Sunday, March 28, 2010

Anxiety is the Handmaiden of Creativity

Brooke Waterhouse presents:

THE ANXIETY SHOW April 7 – May 1
Curated by Christine Kristen aka LadyBee

Project One, 251 Rhode Island St, San Francisco

“Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity.” - T.S. Eliot

The economic crisis, global warming, and the wars have generated a free-floating anxiety which is difficult not to internalize. This show is an exploration of the uncertainty of our times, featuring Brian Goggin, Deidre DeFranceaux, Bryan Tedrick, Laura Kimpton and Jeff Schomberg, JennyBird Alcantara, Jonathan Solo, Francis Baker, Tony Speirs and Lee Harvey Roswell...so bring your worries and woes to the opening reception Wednesday, April 7th, 8pm-midnight!

UPDATE: Artists Brian Tedrick, Bryan Goggin, Deirdre DeFranceaux, Francis Baker and Lee Harvey Roswell will speak about their work on...
April 27th, 7-9pm at Project One Gallery

“The Hole and Some of his Parts” by Lee Harvey Roswell

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Sculpture Jump!


Sculpture Jump!
Originally uploaded by yokokikuchi
This is one of the most charming photos I have ever seen! Thanks so much girls for jumping with Ecstasy, and thank you yokokikuchi for the great photo!

Ecstasy Parties!!

Ecstasy loved the party and all of us loved her
Artists Dan Das Mann & Karen Cusolito
BRAF Executive Director Tomas McCabe photos: George Post

IGBA MMOH African Drummers photo: affinity
And even the dogs came out to enjoy the party photo: George Post
LadyBee, Chris Bently and Helvetica Hahne enjoying the festivities photo: George Post
Gaucho Gypsy Jazz The Lester's came out to enjoy the sunshine, the community and the art photo: affinity
Crimson Rose posing with Ecstasy photo: George Post
We have been telling you for a few weeks about Ecstasy by Dan Dass Man and Karen Cusolito coming to Patricia's Green in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. What a day it was with music and introductions of the artists and the neighborhood out enjoying Ecstasy and the beautiful afternoon. Thanks to all of you for coming out and celebrating with us.
Photos: George Post, craftphoto.com

Saturday, March 20, 2010

BRAF Represents at the 2010 Burning Man Regional Summit


IMG_8033
Originally uploaded by ms trouble
Over 100 Burning Man Regional Contacts and Community Leaders converged last weekend in San Francisco to attend the 4th Annual Regional Leadership Summit. A generous donation of space at-cost from the Bently family made it possible for us to hold our event at the beautiful state-of-the art Bently Reserve in Downtown San Francisco. The purpose of the Summit was to bring together leaders from across the world to exchange ideas, learn new skills and to explore the nature of community as it pertains to the evolving Burning Man Regional Network.

The first ever Convectional Caucus took place at the Bently Reserve on Friday afternoon. A total of 37 Burning Man departments, arts groups, theme camps, non-profits, and other community organizations set up convention-style information tables where Summit attendees could learn about their various philosophies, processes, and ambitions. The Caucus was a tremendous success and provided a unique platform for Regional Contacts and other Community Leaders to interact with BM Staff and Bay Area groups in significant ways.

The photo includes Tomas McCabe, Executive Director of BRAF, Affinity your BRAF blogger and Josie Schimke, Program and Development Assistant for BRAF. Tomas, Freddy Hahne and Josie represented BRAF during the Caucus. Affinity was the registrar for the Regional Event.

photo: Tracy Bugni

Friday, March 19, 2010

BRAF in Palo Alto!

Join us for an evening of presentations and conversation entitled "Temporary Art: Inspiring Community and Civic Participation" featuring Tomas McCabe, Executive Director of the Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF), Crimson Rose, Vice President of BRAF & Burning Man founding Director and artists who have worked with BRAF to install their artwork in San Francisco and other cities, Michael Christian, Karen Cusolito, and Peter Hudson. Tomas and Crimson will give overviews of how BRAF works with different cities to create temporary public art that engages the community and the artists will talk about their work and their projects with BRAF. There will be time for audience questions and for mingling with the panelists and fellow BRAF supporters.

The evening is sponsored by the City of Palo Alto Public Arts Commission and is the first event of their annual Art Talk Series. The Art Commission will also give an overview for artists interested in submitting project proposals to the City of Palo Alto under their new Temporary Art Project Guidelines.

March 25, 2010
Palo Alto Art Center, Auditorium
1313 Newell Road
Palo Alto, CA

7:30 – 8:30 pm

FREE!

Please RSVP to Darlene Katsanes, darlene.katsanes@cityofpaloalto.org, so the Art Commission can provide enough refreshments for all.

BRAF REPRESENTS AT OPERATION RESTORE DEFENESTRATION - Opening Reception

In this photo: Rae Richman, BRAF VP Board of Directors, Dr. Deb, BRAF Advisory Board, Freddy Hahne, President BRAF Board of Directors and last but not least our own BRAF Executive Directore, Tomas McCabe.

To See more photos from this Event, Click Here

photo: 1AM SF

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Hayes Valley Welcomes Ecstasy!



