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There is something gross about art fairs.  The wealth, the striped down-ness of the presentation of the works, the way that art becomes less about ideas and more about what someone wants to put on their walls.  But there is also something really great.  This year it hasn’t been the easiest for me to get out and wander galleries, go to openings that happen at baby bedtimes, and see much art, period.  So really, getting to see hundreds of artists’ works all at once, during the day, was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse.  I’m sure that I missed some things, but nevertheless here are my highlights:

Oh my goodness.  The scene at ArtPadSF was a hipster summer dream. Bands, neon colors, beers and coolness abounded.

Misako_Inaoka at Johannson Projects
Descend

Noelle Mason at Thomas Robertello Gallery 
HKG-ORD (mule), 2007
That’s an ivory budda that she smuggled in to the US from Hong Kong in her vagina.

Kerry Vander Meer at Mercury 20

best bathroom art that I saw.  It seemed like there was something interesting happening in the Creativity Explored bathroom, but it was too darn crowded that I couldn’t get in.

Peter Opheim at Steven Zevitas Gallery
Untitled (155)

The artMRKT was much more art fair-y.  My main gripe was it seemed like it was largely overhung.  It was somewhat commonplace to see galleries trying to get a lot of bang for their buck, showing 6-8 artists at a time. While I have to admit that I was a speed-fairing since there was a baby on my belly, I wanted less artists and more from each.  Also, there was a (Ever-Gold) gallery-sponsored and fair-approved “Occupy Art Fairs” thing going on that seemed, well, a little trite.

Elisheva Biernoff at Eli Ridgeway

castaneda/reiman at DCKT Contemporary
Their installation at the SF Fine Art Fair two years ago has really stuck with me. Every time I see their work I like it more.

Cara Barer at Andrea Schwartz Gallery
Sheer Madness

Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet at Catherine Clarke Gallery
Map of the Known World, 2011
There was no way to get a good picture of this.  Birk has an image on his website.  I’m a sucker for maps.  I like how their work makes evident what is hidden on most maps: that the person drawing it is giving you their view of the world.

First edition out while being parents.  Harder than we thought.

May this year be full of finding ways to build your own world.

“Cheek to Cheek” by Bernie Lubell, 1999  at San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art

“OutRun” by Garnet Hertz,  South Hall and beyond
FYI this is a video game that you play as you drive around the city.  WHAAAT?

“No Matter” by Scott Kildall and Victoria Scott, 2008  at the San Jose Museum of Art
They hired Second Life players to create digital representations of 40 legendary objects (Icarus’s wings, Yellow Submarine, Holy Grail, pot of gold) which they then handcrafted in real life.

Solar Pump charging station, by Sol Design Lab and Bike Zoo, outside South Hall
Why doesn’t this exist everywhere?

“Le Monde des Montagnes” (The World of Mountains), by Camille Scherrer, 2008 at San Jose Museum of Art
The screen was a live image of the book on the table.  As  you turned the pages, new worlds would apppear from and within the pictures on the pages.

from “Mapping Non-Conformity: From the Global Border to the Border Neighborhood” by Teddy Cruz at MACLA (Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana)

On Saturday we spent a lovely mid-day over at Royal NoneSuch Gallery for the closing party of Alula Editions‘ tenure there with Jason Jägel.   They spent their time working out imagery and refining their printing techniques.  Having just pulled the test prints for their first edition the day before, the results look pretty exciting.

Jason manned the tables.

Helena from Alula Editions

So smart!  Best use of affordable materials I’ve seen in a while. Found at Garden Hortica on 7th in Old Oakland.

a sampling from our travels on the hot coast

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But here we layer up and watch fog tsunamis take over the earth in slow motion.  It’s sortof awesome.

It started with Pear Ginger Muffins and Julia Child’s Omeletts (we ate them too fast to take a picture)

Yes. That is a pad of butter on my steaming muffin.  Layer your pleasures people.

Here’s the recipe, adapted from Nigella’s Pear Ginger Muffin recipe:

-Preheat oven to 400.
-In a large bowl, mix 1 cup white flour, 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1 tsp ground ginger, 1/8 tsp of salt.
-In another bowl, mix 2/3 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1 tbs honey (warm), and 2 large eggs. Fold into the dry ingredients.
-Fold in 1.5 cups peeled pears cut into 1/4 inch dice, 1/2 cup ground walnuts, 3 T minced crystallized ginger.
-Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle 2 tbs total brown sugar over tops of muffins and bake for 20 minutes.

*only comments would be that they still weren’t gingery enough for me – but that may be because my ground ginger was a little old, and I might try replacing the oil with something else – I don’t like the smell of oil in baked goods.

Then we used one of our Extended Freedom Days from City Car Share and drove to Point Reyes.

It always amazes us how rejuvenating hiking can be.  We get so stressed and cooped up right around the release of a piece and we could just feel that *junk* releasing as we walked and breathed actual fresh air.

This picture captures the calm.

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I just uploaded some photos and started perusing back a bit.  This photo is of my nephew, Andrew, celebrating the most amazing sandwich that he has just made.  Know what’s in the sandwich?

graham crackers, american cheese, farm animal shaped colored sprinkles, and hershey’s chocolate. I mean, you have to agree that it is a pretty amazing sandwich.

I want to be this excited about everything.

I tried to think of what noise a flower would make if it made a noise.   These two are on my windowsill and last for such a short period of time that I thought I would share.

This weekend of fun was increased by the additions of my sister Stephanie and her boyfriend Tom.  We had a lovely time at home, in Zion, and then in Snow Canyon (near St. George).  We are getting sad already that we only have one weekend left of Utah awesomeness.  But it will be good to get back to the real world as well. I guess?

Zion’s rocks and waterfalls

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We had a really great week last week- with three friends here we worked during the days, sled, cooked, ate huge meals, and made ringtones at night.  For Oliver’s birthday we all took the day off and went to Bryce after a huge breakfast.   Food plays a big part in our lives if you can’t tell and so far, the one downside of Utah has been the restaurants.  Granted, we’ve only been to three. And every restaurant we go looking for from the guidebook has been closed.

As we entered a typical steak place on Saturday, a large family one by one looked over at us.  Then we were of course seated right next to them.  The father repeated about three times in a loud voice, “You know, every time you see a VW bus, I can guarantee there is a guy with facial hair and a girl with braids in it.”

We weren’t quite sure what that meant, but we did know it was directed at us.  I don’t think he understood the subtle difference between a regular flannel shirt and a neon flannel shirt. Anyways, some pictures:

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So we’re up and running in Utah and it’s pretty nice.  This morning we went on an early morning snowshoe before work.  I thought I would give you a litte snapshot.

Our cozy home

Oliver setup our desk. He gave me the window, but also glare. I still feel like I won.

View from my "office"

An early snowshoe and the muddy, muddy road that leads to our house.

We spent the past couple of days driving out to our new (for one month) home in Utah.  Our country has a lot of space. And though some people complain about the 5, I personally love it in the spring.  It’s a patchwork of different color blooming trees.  And all the recent rain in California brought super green hills and wide swaths of blooming wildflowers in orange and yellow.

Blooms on the 5

green hills

Orange! California poppies?

Camping at Cottonwood Cove, NV Lake Mead in the background

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From Wednesday night’s vigil and rally at City Hall, San Francisco

found on a teeny notebook pad.