CALIFORNIA
Past Events
Show and Salons Feature Bay Area WPA Artist Sargent Johnson
Carved redwood in low relief for the California School of the Blind in Berkeley (now UC Clark Kerr Campus)
The Canessa Gallery is located at 708 Montgomery Street, the intersection of Washington and Columbus. Call 415-296-9029 to make an appointment to see the exhibit. Appointments are not required for the opening reception and Thursday night discussions.
Presentation on New Deal Public Art
Agit-prop in libraries. Nudity in post offices. Surrealism in public schools.
The Depression years brought an audacious collection of large-scale art to public spaces throughout America. Barbara Bernstein will talk about the programs and the people behind these works in an illustrated presentation at 4 p.m. Jan. 22 at ArtSpace 4500. She will show many of her favorites, including several in San Francisco: works of great charm, works of great power, and works of questionable taste—all still out there for all to see.
Artspace 4500 is located in San Francisco at 4500 19th Street. After the presentation, the audience is invited to cross the street for cocktails and socializing at 289 Douglass. RSVP: bbernstein@kinexis.com or 415-558-8842.
The presentation is sponsored by the New Deal Art Registry.
California College of the Arts Show Takes Inspiration from FSA
“Restaurant, Canton, Ohio,” photograph by William E. Jones, 2011
The CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts will present the exhibition “More American Photographs” Oct. 4–Dec. 17, 2011, in the Logan Galleries of California College of the Arts, 1111 Eighth Street, San Francisco.
This show reexamines the 1935-44 photography program of the Farm Security Administration (FSA), which employed such iconic artists as Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, Dorothea Lange, and Marion Post Wolcott. Inspired by their example, the Wattis Institute commissioned 12 contemporary photographers to travel the United States, documenting its land and people. In the exhibition, the new images will be presented alongside a number of photographs by FSA photographers.
The exhibition is free and open to the public, with an opening reception from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4. Gallery hours are Tues.–Fri., noon–8 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; closed Sun. and Mon.
Santa Clara University Art Shows Focus on Homelessness in 1930s and Now
This summer the de Saisset Museum opens four exhibitions that examine how artists have responded to homelessness since the 1930s. These exhibitions will run July 29–Dec. 4, 2011.
- Hobos to Street People: Artists' Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present compares artistic interpretations of homelessness from the Dust Bowl migrants of the 1930s to the stigmatized street people of today—with a focus on California. Featuring works by 30 artists working over the last 75 years, this traveling show documents the tragedy of homelessness and the governments' role in the crisis. Through painting, printmaking, photography, and mixed media, Depression-era and contemporary artists offer glimpses of life on the street and call attention to the many similarities between the eras.
- Between Struggle and Hope: Envisioning a Democratic Art in the 1930s, also curated by Art Hazelwood, explores the new and dynamic relationship between artists and the government that resulted from the Roosevelt Administration's response to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. Drawn largely from the collection of the de Saisset Museum, the photographs, prints, and mural studies in this exhibition speak to both the struggles and the hopes of the people. They call attention to the hardships of the times, but they also remind us of why the New Deal policies were implemented and why they mattered.
- This Camera Fights Fascism: The Photographs of David Bacon and Francisco Dominguez brings together photographs taken by two contemporary artists who work in the tradition of Depression-era photographers such as Dorothea Lange. Bacon and Bominuez responded to images by Lange and selected photographs from their own work that draw close connections between the 1930s and today. Hazelwood curated this exhibition also.
- The Changing Face of Homelessness: A Collection of Portraits by Santa Clara University Photography Students features works by more than 20 SCU students who have enrolled in Renee Billingslea's Exploring Society Through Photography course since 2006. Taken with a sense of compassion and sensitivity, the photographs depict individuals and families experiencing extreme poverty in the local community and aim to break down stereotypes and provoke awareness.
During the Great Depression artists responded to the large numbers of poor and displaced people, often with the support of New Deal programs such as the Works Progress Administration, which funded their efforts to document what was happening across the country. Following World War II, many artists shifted their energies elsewhere. However, with the rise of homelessness in the modern era, artists once again focused their attention on this important issue.
