Art

Help Our Senior Seismologist Create a Custom Calendar of Local Landmarks

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Julian Lozos is Bernalwood’s Senior Seismologist. When he’s not providing up-to-the-minute insight about local earthquakes or extolling the virtues of our beloved chert, he also dabbles in illustration. Julian’s latest project is a Kickstarter effort to create an illustrated calendar of anthropomorphized San Francisco landmarks.

Whaaaa? Let’s let Julian explain:

The gist of this project is San Francisco and anthropomorphism. These are my interpretations of what many of San Francisco’s major landmarks would look like (and act like) if they were humans. Anthropomorphism as an artistic and literary device goes waaay back, so why not extend it to some of the structures and icons whose personalities contribute so much to the character of the larger City?

Thanks to Burrito Justice for coining the term and then letting me run with it.

Why San Francisco, then?

Because I’m madly and hopelessly in love with the place, and I know I’m not the only one. Even those who are not so infatuated as I am have to admit it’s a pretty darn picturesque city.

Ok, wording aside, what is this project?

It’s a 2012 calendar featuring drawings of personified landmarks in their setting within the cityscape. It’s kind of a send-up of those calendars of pretty pictures of famous landmarks that you see in every gift shop in any city: that kind of scenery, but replacing the actual landmark with a human character based on that landmark. Since this is a San Francisco calendar specifically, in addition to including all the standard US holidays, it will also have key dates in the City’s history included in the day grid itself.

The final print size will be 8.5×11 inch pages – 11×17 once it’s unfolded. The prints will be in full color on glossy paper, with a glossy cardstock cover. They’ll be bound with a staple and have a hole punched in the top for ease in hanging. They will not be individually shrink-wrapped, because that’s not green at all, and this is San Francisco.

Lots more detail, and explanation about how to participate here (and don’t miss Julian’s video at the top).

Oh, and what about Bernal Heights? Julian has Bernal covered — only there’s no anthropomorphism involved. Fans of caninemorphism will the thrilled, however, because Julian represents Bernal as a dog with Sutrito Tower markings… naturally:

ILLUSTRATIONS: Julian Lozos

Junior SF Giants Fans Inspired by Brian Wilson Street Art

/ Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

The Giants are officially out of playoff contention, alas. But Giant Fever is alive and well among the next generation. Reader Adel tells Bernalwood that her kids love the new Brian Wilson street art that was recently added to several Bernal Heights homes, and she wrote her own blog post to show it:

When these posts of Brian Wilson street art popped up in my feed I was naturally intrigued. I put it on my list of things to go look up if I ever found an extra few minutes driving home to or from school. And one day I did 🙂

After visiting the installation on Colridge (shown above), Adel headed over to the Chalkboard House on Mullen:

My Rex was a little hesitant at first since he thought the owners might get upset if they caught him drawing on their garage door! But after a little coaxing, he quickly got into it… After writing what he wanted, he then decided he wanted to draw a picture of himself pitching. He would stop to take a step back to make sure he liked the progress of the drawing. He decided he needed bigger arms if he was going to be a pitcher so he fixed that problem. And of course just like most future Giant pitchers, he wanted to be just like Timmy [Lincecum]!

Beautiful. A second masterpiece. Thanks for sharing the tale, Adel!

PHOTOS: Four in the City

Bernal Artist Rich Nyhagen Opens New Show at Inclusions

/ Todd_Lappin

There’s an opening-night reception tomorrow evening at the Inclusions Gallery on Cortland to celebrate a new show by Bernal Heights artist Rich Nyhagen:

Rich Nyhagen: “Deja-View, a second look at SF”
September 23 – October 9, 2011
Artist Reception – Friday, September 23 / 6-8 pm

Bernal Heights resident Rich Nyhagen has successfully shown a number of photographic, screen-printed, assemblages at Inclusions Gallery. The assemblages are based on an image series of San Francisco’s urban landscape. Nyhagen’s process involves screen-printing photographic images directly onto thick plexiglass, which can be one large sheet or several smaller sections pieced together. The printed plexi is then riveted onto a wooden base that is often layered with colored under painting, screen printing and drawing. The result is graphic, smooth and clean, while maintaining a sense of urban grit. Nyhagen will be introducing a new group of larger scaled works as well as revisiting some familiar themes for his first solo exhibit at Inclusions Gallery.