In February, during the installation of Ecstasy, we stopped by to say Hi, sans camera, to Karen Cusolito and her crew who were doing the installation. Feeling foolish, on my job and my joy with no way to take photos who do I run into but a woman on a bike with a gorgeous camera, who of course goes to Burning Man and knows Dan and Karen's work. So I introduced myself and Kristin said she would be happy to get a few shots of the installation, and try to include one of Karen and her crew. So here are the photos, just in time for a final reminder of the "Opening Reception" this Friday:

March 19, 2010
Patricia’s Green
at Octavia and Hayes Streets
San Francisco, CA
4:00 pm - 7:00 pm

We will have music, IGBA MMOH African Drummers and Gaucho Gypsy Jazz, and celebrate together!

The neighborhood continues to welcome Ecstasy. Besides all the great photos on flickr, they're blogging about Ecstasy out there! How fun is that? Clearly the neighborhood loves her, and it looks to me like she is loving them back. So if you want to read how San Francisco and especially Hayes Valley is falling in love with Ecstasy, read these!

Happy Rusty Friday

Today’s Walk 6 March 2010

photos: Kristin’s flickr set
Kristin Tieche Selvavision
http://selvavision.com/
Content for Sustainable Living
VĂ©lo Vogue
http://velovogue.blogspot.com/
Where the bike lane meets the runway

Monday, March 15, 2010

Announcing our 2010 Grant Recipients!

The Grant Committee of the Black Rock Arts Foundation is proud to announce the winners of our 2010 Grant Cycle. We received a record number of applications this year, over 300, and awarded more grants than ever before, giving away a total of $50,000 to 12 projects. This year's grant winners are truly worth celebrating.

To read more about our 2010 Grant Recipients

photo: Music Box Collage

Monday, March 08, 2010

Elementary School Partners with BRAF



The Black Rock Arts Foundation has partnered with the Parent Teachers Organization to create a pilot after school arts program at Yick Wo Elmentary School. Yick Wo has a history of using the arts in the school to enrich the student experience. Black Rock Arts Foundation Board Member's Harley Dubois and Dicky Davies have designed a program model that includes the students collaborating together to create art that can be actioned off at Yick Wo's annual auction.

For this pilot program the theme is "Live Worms" in recognition of the auction at the Live Worms Gallery. While each of the grade level did a different age/developmentally appropriate project, all are in line with a central theme of Worm Lives. Each age group took a closer look at worms of all types and their secret lives.

The kindergarten and first grade did projects based on "Worms Treasure" using line, shape, & repetition to create their art. The second graders worked with "Bed of Worms" a color mixing project. The third graders created a "Worm Dance Party" working with the concept of patterns via string painting, and the 4th/5th Graders created hanging glow worm sculptures.

The Black Rock Arts Foundation is very excited about this collaboration with Yick Wo Elementary School, and are hoping that other artists that work in interactive mediums will be involved in the future or will use it as a model for their schools. But for now, we hope you will check out the Yick Wo student's art at the auction:

Yick Wo Silent Auction and Show
March 11, 2010
Live Worms Gallery
1345 Grant Ave, San Francisco.

March 11, 2010 from 4 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Yick Wo is proud to auction off art donations from local and celebrated bay area artists including Kelli McLaughlin, Termeh Yeghiazarian, Scott Hewicker,Virginia Jo White, Chirs Corales and others. Additionally, their Silent Auction will have great items such as vacation homes, restaurant gift certificates, fitness memberships and more all at extremely reasonable prices. Come enjoy our live band, drinks, food, great auction items all while supporting the enrichment programs for Yick Wo Elementary School.

Everyone in the community is welcome to attend.

Yick Wo is a public elementary school on Lombard and Jones Streets that is home to some 250 local children of diverse cultural and economic backgrounds. They are a California Distinguished School and National Blue Ribbon School because of their high academic performance.

photos: affinity

ScrapEden SF: Request for Proposals








ScrapEden SF: Request for Proposals
Composting Contraption $10,000-$15,000

Timeframe:
Proposal Due to BRAF 3/15/10,
Grant Award Announced 4/1/10
Project Completed by 6/1/10

The Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF), in partnership with the San Francisco Department of the Environment, is seeking artists to develop another public art project for ScrapEdenSF, an ongoing program pairing artists with community groups to create artworks that are designed to inspire and motivate residents to recycle and compost more effectively. BRAF is currently requesting proposals from San Francisco Bay Area artists for the Composting Contraption.

com⋅post [kÉ’mpÉ’st] is a combination of various decaying organic substances that are being decomposed largely through aerobic decomposition into a rich black soil.

con⋅trap⋅tion [kuhn-trap-shuhn] - a mechanical contrivance; gadget; device.

Imagine inventor Rube Goldberg meeting up with biodynamic farming pioneer Rudolf Steiner.

The Composting Contraption will be a human-powered, interactive, kinetic artwork designed to inspire, motivate and educate San Francisco residents to increase the practice of composting at home and to take better advantage of the City’s green bin organics collection programs serving the residential, commercial, and institutional sectors.

