So Much Art…

I’m back after 4+ very busy days in San Francisco with the girlchild, who is really very patient and fun to be around, even though we are now both sick. I’m not sure how. Maybe someone at SFMOMA? Someone at the show on Friday? Hard to know. Still an awesome trip…so much art.

Here’s all of it chronologically. Mostly. Before I left, I did some more ironing on the quilt in progress that won’t be done before school starts (which is fine).

And I washed out the last two dye paintings I did. The dye seems to be holding particularly well, being 8 days old at this point.

The one book that made any claims for how long the dyes last said 5 days; the other one said, yo, document your shit! So yeah, some of the dye is washing out, but I still like it.

NOW, today, the dyes are hmmm…15 days old. I haven’t tossed them. I was hoping to do some this week. This is before I got sick. We’ll see how it goes.

OK, so Thursday, I flew to San Francisco kind of early so we could do the one day SFMOMA is open late…just for Ruth Asawa’s show. And wow. Not only are her iconic pieces truly beautiful in person…

And the shadows!

But there is a lot of background info and other artwork of hers as she branched out (sometimes literally) that adds to the exhibit.

Also, holy crap, but she had 6 kids and was able to create consistently. I appreciate that. We did joke that almost every piece was called “Untitled”. She did some things with pens and patterns, plus ink…the repetitive quality of her work is very satisfying to experience.

And her later, more branching work, is also beautiful.

I really enjoyed her work.

We watched another segment of the Ragnar Kjartansson The Visitors exhibit. I’d seen about 20 minutes of it last July, and saw another 20, the last 20. Truly beautiful.

And we went through Yayoi Kusama’s Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love again.

Last time, there was a huge line, but late-night Thursdays seem to be the best time to go. Also, the show has been open for a year and is closing soon.

We had a late dinner and went to bed.

The next day, the girlchild needed to work and I had a couple of shows I wanted to see, so I headed out at a reasonable hour. I was staying in the Mission District, and the murals blow my mind every time I’m there. This is Boneyard Luv by Raiz y Gonzalez con Safos.

I didn’t get the mushroom artist.

And then I took BART over to Berkeley (easy to get there once I figured out where the station was) to BAMPFA to see Routed West.

I do love some old quilts, especially when they’re wonky. This is by Willia Ette Graham, started before 1944, completed in the 1950s, repaired in 1985. I love the addition of each set of new bits. Started with a crumb quilt and moved on.

This is a shadow star by Rebecca Smith and Bettie Chaffold (mother and daughter). I like the color of the squares with the stars.

This is Alice Neal’s Mary Bright Commemorative Quilt from the 1950s, in honor of her mother.

The center is very contemporary art quilt, with the hat and embroidery.

This is Quinciana Tatmon’s fan quilt. I love that she didn’t make it the way most fans are usually designed, and they she randomly appliqued them on top of the background. This is from the 1950s-60s.

And I always love clothes being put whole into a quilt. This is a britches quilt by Arbie Williams, pieced in 1993, and quilted by Irene Bankhead.

There are a lot of repeat names in these quilts…many were just tops and were finished later. I have a few of those from my grandmother lying around.

This was pieced by Cora Lee Hall Brown in 1981 and then quilted by Willia Ette Graham. there is one block but its repeat is so random and yet repetitive in a beautifully random way.

This was pieced by Louisa Fite in the 1950s-60s. It’s a log cabin with the blue and white feathers at the center of the log cabins. It was quilted in 1970 by Joan Thompson, her daughter.

More fun colors here…Johnnie Wade made this piece in 1996. Very graphic.

But check out the star and how it’s attached to the background. I love this. Because it’s not straight and it’s all buttonhole stitched down by hand.

Whatever works y’all. Great show…again at BAMPFA through November 30. From there, I walked through one corner of UC Berkeley, where I saw this sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro. This is Rotante Dal Foro Centrale in 1971.

Fun piece.

