Different Kind of Nut House: Sanfilippo Estate and Foundation --- Day 3/288

Walk: Union Square, Hi-Tech Nails
Distance: 2 miles and home yoga



The 44,000 square foot (and growing) Sanfilippo Estate outside Chicago houses the collection of the founder and CEO of Fisher Nuts.  The house itself is certainly impressive, but the contents are a marvel: a complete French carousel, a theatre pipe organ, a steam locomotive, numerous steam engines, Nickelodeons, American Orchestrions, and numerous, numerous historically innovative and socially influential machines.  All in pristine condition and working order.

Opportunities to visit the Sanfilippo Estate or Foundation, but, you, CIWT reader, can have a wondrous time viewing this Chicago Tonight segment.

http://www.jbssinc.com/jaboutus-ourstory

Parades, Rain, Haircuts, All Good --- Day 3/287

Walk: Curbside Cafe
Distance: 2 miles



Oh dear, Ciwt has a haircut appointment downtown tomorrow* at Giants parade time.  Will have to start early, maybe walking will be the best way to get there.  Good cause.  What a wonderful Series!

*PS - Got there and found out I'd missed one of my favorite Giants by one day.  Hunter Pence  had been sitting in the chair next to hers the day before.

No 'narrow segment of cheerful events'* --- Day 3/286

Walk: Fillmore Street
Distance: 2.5 miles and home yoga

Galway Kinnell (1927-2014), who died yesterday, was a poet whose name came into Ciwt's life from time to time, but whom she did not read for some reason.  It is said his two best-loved and most anthologized poems are "St. Francis and the Sow" and "After Making Love We Hear Footsteps."  Reading the former, Ciwt feels Kinnell, besides being a much awarded poet*, must have been a deeply humane and caring man.

*"I've tried to carry my poetry as far as I could," he told the Los Angeles Times, "to dwell on the ugly as fully as far and as long as I could stomach it. Probably more than most poets I have included in my work the unpleasant because I think if you are ever going to find any kind of truth to poetry it has to be based on all of experience rather than on a narrow segment of cheerful events."

**Kinnell won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1983 for his 1982 Selected Poems, split the National Book Award for Poetry with Charles Wright  that same year and was Poet Laureate for the State of Vermont from 1989 to 1993.

Under Consideration --- Day 3/285

Walk: Mindful Body
Distance: 1 mile and teach yoga class



Lorna Strotz, Foggy Morning, 9 x 12", watercolor on clayboard

The way the fog is beginning to lift in the background and and go where morning fog gently goes:  Sweet capture.

Different Priorities --- Day 2/284

Walk: St. Mary's Med Center, Fillmore Street
Distance: 5 miles



Ciwt walked past a woman leaning against the edge of a building talking on her cell phone.  The woman was saying "I will Not wait to talk about my marriage until After The World Series!"

go giants...

At Last...! -- Day 3/283

Walk: Lake Street (Friend's Pop Up Art & Fashion show), Sundance Kabuki (Birdman)
Distance: 3.5 miles

...A movie for adults!!! (See previous blog)




Michael Keaton is Birdman

 

You Know You're Older When.., Vol. 9,456,823 --- Day 3/282

Walk: Mindful Body, Clay Theater (Whiplash), Presidio Avenue
Distance: 3 miles and teach yoga class


Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons in Whiplash


It seems to Ciwt every indie movie she has seen recently feels like Young Adult.  Kids and a parent get unhappy so they, like you know, start a garage band with the old guy, and, whoa, Famous! (Rudderless)

Or, 20-something not clear on growing up So...she starts hanging with and sleeping over with  and buying booze, etc. for high school kids.  One of those kids has a cute, older father - and, whoa, Happy Ending For All!  Surely the 20-something year old will stop a lifetime of compulsive lying and essential lostness now.   (Laggies)

Today, in Whiplash,  we had a psychotic, borderline narcissist teacher and a driven kid.  But, you know, no problem with the psycho because he was just doing all that bullying sadistic stuff 'cuz how else would the kid really reach his full potential (at 19!)?  And this movie was the winner of the US Dramatic Category at Sundance.

Ciwt should say, deservedly so - for excellent (probably Oscar nomination) acting, electrifying action, relentless drama, artistic cinematography.  But, like those other indies above, Whiplash is basically going nowhere.  Or going into the sunset or down the aisle or nowhere believable.  Seems to Ciwt even young people after Mad Men know things aren't going to go too well down that aisle or off in that sunset, and that sadistic bullies (no matter how well acted) are very dangerous indeed.  So, very optimistic for the futures of all these talented actors and directors, it is difficult for Ciwt not to point out the indie Emperor is wearing short pants.

