiti. The Herron School of  Art and Design (http://www.herron.iupui.edu/blog/06042012/street-art-vs-graffiti) says,

Graffiti limits an individual to what he or she can do with a spray can, on the spot. Street art, on the img_7250other hand, while employing some of the application techniques of graffiti, often involves a finished product that is ready-made and brought to the location -think stickers, wheat paste prints, and stencils.

Street art and graffiti are both powerful forms of public art that use visually striking, bold images and metaphors to convey a message. And in both cases, artists are risking legal punishment for spreading these messages.

Most of the art pieces I saw were created from stencils and spray paint. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stencil_graffiti,

Stencil graffiti is a form of graffiti that makes use of stencils made out of paper, cardboard, or other media to create an image or text that is easily reproducible. The desired design is cut out of the selected medium and then the image is transferred to a surface through the use of spray paint or roll-on paint.

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I think these fish were created using multiple stencils.

The process of stenciling involves applying paint across a stencil to form an image on a surface below. Sometimes multiple layers of stencils are used on the same image to add colours or create the illusion of depth.

My favorite part of street art is the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) ethic. Street artists don’t need a museum or a gallery or an agent or a patron. Street artists just need their art supplies and an empty patch of sidewalk or wall.

I also appreciate encountering street art for free, while I’m out and about. I don’t have to pay admission to a museum; the whole neighborhood is a museum for a street art aficionado.

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Turtles swim across a white wall.

Folks who want to learn how to cut a stencil or to connect with stencil, street, and graffiti artists should check out the Stencil Revolution website (http://www.stencilrevolution.com/). To see examples of street art from around the world, go to the Street Art Utopia website (http://www.streetartutopia.com/).

I took all the photos in this post.

Oct28

Teaching Children Since 1878

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I’ve written before about the sculptures on Main Street in Mesa, Arizona. (You can read past posts about The Big Pink Chair and Booked for the Day.) Today’s featured sculpture is called Teaching Children Since 1878.

According to http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID:siris_ari_316604,

The sculpture is the central piece of a larger plaza setting, which includes 16 bronze or brass relief plaques on surrounding stucco wall with inscriptions on the history of education in Mesa and 4 columns from the original Mesa High School (formerly known as the second Abraham Lincoln School).

The brochure with information about the self-guided tour of the Mesa’s sculpture collection lists the sculptor as James Avati, but the img_5842aforementioned Smithsonian Institution website lists three people as sculptors of this piece: James  R. Avati, C. L. Harding, and Dennis Tidwell.

While writing this post, I learned James R. Avati is from a family of artist. According to Wikipedia,

“His [grand]father was a professional photographer in New York City and his father was “James Sante Avati…an American illustrator and paperbackcover artist. ”

James R. Avati’s biography on the Utah Artist Project website refers to Teaching Children Since 1878 as a “major commission.” It also says,

James R. Avati of Redbank, New Jersey, and Salt Lake City, is an excellent and sensitive sculptor who img_5845studied at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts, at the Arts Students League in New York City, at Ricks College in Idaho, and at Brigham Young University. He was also a graduate student in the Department of Art at the University of Utah where he earned his M.F.A. in 1988. While there he worked with Angelo Caravaglia in the development of his frequently powerful art.

This life-size bronze sculpture is located on the south side of Mesa’s Main Street, on the corner of Sirrine Street.

I enjoy the juxtaposition of the fashions worn by the teacher and her students against the backdrop of modern buildings and cars, motorcycles and traffic lights. The teacher reminds me of a statue of a pioneer woman in Austin, TX a friend and I once used as the star of a short film.

Next time you’re strolling in downtown Mesa, be sure to checkout these scholars.

I took all of the photos in this post.

Oct15

Booked for the Day

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I recently wrote about the public art on Main Street in Mesa, AZ and mentioned my favorite sculpture there, The Big Pink Chair.

Another piece in Mesa’s outdoor art collection that I like a lot is Booked for the Day by Dan Hill.

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The statue is made from bronze, and is 42″h x 16″w x 30″d. It has a copyright of 2000.

