African American art from the South to S.F.
Fine Arts Museums Director Max Hollein said in February, when 62 works by contemporary African American artists based in the South were acquired, that the de Young Museum was dedicated to “expanding the representation of artists who reflect the historical diversity of American culture.” The collection, bought from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation in Atlanta, includes paintings, sculpture and quilts from Gee’s Bend, which were first displayed at the museum in 2006.
“Revelations: Art From the African American South” opens at the de Young on June 3, and runs for an extended period: 10 months, through April 1. Curated by Timothy Burgard, the museum’s curator of American art, the show will occupy six galleries usually used for the permanent collection, “in symbolic recognition of their new role at the Fine Arts Museums,” according to the museum.
Belva Davis, vice president of the Fine Arts Museums trustees, has been particularly focused on acquiring financial support for the exhibition. The museum is hosting free evenings on June 2 and 3 with opening-day events that include family activities and a panel discussion sponsored by the San Francisco chapter of the Links, an African American women’s service organization. Davis believes this is the first time that an African American organization has stepped up to support an exhibition at the museum. The top tier of donors is a tier of one:
Dede Wilsey. Next down from that, the President’s Circle includes Davis and William Moore, Willie Brown, Denise Bradley-Tyson and Bernard Tyson, and Paul Violich.
I turned to the back of a Hallmark card received recently, and found this reassuring notice: “This card is made with paper from well-managed forests.” (There was also a note that it was made in China.) But “well-managed” is kind of a blurry term, not at all as specific as “sustainable.” I am taking it to mean that the trees are happy and secure.
Remember when everyone wanted “the Rachel,” hair like that of Jennifer Aniston in “Friends”? This from Christina Walcoff’s Nextdoor listings: “I am looking for someone who can do braids in medium long hair, for a wedding in June. I am looking for a ‘Vikings’ the TV show look.”
Fashion illustrator Gladys Perint Palmer’s drawings were celebrated (and sold) at Gump’s on Wednesday, May 17, as part of that store’s homage to the Summer of Love. Palmer, who’s also executive vice president of artistic development at the Academy of Art College, manages to both inhabit the world she captures (as a dedicated fashionista and veteran observer) and take a step back from it to create witty images.
A few of the drawings were of people who attended the reception. Deepa Pakianathan, pictured in Alexander McQueen headgear she wore to the opening of the opera in 2013, snapped up her image in a $1,800 flash.
Violinist Veronika Eberle, whose appearance was supported by the Shenson Young Artist Debut Fund, was the soloist with the San Francisco Symphony on Tuesday, May 16, playing Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D Minor. The concert was Germanborn Eberle’s first with the Symphony. The program noted that she was playing a 1700 Stradivarius Dragonetti violin, on loan from a Japanese music foundation.
Chatting at a reception following the performance, she said the first time she played the instrument was after it had sat unplayed for two years. It was dead, she said, and it had taken two years of playing to bring it back to life. It seemed to have been fully revived for the Schumann.
Carol Pogash suggests the building of a wall and Dominic Triglia suggests a Donald Trump travel ban: Both would bar the re-entry of the president when he returns from his first trip abroad.
And while the subject is travel, Roberta Brouhard was using a women’s restroom at SFO when another user said, in surprise, “You’re in the ladies’ bathroom! Oh, are you one of those?” “Yes! I am Norwegian!” answered Bertie, who proclaims herself “proudly both trans and Norwegian.”
PUBLIC EAVESDROPPING “Linda, I love your outfit. You are sooooo Napa!” Woman to woman, overheard in the Domaine Carneros parking lot by Dennis McClintick