Whiplash Trailer

CIWT Award: Best Bay Area Art Viewing Space --- Day 3/281

Walk: Food, Inc
Distance: 8 blocks and home yoga



Winner:   The Anderson Collection Building at Stanford University

Favorite Aspect (among many): A serence, respectful hush throughout the building that allows the art to speak.

Favorite Work Day Ciwt Went:  
                                                     Christopher Brown, 1946, 1992, 100"x88", oil on linen

Learning to Live Internationally --- Day 3/280

Walk: Union Square, Fillmore, T. Joe's
Distance: 4 miles and home yoga




You Know You Live in an International Place When...., Volume 1:

It's happening more and more to Ciwt: She walks toward someone on the sidewalk, steps to her right so the other person can go by, BUT the other person steps left.  In other words, Ciwt and whoever are now on a collision course.  Finally Ciwt has realized the left steppers are from countries where people drive on the left side of the road, and both parties are mystified why the other makes the move they did and got directly in the way.

But I 'Just' Bought Them --- Day 3/279

Walk: Balboa Theater, Laurel Village
Distance: 2 miles



New season means go to the closet and try on fall/winter shoes.  Which Ciwt did and Wha?!? A bunch of them that are either old favorites or quite new didn't fit right/weren't comfortable.  She thought she'd done something wrong in buying them but then found an informative article by a Bally expert who explained that as the foot ages, it spreads out.  Ie, for all of us, men and women alike, our feet become longer and wider.  It happens faster for unstructured sneaker and flip-flop wearers -  and probably at lightning speed for yoga teachers like Ciwt.

Heeere's the article (sorry) ..https://www.yahoo.com/style/why-dont-my-shoes-fit-anymore-95746237431.html

Best of All --- Day 3/278

Walk: Cinema Club (Laggies), Laurel Village
Distance: 4.5 miles and home yoga

Best of all is Fall.

Mon Dieu --- Day 3/277

Walk: Sundance Kubiki (NTL - Streetcar Named Desire)
Distance: 2 miles



Ciwt's building recently experienced some dryrot; a scary condition that is uncovered board by board, and you don't know ahead of time where it might stop.  Luckily the damage at Ciwt's building turned out to be minor.

But, not so, with the French Consulate a couple of blocks down the street and pictured above.  Mon Dieu, the view goes straight through.

Leo Holub Shooting Anderson Collection Stars --- Day 3/276

Martin Puryear, Accord, New York, 1992

Ciwt always enjoys seeing portraits of artists, and the newly opened Anderson Collection at Stanford University does not disappoint.

As they were collecting, Hunk and Moo Anderson commissioned their friend, beloved Stanford Professor and founder of the University's photography program, Leo Holub to take photos of of the featured artists in their collection.  So for ten years from the mid-1980's Holub (1916-2010) traveled around the country visiting studios of over 110 artists and quietly capturing them with a small Mamiya camera.  55 of these portraits are displayed in the Wisch Family Gallery on the ground floor of the new - and absolutely first rate! - museum building and - along with an excellent 'home movie' of the Andersons - allows the visitor to form a personal connection with the collectors and the artists before going upstairs to view the art works.

                            
 Nathan Oliveira, Stanford 1982          Terry Winters, New York, 1992      


Richard Diebenkorn, Ocean Park, 1984

Leo Holub at 90*

*In case you didn't click above:  https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=32898

Youth Must Be Served -- Day 3/275

Walk: Novato, the Hood
Distance: 1.5 miles



Ciwt went out for a walk and saw this coming toward her.  She crossed to the other side of the street.

Alta Plaza Park Meetings Continue --- Day 3/274

Walk: Union Square, Fillmore Street, Town School Meeting
Distance: 3.5 miles and home yoga

  
  







Working with neighbors to develop a Master Plan for Ciwt's  daily and favorite park: Alta Plaza.

First Word of Roycroft Movement --- Day 3/273

Walk: Mindful Body
Distance: 1 mile and teach yoga class



A friend just returned from staying at the Roycroft Inn on the Roycroft Campus.  Ring bells with any of you?  Not Ciwt, so she is interested to learn about this arts and crafts community in the East Aurora, New York area and to consider it along with an excellent film of a symposium on Louis Comfort Tiffany she recently saw at the de Young.