SF Giants Street Art Spreads Across Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 10 Comments

Bernal Heights Home Decor Trend: Is stencil street art the new white picket fence?

Our post about the homeowner on the west slope who invited street artist Get Up to do an SF Giants-themed installation on the side of his house attracted a lot of attention — both in the media and (apparently) among other Bernal homeowners.

One byproduct is that Neighbor Mason, owner of the Chalkboard House on Mullen, also reached out to Get Up to get a piece of the street art action , so there’s now a brand new stencil on those famous garage doors as well. Mason quips:

The true pain of the fall season is that Brian Wilson should be spending his time warming up, not tagging.

UPDATE: Neighbor Becky sends along a photo of ANOTHER installation in Bernal Heights. Three makes it official: Brian Wilson street art by Get Up! is definitely a home-decor trend.

Becky says:

This went up last night on the northwest slope of the hill — Coleridge St. at Powers Ave. This one was Bernalwood inspired for sure.

And to make it even more interesting, the Bernal neighbor across the street is actually a Brian Wilson lookalike!

Wish we had a photo of the two of them together. Oh well.

PHOTOS: Neighbor Mason, Neighbor Becky

SF Giants Street Art Appears on Bernal Heights Home

/ Todd_Lappin / 30 Comments

Get Up Art

Get Up Art

Mathematically, the Giants aren’t out of playoff contention — not yet, at least. But come what may, there will be one very happy Giants fan on a remote section of Elsie Street, because he just “commissioned” a very cool piece of street art on the side of his house that will be there long after the 2011 season has come and gone. Neighbor Steve explains:

I saw the Brian Wilson stencil created by Get Up in the Mission (Valencia and 19th, roughly?) and loved it.  I’m a fan of street art in general and stencil art in particular, and I’m a big Giants fan.  So it seemed natural to try to figure out who put it up (sometimes of course that’s a challenge, as street artists want to remain anonymous).

A quick Google or two later, and I’d found Get Up, who has a Facebook page.  I asked him by email if he was making T shirts of the image (which he was – he sold some over on Fillmore this weekend).  In the course of that email exchange, he mentioned that he was headed out to put some more art up that evening.  I jokingly suggested he tag the open, south facing wall of my house (which faces a small empty lot).  The next thing you know, he says as long as it’s ok with me he’d love to!

My only stipulation was that he do it as if it were a real tag – wherever he wanted to, and by the dark of night.  I left him a can of housepaint to touch up the wall at his request.  And this morning, voila!  (I paypaled him some dough to cover his supplies and whatnot, of course).

So it’s a great image that captures my love of street art, the Giants, the quirkiness of Bernal, and since I’d just returned from Burning Man it seemed like a nice way to decorate the neighborhood.

Now, we’ll see how the people on my block feel about it, I expect there will be some feedback…

Oh, and Get Up has a show coming up at Gamma Space in Oakland on the 16th, this Friday.

UPDATE 21 SEPTEMBER, 2011:

The stencil! It is spreading!! Two more Bernal homes got the treatment this week.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Meet Darren Samuelson, Large Format Photographer

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

DSC_0033

Darren Samuelson

Here in Bernalwood, we like to go big. From our sprawling McMansions to our hulking Chevrolet Suburbans, life in the ‘Wood is all about living large. So it’s fitting that the Inclusions Gallery on Cortland is currently hosting an exhibit by Darren Samuelson, a San Francisco photographer who uses an ultra-large format camera to take big pictures of America’s  most beefy landscapes.

