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more found art

It’s summertime…well except for that bit of thunder and lightning earlier this week which made me think I was on the other coast…and even with our requisite fog, it’s a great time to get outside and see some ‘only in SF’ style art. A few months ago I started a list for you. If you haven’t checked out those favorite finds, you have quite a lot to get crackin’ on…go outside and impress your friends.

Soma, Pier 14

Created by Flaming Lotus Girls, this giant interactive LED lit steel sculpture began life on the Playa. Soma represents the communication between neurons and hopes to engage us in thought about our own consciousness and humanity. Pretty lofty goals. The launch party is August 1 and will feature words, music, dancing and light….sounds very playa-esque! But please dress warmly.

Firefly, 525 Golden Gate Avenue

Firefly was created by Ned Kahn in collaboration with KMD Architecture and the SF Arts Commission. By day polycarbonate panels swing with the wind and appear to be rippling waves of glass on this twelve story structure. By night the movement of each panel triggers a tiny flickering LED light fed by on-site wind turbines.

Playland Revisited, Outer Richmond

Ray Beldner’s perforated stainless steel sculptures take us back to life at Playland, the amusement park that lived at the edge of the Pacific in San Francisco from the late 1800’s to 1972. Laughing Sal fascinated and frightened visitors for decades at the entrance to Playland. The cable cars delivered patrons young and old to the park. That giant (kind of scary) clown graced the entrance to the fun house, and the rooster reckons back to Topsy’s Roost, San Franciscan’s favorite dance hall according to some.

Bliss Dance, Treasure Island on the Great Lawn

Another art piece that began life on the playa, Bliss Dance was created by Marco Cochrane. In his own words: ‘what I see missing in the world is an appreciation and respect for feminine energy and power that results when women are free and safe. Bliss Dance is intended to focus attention on this healing power‘. Bliss Dance is a glorious 40 foot tall internally lit metal woman…definitely worth the drive across the bridge!

banksy

Erie Alley in the Mission

Remember Clarion Alley? Well check out Erie Alley. In April of 2010 at the request of the people behind Public Works, Banksy painted ‘Bird Singing in a Tree’ on one face of the building, at that time a blank wall. In August of that same year the public was invited to watch 17 more artists paint the remainder of the wall at a public art event that included music, food and drink and benefited Root Division and the SF Parks Trust. Pretty cool when artists and the public all pull together like that.

Language of the Birds, corner of Broadway, Grant and Columbus

Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn teamed up with City Lights Bookstore to give flight to 23 LED illuminated polycarbonate books that fly over the street corner in the first solar powered public art installation in the US (2008). The words of 90 authors are fallen to the sidewalk below to create new patterns and meanings, maybe something like the Language of the Birds.

Enjoy my second little tryst through San Francisco and have a great weekend!

Keep in touch,
Leslie

say thank you

photo courtesy lettersofnote.com

photo courtesy lettersofnote.com…entertaining letters by famous people

Apparently John Lennon wrote thank you notes. Jimmy Fallon is also a fan of thank you notes. And I want to thank Jimmy Fallon for bringing his version of gratitude into the limelight. They elicit a type of joy that probably isn’t what Emily Post was after.

I’m also a big fan of letter writing, especially thank you notes.  Once upon a time I even ran a website called ‘letters and paper’ and got to spend all of my free time writing about writing. Heaven for a writer, unfortunately not a very profitable use of time (luckily I spent enough time at the drafting table to compensate). Regardless of profitability, the handwritten note is  worthwhile because it creates a significant and pleasurable impact on both the writer and the recipient. The recipient gets a momentary break from their frenetically digitalized workday, and the writer experiences the moment of joy that any flight of gratitude offers.

There are plenty of reasons to hand write those notes in your business as well as personal world.

  1. Feeling grateful elicits happiness, so finding a reason to thank someone will make you happy.
  2. After a job interview a handwritten thank-you note tells the interviewer something about your humanity…bosses like to hire humans. And this will set you apart as the type of human that bosses like.
  3. If you want to leave a lasting impression, write a thoughtful note of thanks for a favor done or a gift received or time spent. Lasting impressions are like money in the bank of your future.
  4. Congratulations are a great opportunity to connect, and may inspire a thank-you note in response which makes two people happy (see number 1).

I create and keep notecards and stamps at my desk for both personal and professional note writing. Apparently I’m not alone…thank you notes even made the New York Times.

Keep in touch,
Leslie

ps: I just found these awesome notecards for booklovers…I wouldn’t suggest using them professionally unless  you are in the publishing business…but if you run into my husband you might mention that his wife is a book lover, hint, hint…;)

 

 

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

never let me go

“I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it’s just too much. The current’s too strong. They’ve got to let go, drift apart. That’s how it is with us. It’s a shame, Kath, because we’ve loved each other all our lives. But in the end, we can’t stay together forever.” 
~ Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go

This is the beautifully written story of a group of private school children, completely isolated from the outside world, in a very unique circumstance. The prose is lyrical and in striking contrast to the children’s destiny.  Read it without reading any reviews or seeing the movie….it needs to begin at the beginning to really be appreciated.  If you don’t intend to read the story (a pity), you can watch the 2010 movie.  The trailer is below.

about reading

 

book4

I love books.  Not just reading, but actually the books themselves.  I buy books everywhere and keep them forever…even my grandmother’s 1953 Encyclopedia Brittanica collection.  Growing up we had 2 massive bookshelves in our family room and my mom was an avid reader.  As a teenager I preferred laying on the rug under the piano reading to being outside with friends (I was a bit of a late bloomer).  So in my house we build bookshelves.  When I’m starting a project my first stop is always a book.  When I need to relax, I find a book.  When I’m making dinner, I’ve got a book on the counter.  When I’m standing in line, I’m reading a book.  There aren’t enough bookshelves so books are stacked on tables, on top of other books, littering my desk.  Steve laughs because I can read anywhere, even in the middle of my family’s chaos.  And I’m always bringing more books into our not so huge house.

book1

For those of you who are also readers, ‘good reads’ is a place for me to share books I’ve read and loved.  Check back to see what’s on my bedside table.  And let me know if you read something amazing so that I can read it too.

book2

 

words as design element

photo courtesy of radisson blu

photo courtesy of radisson blu

The newest addition to the Radisson Blu group in the US, the Radisson Blue Warwick Hotel, just opened in Philadelphia.  They utilized one of my favorite design elements to engage their guests:  words.  The project, created by Scotland based Graven Images, uses words on the lobby carpet to express the historical role that Philadelphia  played in the birth and growth of the United States.  The walls of the lobby express the viewpoints of brothers born at the same time in the ‘city of brotherly love’.  It’s a beautiful use of language to express a theme and create a mood.

photo courtesy 1amsf.com

photo courtesy 1amsf.com

When the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit opened a couple of years ago at the de Young Museum in SF, 1 AM SF, a group of graffiti artists gone mainstream (and I mean that in a really good way), provided the visual component.

papas room

2 years ago, when my dad became too ill to care for himself, he lived with my family.  So for the last 30 days of his life his home became the room that we had always called the sun room.  Now it’s Papa’s Room.

When I’m working on a project my first stop is the dictionary.  Words are always the beginning, so it’s fitting when they are part of the ending too.

MLK in words

photo courtesy Philly Word Art facebook page

If you want some really cool words for yourself, check out Dan Duffy, aka Philly Word Art.  You can have a photo of MLK drawn in own words, your favorite Philly sports hero using his stats, or a picture of your pet rat using the words from Michael Jackson’s ‘Ben’ (that would be a custom order).