Ad Libs

Can you imagine this on University Ave in PA these days? Oh, the...

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:11:00 -0400

Can you imagine this on University Ave in PA these days?

Oh, the humanity.

The Paris Theater was an X-rated movie house operated at 124 University Ave. close to Alma St. Originally opened in 1961 as an artsy indie and foreign film venue, they began showing X-rated fair in 1972. The PAPD raided the theater in ‘73 at least two times, confiscating copies of films such as The Devil in Miss Jones and the notorious film Deep Throat. They were eventually run out of town in 1977.

In case you wondered what really goes into installation...

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:06:46 -0400

In case you wondered what really goes into installation art.

installator:

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Placebo), 1991. Installation process. Image courtesy of the Williams College Museum of Art; photo by Roman Iwasiwk (curatedobject.us)

A thought

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:44:00 -0400

Would love it if, when I searched “Menlo Park” on Tumblr, I got posts that were actually about happenings in the city of Menlo Park, and not just pictures of the Facebook offices. Just saying.

powerlesspress: AUG 4, 1956 - STANFORD UNIVERSITY— Stanford’s...

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:41:24 -0400

powerlesspress:

AUG 4, 1956 - STANFORD UNIVERSITY— Stanford’s ancient Medical School building in San Francisco, built in 1882, appeared doomed today following the announcement of a $21,950,000 campaign to develop a new Stanford Medical Center on the University’s campus at Palo Alto. Former President Herbert Hoover made the announcement, and will serve as honorary chairman of the fund drive. Its general chairman is W. P. Fuller III, San Francisco civic and business leader. Stanford Hospital and other research facilities located in San Francisco will be renovated under the new program, but Stanford School of Medicine will be consolidated in the new Medical Center on the Palo Alto campus. Construction of the first unit will begin this fall, and target date for completion of the Stanford Medical Center is March, 1959.

The Main Gallery in Redwood City has one of the best spaces...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:04:00 -0400

The Main Gallery in Redwood City has one of the best spaces around: a century-old house with wood floors that creak pleasantly as you walk from room to room. Some of the windows have that thick old glass that looks ripply at the right angle. Next door in the 1874 Dielmann House is Alana’s Cafe, with lots of flowers.

It all made for a nice wander today, past Andrea Rosenman’s whimsical cups and saucers fashioned from colorful felt, ceramic teapots by Susan Wolf and many other pieces. It’s enjoyable to discover the shelves of arts and rooms of various sizes.

I stayed a while with Nina Koepcke’s ceramic piece “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” (pictured above), which took in the sun with many other ceramics in a greenhouse sort of room filled with windows.

Palo Alto artist Florence de Bretagne has a team of lawyers...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:45:02 -0400

Palo Alto artist Florence de Bretagne has a team of lawyers backing her up as she creates six big murals at a local school. No, there are no legal issues; these folks are wielding paintbrushes.

De Bretagne, known for her optimistic palette and community involvement, enlisted attorneys from the nearby Kilpatrick Townsend firm to help paint murals at the Los Robles Magnet Academy in East Palo Alto. The artist goes to school during the week to get everything ready, and the lawyers pitch in on the weekends.

“I paint the backgrounds, trace all the whimsical flowers on the walls so that the lawyers are not too intimidated by the job,” de Bretagne told me. Other community members are also helping create the cheerful murals, which have themes including respect and responsibility.

This is the second school-mural project for de Bretagne, who originally studied law herself before choosing art as her career.

Pictured: One of the murals at Los Robles. Photo courtesy of Florence de Bretagne.

Gorgeous. betoruizalonso: Sunset, Palo...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:21:47 -0400

Gorgeous.

betoruizalonso:

Sunset, Palo Alto.

http://www.betoruizalonso.com/

I’m a Europhile. So sue me. You’ll see a lot of...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:35:57 -0400

I’m a Europhile. So sue me. You’ll see a lot of accents in my arts section: umlauts, accents aigus, accents graves, diagonal lines going this way and that. American computer systems often trip and fall on accents, so I write the dots and lines in pen on my pages and have the newspaper designers figure out how to make them work. Sometimes the designers don’t like me very much.

Fortunately, Designer Scott has a great sense of humor. Look how beautiful he made my Worth A Look section this week.

(Oh, you. This is just a dummy version of the page. The real one is fine.)

I had no idea. thingsorganizedneatly: SUBMISSION: Some of the...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:37:16 -0400

I had no idea.

thingsorganizedneatly:

SUBMISSION: Some of the tools used in my work as a bookbinder.

‘Palo Alto Forest’ seeks new digs Wanted: a new home...