Colliding with Rosenquist --- Day 3/272

Walk: Sloat Garden Center, Trader Joe's
Distance: 4 miles and home yoga practice



James Rosenquist, Spectator - Speed of Light, 2001, oil on linen, 72"x72"

There is something so energizing, exuberant - and to Ciwt joyful - about James Rosenquist's work whether it is one of his often enormous prints* or a work on canvas like the one above from the Meyerhoff Collection.  Every work of his is exploding off the canvas or paper, yet simultaneously contained.  He might start an image in the middle, toss it up in the air, have it run into by the next image but the viewer is not overwhelmed with chaos.  Rosenquist has clearly made and controlled these kinetic choices - usually making visual stories - and provided a vantage point for the viewer to reconsider familiar objects and how they interrelate with each other and ultimately, he hopes, his mind**.  All of which is not so say many of viewers don't feel breathless and/or confused.

* Scale, size and space have always been crucial for Rosenquist - who actually started painting billboards.  His print, Time Dust (1992) is thought to be the largest print in the world at 7' x 35.'  
**In his 2009 memoir Painting Below Zero he wrote "I want people who look at my (works) to be able to pass through the illusory surface ..and enter a space where the ideas in my head collide with theirs."

What Have You Created Lately? Day 3/271

Walk: a bit around Glen Ellen Vineyard
Distance: a few blocks


Guanyin, the Goddess of Compassion, attending.

So Ciwt went to visit friends from the ancient of days at their country home - well, okay, vineyard.
When she walked in to their spacious, open, light-filled but mellow and comfortable home, she asked about their architect/builder - something along the lines of 'who did you work with? how'd you get your ideas?'  The answer was: 'We did it.'  Did what?  'Everything. - Oh, except the windows because building codes insist they have to be installed professionally.'

That means, electricity, plumbing, tile floors, roof, you name it.  The most lovely of many lovely characteristics of the House That They Built, were the walls - as seen above.  They are layered concrete of various hues of sand from natural to tinted in a pattern envisioned by my friend and shovel-packed in special molds by her, her husband, probably their children and other willing able-
bodied people.  The finished walls soar but retain a comforting, soothing, timelessly artistic feeling.

Last I saw my friend, she was an economics major at college.  So, Yay Life!!!

Sir Howard Hodgkin --- Day 3/270

Walk: Mindful Body
Distance: 10 Blocks and teach yoga class


Howard Hodgkin, (British, born London 1932), Souvenirs, 1980-1984, oil/wood on joined panels, 45 in x 55 in
                                                    detail

During a viewing of the Meyerhoff collection at the de Young, Ciwt's attention was riveted by a lushly compelling work painted by an artist she had never heard of.  Turns out the woman next to her was English, and she said "He's British, his name is Howard Hodgkin*;  he's very well known over there."

As well he should be!! The exact meaning of the painting Ciwt was viewing is hidden, but the work is so richly expressive, so masterfully handled, so layered and nuanced there is a feeling sense to it all that draws you in and holds you.  Something is so nice and lovely about this unknown place that your eyes and emotions don't want to leave.  Ciwt would not review an artist on just one painting, particularly an early one like this, but she has a sense all Hodgkin's work is exquisitely painterly and you would find in all of it that enigmatic but strong emotional charge.  As one reviewer put it about him: Hodgkin has been manipulating colour for 60 years and he can make it say exactly what he wants it to. 

*Sir Gordon Howard Eliot Hodgkin that is.

SF Treasures Found! --- Day 3/269

Walk: de Young (Meyerhoff Collection finale), True Value, another True Value, 3 Japantown
           variety stores
Distance: 3.6 miles

In the midst of our drought Ciwt went out this afternoon to add to her pail collection.  She was after something simple, white and household size.  So she walked and she walked and she walked checking store after store and hearing "Sold Out," time after time. Finally in the paint section of a store far, far from her home she located these two plastic beauties she now considers rare treasures.  

New Old Cultural Destination in the Presidio --- Day 3/268

Walk: Corte Madera, Presidio Officers' Club Reopening
Distance: 1 mile



Ciwt was interested to check out a renewed military officers' club (est. 1776 long before the city of San Francisco) transformed into a museum/restaurant opened down the hill from her in the Presidio. It's an historic, relaxed, educational venue complete with tapas and a new Andy Goldsworthy work, Earth Wall, built with materials taken from the site.

