Western Landscapes

Tenderloin Spring

mixed media photo collage on board, 14”x11”

As I conceived this piece I was imagining Turk Street in the Tenderloin a long time ago – when it would have been an open hillside covered in spring wildflowers.  Sometimes, as I am working on a piece, unexpected and unplanned things happen.  This time travel photo began to remind me of the photos I have taken up in Bodie, California.  Bodie is a remote ghost town in the Eastern Sierra where a few rows of buildings remain surrounded by open fields.  At first glance, Tenderloin Spring might be a photo from Bodie, but the more recent facades bring the viewer back to San Francisco. 

The latest in the series of Time Travel Photos will be presented in a new show at San Francisco’s Glama-Rama Salon and Gallery.  The show will be up from October 11 to November 27, 2016.  Mark your calendar for the opening reception on the evening of Saturday, October 15 at 7:30 pm.

Ghosts in the Fog

Foggy Hilltop

mixed media photo collage on board, 12”x9”

In the northwest corner of San Francisco stands a windswept, foggy hilltop.  At one time it was so out of the way the City decided to dig up most of its cemeteries and graveyards relocate the remains out there to the “new” City Cemetery.  As San Francisco expanded, it was decided the land was too important for a cemetery.  The gravestones were removed and most, though not all, of the remains were dug up and moved down the Peninsula.  San Francisco sent its dead to the suburbs.  Lincoln Park with its golf course and the Legion of Honor are now atop that hill.  The fog remains, and regardless of the landscaping, nature encroaches on the park with its packs of feisty raccoons and now coyotes.

The Time Travel Photos will be presented in a new show at San Francisco’s Glama-Rama Salon and Gallery.  The show runs from October 11 to November 27, 2016.  Mark your calendar for the opening reception on the evening of Saturday, October 15 at 7:30 pm.

The Perils of Postmarks

When you send art on a postcard as Darlene Altschul did for the Pink Mail Art show, you risk it getting postmarked on the “wrong” side.  And while the postal machinery could be seen as marring the artwork, I also see it as a way of authenticating the mail art.

A Paddock in the Lower Haight

Paddock on Pierce Street

mixed media photo collage on board, 14”x11”

It should come as no surprise that I am a fan of historic photos.  Years ago I came across this photo from 1887 of a rare snowfall in San Francisco.  The photo was taken from the top of the rocky outcrop above where my apartment now sits.  My building was built in the 1920s, but many of the buildings in the 1887 photo are still standing.  From the photo I learned there was once paddock across the street at Pierce and Oak.  For this Time Travel Photo I stood on Pierce Street looking back up towards my home, where the paddock once was.

From the new series of Time Travel Photos. They will be shown at San Francisco’s Glama-Rama Salon and Gallery.  The show runs from October 11 to November 27, 2016 — opening reception on the evening of Saturday, October 15 at 7:30 pm.