Aroumd Monterey Dunes
Negra Banderas ("They"), Black Flag, by Aaron Rosa
Negra Banderas by Aaron Rosa makes it to the Dunes; strapped now to dollies for a ride up to 206 courtyard
a week or two later Negra Banderas moves to the courtyard (one dolly does not survive the transit)
only 20 feet from stardom - THB did not do a video of the installation, a good thing given it took two hours
many screws held the crate together, the head was encased in a separate space in the crate
maybe 875 pounds, the head is also very heavy!
15 minutes of discussion on best way to move the last 3 feet
chocolate biscotti for the crew: "They" is safe and sound
the gourd is resting in place, THB will permanently attach it in a few weeks
Sandy gives new chairs and side tables a test drive, er, a test nap
the old bbq has rusted out, common at the Beach. New bbq (no pic, yet) arrives already assembled except it doesn't work, it is a floor model....hmmmm
LB takes THB for an early Father's Day outing. Alta has a new breakfast treat: 9 grain pancakes. Yum-meeeee
giant spider or crab skeleton
snow at the shoreline?
the Dunes are a'bloom
Around town
NO ICE sign
Around E-ville
the first hint of the proposed Sutter Health Hospital construction, looks like they are drilling for oil! Another hint: down a block and a half on the right hand side is the giant 10 story parking garage
where to safely dispose of your meds (blue) and the injection devices (red)
how safe is it? Second floor of the E-ville PD
Looks like another new Seyed Alevi imprint on a Emeryville utility box (not in the 2010 post) at Park and Hollis. Maybe time for THB to update the 2010 post!!
Around SF
Hunan Restaurant on Natomas drastically slimmed down their menu in March; all of THB's faves are gone...oh, the times they are a'changin
Asian Art Museum has two large shows
THB and DB saw Shigota's work in Istanbul; MM joins us at the Asian (she didn't fit in an extra day in Istanbul)
the big piece is a woven thread tunnel with diaries from soldiers mixed in
THB's fave, small print with thread, reminiscent of Kentridge
the second show: pottery from the Asian's collection, approx 25 pieces in the show
DB's fave
POP QUIZ
DB and THB have 5 pieces by 4 artists in the show...see if you can match the 5 with the artists (one artist has 2 pieces in the DB and THB collection)
first, the artists (these are all photos of the artists when they were much younger)
second, their pieces in the show
Mihara Ken
Suzuki Goro
Michikawa Shozo
Nakamura Takuo
Third, the work in DB and THB's collection
(remember, 5 in the Loft, 4 in the show)
piece 1....artist?
piece 2....artist?
piece 4....artist?
piece 5....artist?
Answers at the bottom of this post...if THB remembers to put them in.
Around Berkeley
There is a show from the collection of two women we know through SC: all female artists, and very good!
poster highlighting Penny (lawyer) and Rena (poet)
Jennifer Barlett
Elizabeth Murray
Deloy Morelos (we saw a huge installation by her in a Venice Biennale and almost made it to her studio when in Columbia)
Julie Mehretu
unknown
Agnes Martin
unknown
Marlene Dumas
Catherine Opie
Around San Ramon
the twins at the County Fair
C moves across the hall, J redecorates
C moves across the hall, she hasn't finished redecorating
Around Italy
THB is a big Grand Tour cycling fan, and the Giro is wrapping up
The Dolomites are featured in the last week
Jonas Vingegard (in pink) wins the Giro and now joins 7 other riders to ever win all three Grand (France and Spain the other 2) in his career
Around the Stanford Campus
THB and DB join EW and JW for an afternoon of touring around the large Stanford campus, looking for art and attending a presentation and discussion with Hamza Walker, the lead curator of the great Monuments show the four of us saw when it was it was up at the Geffen in LA.
the Anderson Collection is closed (hmmm, who scheduled an evening with Hamza when the art center was closed?)
early dinner
Bing Concert Hall...what it looks like when the symphony is playing
what it looked like before Hamza gave an overview of Monuments
Hamza Walker was the lead curator for the Monuments show at the Geffen in LA. Here is his lecture, it is long and very interesting if you want to learn (and see) more of the show.
Richard Serra must have influenced the architets
only sign missing: NOT FOR MEN
bringing the outside in
Around Alameda
soon to be re-commissioned and flown to Middle East
sunbathers
live crows and dead pinecones, well camouflaged
It is Halloween all year round here
sad but true, our national government is not even good for fertilizer
Book Reviews: all highly recommended
Goodbye To All That, Robert Graves (read by Ben Allen, pub'd in 1929): Graves wrote his autobiography at age 33, and THB had read it a long time ago. The narrator gave trench warfare a bit more of neutral tone, it must have been horrific. Graves was one of those fortunate few to survive multiple years in the trenches of France. Vera Brittain wrote a terrific book, A Testament of Youth, about the missing generation - the million British men that died in a perfectly non-essential stalemate of a war.
Niccolo Rising (book 1 of the House of Niccolo Chronicles, Dorothy Dunnett (read brilliantly by John Banks, pub’d 1986, audio version in2023). Eight books in all, (listened over the last 6 oonths)a charming coming-of-age story starting in Bruges and roaming eastward, then ending in Scotland. Accurate portrayal of the politics from the 1440s to 1490s. The other books:
Spring of the Ram 1987
Race of Scorpions 1987
Scales of Gold 1989
The Unicorn Hunt 1993
To Lie With Lions 1995
Caprice and Rondo 1997
Gemini 2000
Fly, Wild Swans, My Mother, Myself and China**, Jung Chang (read by Adjoa Andoh): A follow-up to Wild Swans (not read/listened to by THB), Chang relates her life journey from 1952 to 2025. She ends up attending college in the U.K., then staying and becoming a best selling author. Most of this biography covers her deep relationship with her mother and the documenting the life of Mao as she makes frequent trips back to China, many with her husband, Jon Halliday (author and historian), to find source material and interview those that knew Mao and were still alive. Per Chang's estimate, Mao killed 70 million Chinese during peacetime.
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, And Young, a Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground, Zayed Ayers Dohrn (read by the author): Dohrn, the eldest son of two members of the Weather Underground, tells his parents’ story, then mingles his upbringing into their story. His parents were born in the early 1940s and the big events in their lives occurred in the late 60s and 70ss and the book triggered THB’s memories of the American War in Viet Nam and the big movements of those radical uprisings: civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights (all now under attack again). A great companion to Harriet Clark’s novel, The Hill; Clark’s mother also was part of the Weather Underground.
The Polish Officer and Dark Voyage and, Alan Furst (both read by by George Guidall, pub’d 1995 and 2004): set in Europe in the early days of WWII, these suspense thrillers affecting isolated and earnest individuals caught in the chaos of the beginning of a war way beyond their abilities to make sense of or control their destinies, are great reads and audiobooks.
The Pop quiz answers!!
piece 1....artist is Suzuki Goro
piece 2....artist is Mihara Ken
piece 4....artist is Michikawa Shozo
Piece 5: artist is Nakamura Takuo
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