Curator Art Hazelwood explains that "some of the artists in this exhibition personally experienced homelessness and poverty, some worked directly with organizations to combat poverty, but all of them felt that art could be used to focus attention on homelessness. The idea that art can have a function in society by engaging in a struggle for a better world, and that everyone should take an interest in the well-being of less fortunate people are the twin beliefs of the artists in this show."
Hobos to Street People is an Exhibit Envoy traveling exhibition funded by the James Irvine Foundation, LEF Foundation, and Fleishhacker Foundation. Exhibit Envoy is a network of professionally operated museums and cultural organizations that collaborates to create and tour smaller, affordable, high quality exhibitions that advance civic engagement and human understanding.
Artists featured in these shows include Dorothea Lange, Rockwell Kent, Victor Arnautoff, and Herman Volz, as well as contemporary artists Sandow Birk, David Bacon, Francisco Dominguez, and Christine Hanlon.
In conjunction with these exhibitions, a free celebratory reception is planned for Thursday, Sept. 22. The de Saisset Museum will also host additional programs in connection with these shows including a panel discussion with Paul Boden, Gray Brechin, and Art Hazelwood on Thursday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m.; Family Day on Saturday, Oct. 8, 1-4 p.m.; and College Night on Thursday, Nov. 3, 7-11 p.m. These programs are free and open to the public.
NNDPA Vice President Speaking on Living New Deal Project
Gray Brechin will be speaking at a California labor class October 24, 2011, at the Mission District campus of San Francisco City College. His talk will be “The Living New Deal: Making and Unearthing a Civilization Worthy of the Name.” Brechin is an historical geographer and founder and project scholar of California’s Living New Deal Project.
Panel Discussion on L.A. vs. San Francisco
NNDPA Vice President Gray Brechin will participate in a panel discussion on the topic “L.A. vs San Francisco—Who Runs California?” at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 3, 2011. The discussion will take place at Zocalo Public Square at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.
The High Cost of College Sports
Cal Memorial Stadium was built in 1923 on the Hayward Fault. Now it is being entirely replaced at the same site. NNDPA Vice President Gray Brechin will give a talk titled “Bait & Switch: The Building of Cal Memorial Stadium on the Hayward Fault” to an interdisciplinary class on the cost of intercollegiate sports Sept. 29, 2011, at U.C. Berkeley.
San Francisco's Time as a Sin City
Gambling and prostitution were accepted during the reign of Sunny Jim Rolph as mayor of San Francisco during the early twentieth century. NNDPA Vice President Gray Brechin will discuss the colorful figure at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29, 2011, in a talk titled "Easy Town: Sunny Jim Rolph's San Francisco." He will speak at the Meridain Gallery, 535 Powell Street, San Francisco.
Lecture on San Francisco History
NNDPA Vice President Gray Brechin will reprise his talk on “Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin” Sept. 28, 2011, at an urban studies class at the San Francisco Art Institute.
New Book on San Francisco Architect Bernard Maybeck
Bernard Maybeck was a leader in the Arts and Crafts movement in San Francisco. NNDPA Vice President Gray Brechin will introduce author Mark Wilson at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24, 2011, on the publication of his new book about Maybeck. They will appear at First Church of Christ Scientist in Berkeley, one of Maybeck's design masterpieces.
Lecture on San Francisco History
NNDPA Vice President Gray Brechin will speak on “Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin” at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 15, 2011, at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. The talk is only open to members.
WPA Bus Tour in San Francisco
NNDPA President Harvey Smith and NNDPA Vice President Gray Brechin will lead a bus tour of historic sites built by unionized labor in the San Francisco area. They will discuss the major contribution workers made during the New Deal era, as well as 75 years of the WPA. The tour will begin at 10 a.m. July 16, 2011, at Bill Graham Auditorium, 99 Grove St. The tour will take about 5 hours depending on the traffic and the discussions. The cost is $20. Sandwiches and drinks will be available. For reservations, which are required, call 415-642-8066.
Note: As of July 15, this tour was sold out.
