biggest screen

So I decided I needed to take advantage of the the few really big screens they have here at Kala.Wyatt thinks the best art is the biggest art. He is always encouraging me to make bigger stuff. So I went to blick and bought 3 sheets of the biggest printmaking paper they had in stock. Riding around on the bus at 5pm with this paper was not calculated into the plan.  It measures about 50 by 38 inches.

I then had to figure out what the largest image/screen combo really was possible.  The largest squeegee and scoop coater is 28 inches so that limits the image in one direction. I had to use the counter-weighted arm to print with this size of tool. I have never used an arm to print with so that was pretty cool. Then I had to find a screen and check for holes and see if it fit onto the washing booth. This one has a hole in one end and just barely fit into the booth. I also had to see if it fit into the exposure unit and and if there was plexi big enough to cover the image. So I am about 5 inches taller than this screen and my arms hurt today from all the lifting. An assistant would have been ideal for this print. It took about 4-5 hours to draw the stencil. The paper is twice a big as the image so I printed it from either end. I want to print several more layers as soon as my body recovers. I monoprinted the image painting the ink directly on the screen and then filling with another color. This was labor intensive but I like the results. Forgot to take a picture of the print.

screen in washout booth

the setup screen

excavated print

first a few layers of transparent base are screened over the paper. then details are printed and then blocks of color over that. I printed birds in a random pattern and them monotyped flat colors over that.

Then I screened a black over the entire image

then you "excavate" the print. I just used water and a rag. Trying to be nontoxic. It is still wet here so it was a little hard to photograph. I really like the worn look of it. I want to do more of these.

Lucent Dossier

Some pictures from the  Lucent Dossier Experience at the Crucible last night. The Crucible is a really cool educational foundry. They put on various fire events as fundraisers. If I lived here I would take the class where you build and modify your own bike! I saw a fire circus last night. Lucent Dossier was the main event which was split into three acts. Not sure what the story line was but it was fun to watch. In between we walked around and looked at the sideshow acts which included demonstrations and games. The flaming putt putt was a little scary. Also watched glass blowing and lamp work. Many people attending were dressed really crazy. There were fire cannons that shot big flames into the air and made big boom sounds that went off all night long. I felt like I might not have any eyelashes left. I was not allowed to use a flash so the images are a little soft. There were several things I just could not get a picture of because of the dark.

Contemporary Jewish Museum

It was getting too late in the day to get out to the coast so I decided to go to the Contemporary Jewish Museum. And I'm really glad I did. Two really good exhibitions "Seeing Gertrude Stein" and "Charlotte Salomon: Life? or Theatre?" I could not take pictures of the exhibitions but they were jam packed with work and superbly curated. The ways in which the art was displayed was art itself. The building is a merging of old and new. The newer addition is the off kilter black cube. Inside the cube was a sound sculpture. It felt like a sanctuary.

YBCA

Next was Yerba Buena Center for the Arts a little more experimental than the SFMOMA. The show was all Bay Area artists.This is a quilt made out of heavy metal tshirts by Ben Venom.

Suzanne Husky's Cell Hotels. Forgot to take a pic of the video installation by Chris Sollars where a man shaves his face with an axe. It was the best.

two player pianos with a word processor in the middle changing the holes in the paper. Don't know the artist. Random notes played on the pianos and echoed though out the galleries.

Lame light piece by Chris Frasier. My picture of it looks better than the real thing.

just a cool wall.

Contrary to the neon pot leaf on the front door and the name of this place it was not as exciting as expected.

SFMOMA

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is 5 stories tall and it has been 8 or so years since I was there last. I started on the top floor and work my way down. Saw this interesting sculpture when I stepped out of the elevator. It is made of strings of glass beads.

Then walked out on to the turret bridge which included a sound and light sculpture. (I was not impressed).  I did enjoy the architecture. I looked through the grated floor and could see five flights below my feet.

I figured I should take a picture of me on this trip at some point.

part of a sculpture. new hole in a record playing crazy wonky sounds.

Louise Bourgeois

 Sculpture "NEST" one of my favorites. strange it is next to the coffee shop and people are constantly almost tripping over a spider leg.

Calder Sculpture on the rooftop garden. Almost hit me in the head, made the guard gasp. Would have been excellent to try to explain that head injury.

view of the city

Richard Misrach photographs of graffiti in New Orleans in the 3 months after Katrina. Very moving. Many messages about dead pets. Lots of angry people and threats.

Duchamps' fountain

another fountain

Janine Antoni's Lick and Lather made of chocolate and soap. I expected them to smell, they did not.

 

Tobias Wong design exhibit was really interesting. This is his mirror with clock. The space was really big and included many pieces ranging from a rubber landscape to a gold playboy drink stirrer.  The medical glassware was very inventive. 

spider legs

went back up to the coffee shop for a fancy cappuccino after walking all five floors

Yerba Buena Gardens

  Took the BART to San Francisco. The train goes through a tunnel under the bay. Walked around Yerba Buena Gardens shook some hands and sunk a boat. It was actually sunny! I went to 3 museums but did not make it to the beach. I'll try to make it out to the coast in the next couple of days.