Of course, I like the fact that the girl is reading. I love reading and books, so I was tickled to see two of my passions depicted in art. I also like the fact that the sculpture is sitting on a bench, out in public, just like a real person. It’s fun to sit next to this depiction of a young reader or stand behind her and look at the pages of the book over her shoulder. Oh, the possibilities for photo opportunities for anyone visiting Mesa’s Main Street with friends! img_5783

Dan Hill’s website says,

        A good book is hard to put down and this girl won’t be putting her book down anytime soon. Ten-year old Erica, engrossed in Harry Potter, was the inspiration for this interactive sculpture. This sculpture is in the permanent public collections of the City of Mesa, Arizona; the Carnegie-Evans Public Library, Albia, Iowa; the Palos Heights Public Library, Palos Heights, Illinois; the Eccles Community Art Center, Ogden, Utah; City of Ankeny, Iowa; Cleary University, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Main Street Garden, Twin Falls, Idaho; the Prescott Public Library, Prescott, Arizona; and the Ligonier Public Library, Ligonier, Indiana. 

According to the aforementioned website,

[Dan Hill’s] talent for s[c]ulpting emerged accidentally in 1974 when he was lounging around at home recuperating from a work related foot injury.  While watching an old western on television, he began messing around img_5781with a toothpick and some playdough [sic]…By the time the movie had ended [Hill] had sculpted a small bust, capturing a remarkable likeness of actor Lee Marvin.  These humble beginnings as a sculptor were followed by the early success of two sports action sculpture commissions and a first place ribbon in the Professional Sculpture Division at the Utah State Fair.

Booked for the Day is located on the south side of Main Street, between Robson Street and MacDonald Street.

To learn more about public art in Mesa, view the brochure that goes along with the self-guided tour of the city’s sculpture collection.

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I took all of the photos in this post.
Oct7

The Big Pink Chair

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SAD UPDATE: I was in Mesa in mid March, 2018, and the Big Pink Chair was GONE. My friend and I walked up and down Main Street in the whole area where the permanent art pieces are and we found no Big Pink Chair. I was so sad. I was going to get my friend to take a photo of me sitting in it. I can only assume the folks who were loaning it decided to take it back.

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Mesa, Arizona is a very strange town in the greater Phoenix metro area. Mesa is full of Mormons and meth and…art. Well, at least downtown Mesa is full of art.

According to a brochure that goes along with the self-guided tour of the town’s sculpture collection,

Mesa’s Growing Permanent Sculpture Collection features 39 fine pieces, most of which are displayed downtown (four privately owned sculptures are also on loan). Enjoy a FREE self-guided outdoor walking tour of the sculptures any time of day or night, any day of the week.

(Do what you want, but I wouldn’t recommend hanging around Main Street in downtown Mesa in the middle of the night.)

My favorite piece in Mesa’s sculpture collection is The Big Pink Chair. The above photo does not do it justice. It’s not just a big pink chair. It’s a BIG pink chair. An adult sitting in it looks like a little child. When I sit in it, my legs don’t hang down. When I sit in it, my feet stick straight out.

And yes, folks can climb up and sit in the chair. It makes for a great photo op, so visit it with a group of friends (especially if you time your visit for 3am).

img_5918The Big Pink Chair is a work by Mary Consie. It’s located on the north side of Main Street, between Morris Street and Robson Street.

I took the photos in this post.

Aug5

Collage for Another Friend

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I don’t only make collages to sell. Sometimes I make collages as gifts.  I made this one for a friend recently.

My favorite part of this one is the tiny green padlock. The lock was given to me by another friend. He sent me two packages containing interesting little trinkets. The lock and its keys were included in the first package, and I was excited to work them into a collage. Here’s the result.

The quote is from the song “Already Gone,” popularized by The Eagles. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Already_Gone_(Eagles_song), the song

was written by Jack Tempchin and Robb Strandlund and produced by Bill Szymczyk.

It’s my favorite quote in rock’ n ‘roll and a favorite subject for collages.

Jun17

Valentine for My Broken Heart

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This is an piece of art I made around the turn of the century. I think I made it when I visited friends in Utah, but I might be confused on that detail. I’m pretty sure I had the vision for it during my first trip to New Mexico, when I was crushing hard on one of my best friends.

The materials are red satiny fabric and silver gel pen on black construction paper.

It’s kind of impressive that after losing so many material possessions over the last 5+ years, I still have this piece. Thanks to the folks who saved it for me.

Jun14

A New Collage Gift (The Light)

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I made another collage as a gift for a friend. This friend is a Deadhead (or at least has Grateful Dead tendencies), so I used a quote from “Scarlet Begonias” (words by Robert Hunter) for this piece. I did a variation on this same theme in January 2015; you can see that piece here: http://www.rubbertrampartist.com/2015/04/07/even-more-collages/. I like working with the visual images of light when I illustrate this quote.