Walking Tour of Berkeley New Deal Landmarks
NNDPA President Harvey Smith will lead a free walking tour of Berkeley's "New Deal nexus." Meet at 10 a.m. July 9, 2011, in front of Berkeley High School (corner of Milvia and Alston). This walk will explore the high school, the Community Theater, Civic Center Park, Post Office art and the old Farm Credit Building. Call 510-684-0414 for more info.
Program on Cenorship of Labor Art and History
Following his slim electoral victory in 2011, the Republican Governor of Maine stripped a mural depicting Maine labor history from the walls of Maine's Labor Department building and hid it. The mural includes a depiction of Maine's native daughter Frances Perkins, first woman cabinet member, Secretary of Labor under all the terms of President Franklin Roosevelt and a leading proponent of Social Security and unemployment insurance. It also depicts the industries of the state and scenes of working people. This event, "The Unremitting War on Labor Art and History: The Trial of Refregier's Murals at Rincon Annex to the Censorship of the Maine Murals Today," will include a live video appearance by the mural's creator, Judy Taylor, a background on the Congressional attempt to destroy the New Deal murals at San Francisco's Rincon Annex Post Office, and some history of New Deal public art programs. Presenters are geographer Gray Brechin of the Living New Deal Project and NNDPA Vice President, and Harvey Smith, NNDPA President.
This free event will be held at 7 p.m. July 7, 2011, at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St., Berkeley.
New Discussions Scheduled Around SF Art Show
NNDPA President Harvey Smith organized “Art and Activism—The New Deal's Legacy Around the Bay,” an exhibit showing through April 25, 2011, at the Canessa Gallery in San Francisco. The exhibit includes original art work by Elizabeth Ginno from the 1939-1940 World's Fair on Treasure Island and a collection of historic photographs of the Montgomery Block neighborhood where the Canessa Gallery is located. The Montgomery Block neighborhood was the home and studio space to many artists including photographer Dorothea Lange, sculptor Ralph Stackpole, Diego Rivera, and Frida Kahlo.
The exhibit, which opened March 4, 2011, explores the context of the New Deal's broad social policies—which included education, recreation, arts and public jobs programs—as well as the relevance of the New Deal to today's public policy. Part of this exhibit was originally sponsored by and shown at the Berkeley Historical Society. It runs through April 25, 2011.
Following the Curator's Discussion February, two more discussions of New Deal art in the Bay region were scheduled. The first was held March 24, and the second will take place will take place Thursday, April 21 from 6–8 p.m. The purpose of the discussions is to share ideas about how to get another exhibit up in a year or so and how to push for a permanent space for New Deal art and history. Come over on April 21 and add to the discussion of when and where
At other times the exhibit will be shown by appointment only, through April 25. The Canessa Gallery is located at 708 Montgomery Street (at Washington and Columbus). Call (415) 296-9029 for information.
NNDPA Board Member Speaking On Public Works and Policy
Southern California is generally thought to be a backwater in urban planning, but many important infrastructure projects were designed to achieve long-range planning goals. Examples include Exposition Park, Los Angeles City College, Arroyo Seco Parkway (110 Freeway), and the Los Angeles Federal Courthouse. These enduring projects are an oft-forgotten legacy of long-range public investment.
Current projects such as California High Speed Rail, the 30/10 plan to accelerate transit investments in Los Angeles, Los Angeles River Revitalization, and policy mandates for clean energy hold out the prospect for a "Green New Deal" that will invest in sustainable infrastructure and provide benefits for generations.
NNDPA board member Robert Leighninger will join Cecilia Estolano of Green for All and UC Berkeley in a program titled “Infrastructure in California: Legacies and Prospects”. They will present the legacies of public works projects in Southern California and describe current efforts to make new investments in sustainable infrastructure. Leighninger is also an advisor to the California Living New Deal Project.
The presentation will be from 12:15–1:30 p.m. April 5, 2011, in Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall, Room 101, on the USC campus.
Click here to see the event brochure. This seminar is part of a series of Urban Growth Seminars presented by USD. For information on the series, click here.
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