Why We Pay Premiums ...? Day 3/267

Walk: Sociale, Accuity Vision
Distance: 2 miles


Ciwt's building recently had some problems.  So we took pictures and notes, called the proper authorities, contracted with some excellent workmen and filed for our insurance reimbursement. And - once again - learned this particular problem is Not Covered.  As one of our owners said, "With the money we've paid over the years we could have easily fixed the problem, repainted the building several times and re-roofed."
But good luck with the bank if you're not insured, so  we continue.

Ciwt's Fall Transition: Illustrated! Day 3/266

Walk: Union Square, Mindful Body
Distance: 2 miles and teach yoga class


I


II : 19

Paired Homage to a Square Images, From Josef Albers with Yale collegues Norman Ives and Sewell Sillman,  Formulation :  Articulation (Ives and Sillman in cooperation with Harry N. Abrahms), 1972

Color remained Josef Albers' main preoccupation in both his art and his teaching (Bauhaus, Black Mountain College, Yale). He emphased the chahgeable nature of color, domonstrating how color perception is affected by light, shape, notion and juxtaposition of other colors. In Formulation : Articulation (a collection of 127 silkscreen Albers prints) he writes of the pair above:  A quartet with in Homage to the Square which permits and deserves reversal - and, although reversed, the two remain twins.


.

After Our Heat Wave --- Day 3/265

Walk: Fillmore Street, Trader Joe's
Distance: 3+ Miles and small home yoga practice


Edward Hopper, Morning Sun, 1952, 28 1/8" x 40 1/8", o/c

2fer --- Day 3/264

Walk: Cinema Club (Rudderless), Dosa Restaurant
Distance: 2 miles

Giants outlast Nationals in marathon 18-inning Game played October 4, 2014


Norman Rockwell, Hundredth Year of Baseball, cover of The Saturday Evening Post published July 8, 1939.

Women's Day --- Day 3/263

Walk: Mindful Body, Dogtown
Distance: 1 mile and take yoga class


Pablo Picasso. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. 1907. Oil on canvas, 8' x 7' 8" (243.9 x 233.7 cm).

It was women's day for Ciwt today.  Several of her yoga students are pregnant so she decided to take a pre-natal yoga class to remind herself of possible pose modifications for them.  Then she went to her first ever gathering or 'wisdom circle' for women.  She's been putting that off since somewhere in the 1960's.  Though she found it more interesting than she anticipated, it is doubtful she'll return for more such events.  Just not her way.

On A Clear Night.... Day 3/262

Walk: Presidio Golf Club
Distance: 2 miles and home yoga



We have about five of these nights a year - maybe- cloudless, windless, fogless.  And they are awesome, just awesome.

Chocolate Lovers, Be Thankful --- Day 3/261

Walk: de Young Museum, Fillmore Street, Hi-Tech Nails
Distance: 2 miles


Chocolate pot*, 1700-1710, Edward Winslow (American 1669-1753), Maker, Made in Boston, Massachusetts, Overall @ 9x7x6 in

The lecturer had to cancel at the last minute at the de Young Museum this morning, so instead, Ciwt was able to view a video demonstrating the techniques (elbow grease combined with artistry) that went into producing a single early Colonial pot.  Aye yi yi.  At least 10 days of intense labor If the artisan could get his hands on the silver to do it with.  The English - wanting to promote dependence on their fatherland - essentially banned the importing of silver bullion to the colonies, so the silversmiths needed to depend on melting down whatever silver had found its way here - coins, silver pieces brought from England, shavings from previous work.

* Chocolate, introduced into sixteenth-century Europe from Mexico, arrived in the North American colonies by the late seventeenth century. Exotic and expensive, it was served from a specialized pot with a removable finial, here in the form of an acorn. A molinet, or stirring rod, inserted through a hole in the cover, was used to whip the thick beverage prior to serving. The clean, smooth surface of this chocolate pot is bordered by gadrooned and fluted ornament in a manner characteristic of Baroque styling. It is engraved with the arms of Hutchinson, probably for Thomas Hutchinson (1674/75–1739), a Boston merchant and member of the Massachusetts legislature.

PHRA --- Day 3/260

Walk: CPMC, Union Square, Fillmore Street, Broadway
Distance: 3 or 4 miles



Ciwt busy meeting neighbors and listening to updates at the Pacific Heights Residents Association annual dinner meeting. The city it changes. Our neighborhood, not quite as much - hopefully!