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:15:00 -0400

‘Palo Alto Forest’ seeks new digs

Wanted: a new home for a Palo Alto forest. That is, the collection of photos on glass, hung with wood, wire and acrylic, known as the art installation “The Palo Alto Forest.” PA photographer Angela Buenning Filo gathered and assembled the photos, which are taken by locals of their favorite trees in town. The work has been on display as part of the grand-opening exhibit at the swanked-up Palo Alto Art Center, but the show is coming down soon and the work has nowhere to go.

Art-center director Karen Kienzle is fond of the piece, but “we’re not a collecting organization,” so the center can’t keep it. “Maybe it could go in a corporate lobby?” she wondered aloud. “She doesn’t want to put it in storage,” she said of the artist. “She wants it to be enjoyed.”

To help out, email artcenter@cityofpaloalto.org.

Photo by Jim Filo.

* Awesome: Viewing the new Richard Misrach exhibit at the Cantor...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:37:46 -0400

* Awesome: Viewing the new Richard Misrach exhibit at the Cantor Arts Center.

* Only slightly less awesome: Wondering what the heck this guy was talking about.

Photo by me, hence the out-of-focusness.

It’s bothering me that the tablet is not lined up with the...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:09:11 -0400

It’s bothering me that the tablet is not lined up with the tablecloth pattern. Otherwise, all is perfectly well.

paleofuture:

Knight Ridder’s tablet concept from 1994

Harp flash mob! On this past day of St. Pat, green-wearing,...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:56:59 -0400

Harp flash mob!

On this past day of St. Pat, green-wearing, harp-playing musicians suddenly swarmed audience members heading for a show by the California Pops Orchestra at Smithwick Theatre. There’s no better hors d’oeuvre for a Big Band show than a surprise helping of “Danny Boy” and other Irish tunes. We hear there was impromptu jigging.

Word is the mobbers came from the Harpers Hall & Culinary Society. Pops conductor Kim Venaas, always ready for anything, cracked a few Irish jokes and the afternoon was off and running.

Pictured: Deb Knodel of San Mateo with a black carbon-fiber Irish harp. Photogs on the scene were Sam Huie & Jeoff Sheau.

Casually browsing real estate in the Palo Alto Weekly

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:04:22 -0400

wheninpaloalto:

and then seeing the prices:

Yep.

Yams. Just because. vintascope: Joe Ori Sweet Potatoes on...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:25:57 -0500

Yams. Just because.

vintascope:

Joe Ori Sweet Potatoes on Flickr.

She lived in a fishing village; she created illustrations of...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:39:52 -0500

She lived in a fishing village; she created illustrations of amphipods for the National Museum of Natural Sciences of Canada; she’s rather fond of birds. That’s South Bay artist Floy Zittin, one of my favorite local painters. Now she’s put out her second book with poet Patricia Machmiller and calligrapher Martha Dahlen.

A new exhibit at Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos shows paintings, calligraphy and haiku from the book, “Wild Heart of One Bird Singing.” Zittin’s birds are always meticulously crafted, which is not surprising for an artist who has a master’s degree in marine biology and a long background as a scientific illustrator.

The show is up through March 29, with a March 16 workshop planned on ways to meld together painting and poetry. Contact the gallery for details.

Gold Rush jewelry box recovered

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:26:16 -0500

Happy news from the Oakland Museum of California: The historic gold-and-quartz jewelry box reported stolen in January has been recovered, and a suspect is in custody. Hope to see the artifact back on display soon.

Watch that 12-year-old go! Jazz pianist Shane Turner of Portola...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:30:00 -0500

Watch that 12-year-old go! Jazz pianist Shane Turner of Portola Valley is getting all kinds of kudos for his playing, including congrats from Taylor Eigsti, himself a onetime prodigy. Shane was accepted into the Stanford Jazz residency program last summer (an honor usually awarded to the 18-and-up), and tonight he’s performing with the Charged Particles ensemble in P.V.

Read a nice profile of Shane by Renee Batti of our sister paper the Almanac here. Photo by Michelle Le.

Some bright art for a Monday from Nancy Near, a former longtime...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:29:51 -0500

Some bright art for a Monday from Nancy Near, a former longtime HP high-tech-er. The painting, titled “Sun Dance,” will be up in a Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society show next month at Main Street Cafe and Books in Los Altos. A venue where art and books thrive together is always a bright spot.

Another day, another Bay Area art-theft report. This time, a...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:12:00 -0500

Another day, another Bay Area art-theft report. This time, a painting by the Filipino artist Fernando Cueto Amorsolo has allegedly been stolen from a house in Atherton, according to our sister paper the Almanac. Police say the painting is worth more than $100,000.

They won’t say what its title is. But judging from the description, the Almanac’s Dave Boyce posits that the missing painting could be a 1949 oil called “Rice Planting,” seen above.

No word yet on leads, motives, suspects, method of entry, or pretty much anything else.

Meanwhile, the Oakland Museum of California is still offering a $12,000 reward for the safe recovery of a 19th-century quartz-and-gold jewelry box that was reported stolen in January.