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).

Installed and waiting for you to have a look….

The last ten months have been spent on my new series of Time Travel Photos.  Yesterday we hung 26 new pieces along with a few other map collages that help tell the story of my work.

Come see the show at Glama-Rama Salon & Gallery

304 Valencia Street (at 14^th St.) in San Francisco, California

The show will be up until November 27, 2016 with an Opening Reception this Saturday, October 15, 2016, from 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

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.