Then They Came For Me

Spent the afternoon at a powerful photography exhibit Then They Came For Me  that documents the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.  Some of the photos were familiar, but many I was seeing for the first time.  The exhibit includes work from Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams, as well as photography by incarcerated Japanese American artists Toyo Miyatake and Miné Okubo.  The exhibit even includes clandestine images that recorded this unjust chapter of American History.

Along with this show in the Presidio, you can also visit the history museum at the Officer’s Club which has extended their exhibit  about the internment.

Admission to Then They Came For Me  is free and the exhibit is up until May 27, 2019.

Florida Hijinks

What to do with a bunch of old instamatic photos from the 1970s. Instamatics were popular point-and-shoot cameras that used square format, 126 film in easy to install cartridges.  My own first camera was an instamatic.  The low quality of the camera and the cheap film has left us with faded snapshots 40 years later.  

Technically these are not “found photos” as I know the source. I ended up with a stack of some of my grandmother’s photos albums.  Albums filled with snapshots from Florida vacations with her friends and coworkers.  My grandmother had a successful careeras a department store buyer and these pictures were taken on well-deserved vacations.  Look closely, she is in some of the shots.  There is a lot of drinking, smoking, and partying going on as well as fishing and lying in the sun.

Because the photos are not family photos, they had no personal, sentimental value for me.  Get out the scissors, reach for the glue!  Here are some of the originals now repurposed in a new series of photo collages.

Museum of Latin American Art

I always like discovering a “new” museum when I head to Southern California and also appreciate my NARM privileges.  Today was my first visit to the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach.  The Nickolas Muray photos of Frida Kahlo are stunning.  It is a small how, but that alone was worth a visit to the museum.  Before today, Frank Romero’s art was something I only really knew from books and online.  It was great to see a large-scale retrospective of his diverse body of work.  Check out the links for both shows.

There are plenty of big name museums in the Los Angeles area, but it is always worth exploring some the smaller ones as well, today’s trip to Long Beach was a good example.

It Started on Albion Street

Laguna Dolores (Albion Street), mixed media photo collage on board, 10”x8”

Have you seen my exhibit of Time Travel Photos yet? It includes 26 new photo collages that illustrate San Francisco’s past, present and perhaps even the future.  The show is up until November 27, 2106 at Glama Rama at 304 Valencia Street in San Francisco.

After seeing the show head down to Albion Street between 16^th and 17^th.  There you will find an historic plaque marking the location of the original Mission Dolores stood on the shores of a shallow lake.  This spot was the inspiration fore the first piece in the series (shown above).

Civic Center — Back to Nature

Grove Street

mixed media photo collage on board, 18”x14”

Imagining the busy corner of Grove and Van Ness a few hundred years ago.  Perhaps when there was still a grove of oak trees.  Long before our beautiful City Hall was built and before the Henry Moore sculpture was placed in front of Symphony Hall.  This Time Travel Photo captures the past and the present. It even features one of the Beaux Arts light poles that may no longer be part of the streetscape in the future (read about the controversy here).

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

A Busy Intersection: Past and Present

Chinatown Hill

mixed media photo collage on board, 12”x9”

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

Historical Streets and Pyramids

Leidesdorff Street, mixed media photo collage on board, 14”x11”

I still remember the first time I arrived in San Francisco.  Coming across the Bay Bridge and seeing the Transamerica Pyramid for the first time — at 11 years old, it made a big impression.  It is a 1970s skyscraper, that in the 21^st Century, still feels modern and not all dated.  The Pyramid was built on the edge of the Financial District surrounded by historic buildings, some that even survived the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.  It is a unique neighborhood for San Francisco with many small quiet streets and alleys that are more typical in much older cities.  If it were 1848, the Pyramid would have sat just off the waters edge.  Eventually land was filled in and the waterfront is now five blocks to the east.  The neighborhood is built over the remains of ships that were abandoned by their crews in the rush to get to the gold fields. 

At 11 years old, little did I imagine that, 16 years later, I would work in the shadow of the Pyramid.  One of the things that made my boring job bearable was not being stuck in some sterile office building.  I worked in buildings with some history and even a few ghosts.  Spending time down there, made me want to learn more about the City’s history.  Leidesdorff was an unusual name and I wondered whom that street was named for.  William Leidesdorff was a remarkable and quintessential San Franciscan.  He was a multi-ethnic, immigrant who was the citizen of three countries.  Leidesdorff was a successful entrepreneur who started the first regular steamboat service across the Bay, built the first hotel and operated a warehouse in a spot at the water’s edge that was to become Leidesdorff Street (more about Leidesdorff can be found here). 

This layered Time Travel Photo illustrates the present and the natural past and also few layers in between.

The new series of 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.