On Thursday night, August 25 at 7 pm, Inclusions will host a Q&A with Samuelson, to discuss his work. Inclusions tells us:

Darren Samuelson built an ultra large format camera as a tool to experiment with 14×36 inch x-ray film. Seventy pounds of carefully constructed red oak, steel, and 6-foot bellows, along with an entire set of custom made film holders, processing and printing tools make both shooting and developing a photo a laborious task that results in a truly unique image. The prints showcased in this exhibition were gathered from trials on his back porch, San Francisco landscapes, and a road trip across the U.S. The character of these images comes from both the experimental nature of the camera and the orthochromatic register of x-ray film, which more closely aligns with film before the 1920s. In their iconic subject matter and aesthetics, these photos reach back to the first applications of photography. Darren is a self-taught photographer, freelance designer, and part-time chef. He works with many camera sizes–medium, large, and ultra large, and always with film. He is a Bay Area native who lives and works in San Francisco.

This terrific video shows how the magic happens:

Once again: Q&A with Darren Sameulson at Inclusions Gallery, Thursday night, August 25 at 7 pm. If you can’t make the event, do sees the exhibit of his work — and his supersized camera — on display be at Inclusions until September 18.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

New New Mural at Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Remember when that loose-screw-guy defaced the new mural at Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack back in May? The whole incident was unfortunate, but there’s now a replacement mural to fill the void. Several readers notified Bernalwood that the new mural was up (thankyouverymuch!), and Laura Muhlhammer sent us a few great snaps. Laura says:

I just walked by Emmy’s and got a look at her colorful new mural.  It’s gorgeous if I do say so myself!

Nice. The folks at Emmy’s told Bernalwood the mural was painted by Nathan Tan, aka Nate1 MPC, who sells some of his sporty duds via Secession Art and Design just a few doors south. Poking around, I found this sweet little video of Nate1 in action. Visualize it:

PHOTO: Laura Muhlhammer

Celebrate Secession Art & Design’s Fourth Anniversary, Friday

/ Todd_Lappin

Secession Art & Design is located on Mission Street, right across from our Taoist Safeway, and I love stopping in there during grocery runs to check out their current shows. When possible, I also enjoy giving them some of my money, because Secession always always has very cool, locally made stuff. So it is indeed cause for celebration that on Friday night, August 19, Secession is having a Fourth Anniversary Party from 6:30 to 9:30. Here are the deets:

Secession Art & Design took over 3361 Mission Street, nestled between Abner’s Barber Shop and Smoke N Talk, in 2007 with the dream of creating a space to house a rotating collection of independent art & design. We wanted a store that could be home to a mix of medias co-existing. The neighborhood is a living, breathing work of art. Four years in one location has taught us so much about human nature, working together, and community. Our hood has taught us to dream big, build a career, and support everyone in our path. Community is about sharing resources!

Last year, we expanded our wall space to The Front Porch, 65a 29th Street, a five-minute walk from the gallery. Art from our gallery is now the backdrop to fantastic southern-inspired food. A tasty inspiration! Happy 5th Anniversary to The Front Porch on August 21! The Southern Mission has opened so many doors, and we appreciate all that our neighborhood has offered! Secession is excited to announce the celebration of extending our lease three more years! Please join us on Friday to celebrate our independent art & design community.

Sutro Tower Mini-Model Is Must-Have Decor for Devoted Fans

/ Todd_Lappin / 8 Comments

Though it’s often the subject of scorn and sanctimonious head-shaking, Sutro Tower is also beloved by an underground army of devoted fans who appreciate it as San Francisco’s second-most iconic piece of landscape architecture. (Number One, of course being that famous International Orange bridge.) Monumental and futuristic, Sutro Tower fanboys and fangirls often express their affection via loving photographs, clever t-shirt graphics, and even permanent tattoos.