Street art while walking, by Nigel Sussman.

I went to Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics, bought a few half yards, but also felt like I should be making my own pants. In my spare time. It’s an option, I guess.

I then returned to the Dogpatch area of San Francisco to the Museum of Craft and Design to see the Buttons On! exhibit of Beau McCall’s work.

I have buttons in jars too, but nothing like this guy. I knew about the clothing, but my favorite piece in the show was this bathtub covered in buttons with the hint of a female figure (in white). This is darkmuskoilegyptiancrystals&floridawater/redpotionno.1 from a poem by Ntozake Shange. It’s about suicide and self love.

I was also fascinated by how he used buttons sculpturally.

And turned denim clothing into things they weren’t…this is the yoke and sleeves, but I also like how the pockets hang down.

Also he does some stitching between the buttons.

Here’s some more stacks…on this sleeve, kind of protective.

Another yoke, this is no sleeves.

I wasn’t great about documenting titles in this show. This is Button Apron: Black Target.

These are Button Shorts: Chillin’ Chaps.

And my favorite speedos…Button Speedo: Black Ice.

Nobody is coming near you with those on.

The show offered a chance to make your own button necklace or bracelet, so I did.

There was also a small exhibit there called A Roadmap to Stardust with this little ceramic sculptures of what look like astronauts. The exhibit was created by artists Neil Forrest and John Roloff (collaboratively known as OortCloudX).

It’s supposed to be an archaeological dig.

They’re fun.

Definitely an interesting little exhibit.

Oh here’s the 5 fabrics I did buy. I wanted to buy linen type stuff for pants, but I didn’t.

After all that, I made it back to the Mission and headed out for dinner with the girlchild and two of her friends…more murals. This is by Nychos, who I’ve followed on Instagram for years…nice to see one in person.

We had a great Burmese dinner, then walked a million miles uphill to an art collective to watch a friend of theirs sing in a band in the basement…it was mostly 70s and 80s with some more current stuff. Fun times.

The next day, I had persuaded the girlchild to take me to the International Fiber Arts XII exhibit in Sebastopol at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. And there’s the bridge.

Me in front of my piece War Zone.

This was an interesting and varied show…not just quilts, but all types of fiber arts, which is nice. This is Oh Know by Mark Sullivan.

Here is Does the Caged Bird Sing by Jóh Ricci. A really intriguing texture.

I realize this is a fungus, but it also looks like a dress to me (it’s highly likely it’s supposed to look like a dress). This is Mango Tango by George-Ann Bowers.

This interesting piece is Fairyfellers by Leonard Greco.

Intriguing characters…

This is two different pieces that work very well together. The top piece is Chimera by Erica Dincalci and the bottom is All in a Band by Mercy Hawkins.

The 3D work was fascinating. Here is Il Sogno della Bambina by Penelope Lenaerts.

More buttons and texture in Still Kickin by Marie Bergstedt.

Very reminiscent of Beau McCall’s work, eh?

Here is Laurel Izard’s My Soul to Keep.

Darkly beautiful.

This is Michael F. Rohde’s Prajnaparamita. Michael is in California Fibers with me. It’s nice to be in a non-CA Fibers’ show with his work.

Judith Content’s Araneidae…

Winner of first place, Wen Redmond’s Three Feathers Remain.

Betty Busby’s Tissue Culture…which sold.

These black clouds were very cool. This is Cloud Bursts by Kathy Pallie.

And this little cutie by Eileen Morabito, Make Love. Fuck War.

It was a very visually entertaining show that closes this week, I think.

We drove out on Florence Street, where we started to see the work of Patrick Amiot and Brigitte Laurent. Almost every house had a sculpture in the front yard, and then we saw them all over town.

Patrick builds them out of junkyard remains and Brigitte paints them.

I love all of them. I want one in MY yard.

We headed out for the winery experience to a tiny but lovely place, the Horse & Plow Tasting Room. They do wine and cider and have a lovely outdoor space.