This new work of art will travel to local festivals, street fairs, farmers markets and schools to increase awareness of composting (and recycling to some extent) and change the composting behavior of San Francisco artists and residents to divert recoverable resources from being disposed of as solid waste, in keeping with the City’s zero waste goals. The artist is not expected to bring the contraption all around town, but will work with a local community group to train them on its use so they can tour it around in an educational campaign.

Materials used for this new mobile sculpture MUST primarily be made of reclaimed, recycled or reused materials diverted from local landfills.

This artwork must educate the public about the process of composting in a dynamic and whimsical way, while referencing the variety of ways that the public can (and now by SF law MUST) participate in composting, from backyard to curbside pickup.

After selection, artists will be contracted to provide:

A public art piece delivered on time.
A signed commitment to work towards the ScrapEdenSF goals.
A plan for involving the community group in the creation and implementation of the project.

How to Apply

Proposals must be received by BRAF no later than 5:00pm Monday, March 15, 2010.

Please submit a proposal outlining your project and be sure to address the requested information and questions below. Be sure to include any sketches, photos or any other supplemental materials that will best highlight your design concept.

1) Applicant Information

Name
Organization
Mailing Address
Daytime Phone
Email Address
Website

2) Project Information

Project Description. Summarize the proposed project in the space provided. Address the following: What will you create? Does your project have an interactive element as part of the finished product? What materials will you use? (Please remember materials must be predominantly recycled, reused, or salvaged)

3) Project Realization

Summarize integral elements of the project’s realization. Address the following:
i) How will you obtain your materials? Have you worked with these materials?
ii) In what ways will your process be collaborative? Are you part of an artists’ collective or do you have an existing team/crew? How do you plan to integrate and involve community members in the creation of your project?
iii) Do you have a physical space available to work on this project? What resources do you have available? What resources do you require?

4) Project Experience

Summarize your previous experience and role working on large projects. Address the following: i) Have you previously worked collaboratively on a large project? Describe the project, it’s scale, and your experience.
ii) Have you previously acted as a lead on a large project or been part of the key project management team? Elaborate.

5) Accomplishments

What are your accomplishments? List relevant accomplishments/projects and corresponding websites or other resources. Please detail the qualifications and/or accomplishments of key artists participating

6) Project Expenses

A. Salaries & Fees
B. Space Rental
C. Project Expenses

Submission Instructions:

Submit the proposal as an attachment to an email by 5:00pm Monday March 15th, 2010 to: scrapeden_sf@blackrockarts.org

Submit any supplemental materials (also due 5:00pm Monday March 15th, 2010 to:

Black Rock Arts Foundation
Attn: ScrapEden SF Applications
3450 3rd Street, Suite #2A
San Francisco, CA, 94158

If you have questions, please send an email to: scrapeden_sf@blackrockarts.org

Or call the BRAF office at 415.626.1248.

The mission of the Black Rock Arts Foundation is to support and promote community interactive art and civic participation.

ScrapEden Program

The Black Rock Arts Foundation's ScrapEden Program is the fruit of collaborative efforts between the San Francisco Department of the Environment and BRAF. We pair artists with neighborhood groups in a creative partnership that illustrates the messages and practices of recycling and reuse through community art installations. The community and the artist work together to produce temporary art installations displayed in community parks. Past projects include the installation of public art in Civic Center Plaza, the Panhandle, Hayes Green, the Embarcadero, and Hunters Point.

To learn more about ScrapEden

Prior blog posts About ScrapEden

Monday, March 01, 2010

STOP


STOP
Originally uploaded by Troy Holden
"Defenestration" is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.


Prior posts about Brian Goggin

Rings


Rings
Originally uploaded by Rubin 110
And even more and different photos from the local community. Don't forget to join us on March 19th.

Global Lives - World Premiere



If you missed the opening of the The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts presentation of the Global Lives Project, a 2007 grant recipient, an innovative video installation representing global diversity, you still have a chance to see the exhibit until June 20, 2010 in San Francisco.

Working with acclaimed filmmakers, artists and designers, *Global Lives* assembles the realities of everyday life from Lebanon, Serbia, China, India, Japan, Malawi, Indonesia, Brazil, Kazakhstan and San Francisco into an installation by architectural and design visionaries of Sand Studios and Forum.

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

(3rd and Howard Streets, San Francisco).

Prior Posts about Global Lives

Operation Restore Defenestration

Come and join us at the “Operation Restore Defenestration”- Fundraiser, Solo show and new works by Brian Goggin.

1:AM Gallery and Brian Goggin are proud to present Operation Restore Defenestration, a month long celebration of Defenestration building’s 13th anniversary as well as the next era of the project’s existence. Operation Restore Defenestration is an event raising funds to repair and improve the artwork, making the building once again beautiful by day and vibrant by night. The exhibition will include restoration work in progress and artwork for sale with proceeds from the event going towards the project.

The Black Rock Arts Foundation is a fiscal sponsor for this exhibition.

Please join us for the opening reception on:

1AM Gallery
Friday, March 5th 2010
6-10pm
1000 Howard Street San Francisco

To read more about the Defenestration and its history check out this great blog post on Laughing Squid.

Prior posts about Brian Goggin