Meanwhile, Bernal residents enjoy a particularly intimate connection to Sutro Tower, both because it dominates the western horizon when you look out from atop Bernal Hill, and because our own microwave tower so obviously wants to be more like Sutro Tower when it grows up.

But for the sophisticated devotee who craves a 3-D representation of Sutro Tower, the options have been very, very limited. Until now. Through the miracle of modern laser-cutting technology, a local whiz named Aidan now offers 1/1000 wooden models of Sutro Tower for sale on Etsy, and they are superb.

La Lengua rebel leader (and Sutro Tower fetishist) Burrito Justice captured this spycam video footage inside the secret “Mini-Sutro Manufacturing Facility” located 2000′ below the El Farolito burrito shop on Mission at 24th Street. Here’s how the magic happens:

I ordered one last week, and it arrived two days ago. Here’s how it looked when it arrived:

Sutro Tower (Before)

And here’s how it looked after 5 minutes of fun, hands-on, assembly — no tools or glue required:

Sutro Tower Model (After)

Now, as my new model sits on my dresser, I can savor the luxury of admiring Sutro Tower from the safety and comfort of my bed, anytime day or night — even when the real Sutro Tower is obscured by a a brooding blanket of fog. Peekaboo!

Above Sutro Tower

Get your Sutro Tower model right here.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Young Artist Debuts New Work During Hillwide Garage Sale

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Custom portraits by Ada

If you spent time wandering the neighborhood during the Bernal Heights Hillwide Garage Sale last Saturday, you probably loaded up on cast-off tchotchkes and supercheap housewares. But if you happened to walk by one very special garage, you would have had the opportunity to purchase some original artwork from Ada, an emerging artist at the peak of her creative power.

Reader Liz captured the scene:

For the Bernal Hill-wide garage sale, custom portraits by Ada. This guy requested a portrait of himself in a radioactive forest with a unicorn.

And the finished piece? Voila!!

Custom portraits by Ada

If only Gertrude Stein could be in Bernalwood now…

PHOTOS: Liz Henry via the Bernalwood Flickr group

Bernal’s Celebrity Succulent Expert Opens Show in Oakland

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Here’s a welcome change of pace: A story about succulents that has nothing to do with crime.

Ken Shelf is the co-owner of Four Star Video on Cortland, as well as the Succulence plant store that occupies the rear of the space. From 6 – 9 pm on Thursday night, August 18, Ken will open a show of his plant art at The Rare Bird in (gasp!) Oakland, where he is the featured artist-of-the-month.  As the store’s website explains:

Ken Shelf is the co-owner (with his wife, Amy) and lead cultivator at Succulence – a life and garden store in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco that sells supplies for a succulent lifestyle.  Ken also lives in Bernal with Amy and their children, Huck and Trudy. Ken’s plant art began with the creative camouflaging of marijuana plants in his tomato garden and continues with his exploration of the disintegration and reintegration of nature with itself. In his endless quest for interesting planting vessels, he has planted teapots, popcorn poppers, electrical boxes, watering cans, shoes, bicycle rims, bird-feeders, sea shells, grain mill belts, coal cans, potato and onion baskets, and a metal Hoosier flour bin for his wife’s 40th birthday.

TV Miniseries Profiles Grime, Bernal’s Celebrity Tattoo Artist

/ Todd_Lappin

Bernalwood is home to many stars and celebrities, and one of them is the subject of a new TV miniseries, with the first episode airing tomorrow night. He goes by the name of Grime, and he’s a tattoo artist who works out of the Skull and Sword tattoo studio on Cesar Chavez at Mission. Grime is kinda famous in the tattoo scene, and now the VICE network is featuring him in three episodes of their “Tattoo Age” show.

If you want to watch, don’t bother looking on Comcast — you won’t find it there. But you will find it on the Web, if you tune your browser to this frequency. The first episode airs August 10, with the next two coming on August 17 and August 24. Here’s the trailer:

PHOTO: Top, Vice TV. Below, Grime, photographed by Hussein Katz via Inked Magazine