You can see we kinda needed this.

We shared one because this place is 90 minutes away from the girlchild’s home, so it was nice that she drove all that way for me.

When we got back, we rested a bit and headed out for bao and dumplings, which was fun. We happened to walk through an art exhibit on the way back and saw two art quilters’ work I knew…Joe Cunningham’s Shelter dominating the exhibit.

And Lorraine Woodruff-Long’s piece Sutro Tower.

The exhibit was for locals about the area and had a lot of fun work in it.

We walked back through the Mission…

The next morning was a late start for us, in that the girlchild wanted to watch a soccer game and I decided to wander around, feed myself, head over to Balmy Alley to photograph more murals, yadda yadda. I like how they all have their fists up in this mural by Martin Travers.

This is Victorion: El Defensor de la Mision, by Sirron Norris.

This Where the Wild Things Are takeoff was cute, by Jason Jagel and Guarina Paloma Lopez.

I kind of like the chairs here, but it blocks the painting a bit. This is Cosmogonia by Chilovia, Raiz-Peskador. I see two Instagram accounts on the painting: Pancho Pescador and Pablito Something.

I love the detailed storytelling murals. This is Mission Makeover by Lucia Ippolito & Tirso Araiza, her father.

Two details I found really interesting…this with Adam and Eve being pushed out by riot police is way too close to the ICE kidnappings happening recently.

And this bit with the monkeys and the guy that looks like he’s in court robes by plugged in with his mouth zipped shut.

Great imagery. This piece too…Women of the Resistance by Lucia Gonzalez Ippolito (the same artist from the last one) and more (the names are very hard to read, even in real life).

The upper portion with all the puppeteers of evil is amazing. There are strings coming down from their hands to try to control everything.

Absolutely on topic.

That gas tank dispenser…

Here is an older one; the part with the name is deteriorated…bottom left corner.

I like the tree with the body below in this one…by Laura Campos.

This sign was in one of the windows in the alley…I heartily agree.

I passed this trailer parked on 25th Street enough times to agree with it.

This is Leyend Azteca, which was directed by Leia Maahs and Jaime Wynn, painted by a bunch of people, possibly originally painted by Gustavo in 1978. Long story here…bottom right corner.

The girlchild eventually picked me up and we headed south to Filoli, which is this huge mansion in the middle of nowhere.

But it had (17,000 people AND) 6 of Thomas Dambo’s trolls, made from recycled materials. I saw one of these in Seattle and have kept an eye on them since.

It’s an expensive trip, unless you’re a member, but I found between the trolls, the gardens, and the house…plus there happened to be an art fair while we were there…it was worth it. We spent about 3 1/2 hours wandering around (in the heat, to be fair).

It was harder to get photos without people in them…

Hence no picture of this one’s face…

Except here, where I cropped out the entire family in the lower half.

And this one never had no kids on it.

But this is nice. And yes, they all have names and stories and are very kid friendly.

But awfully adult friendly too.

Super loved this place.

The gardens are pretty and have some interesting stuff in them.

And the house…well the ballroom is amazing and so are all the kitchen rooms (multiple rooms).

Yeah, I didn’t have time to figure out what these were.

I tried to get a picture of the squirrel I saw this morning running along the wires in front of my second-story window, but that didn’t happen. I flew back this morning…which is kind of when the girlchild and I realized we were both sick. This flight was delayed as well, which might just be a summer thing. And then I spent most of the afternoon lying on the couch or the bed and sleeping. I’m feeling a bit better now, but suspect tomorrow will still be ugh. I was just thinking I hadn’t been sick in ages…well, since my trip to Ohio, when I actually got sick when I got home. Fun times. It was a great trip…lots of good food and time with kid, plus art up the yinyang, whatever that means. Totally a cool time. I’ll be resting up for a couple of days and trying to figure out how to be ready for school next week. Too soon, y’all…too soon.