May 2007

Mission Arts Monthly

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First Annual Mission Open Studios

9 Opening receptions

Fri May 11^th 7pm-11pm

Open Studios Sat & Sun

May12 & 13 11am-6pm

Over 300 Artists in San Francisco’s Mission District

Collaborate to Host Mission Open Studios

San Francisco, CA – Mission Open Studios is a new collaboration among working artists studios in San Francisco's Mission District. The area bordered by Mission Street, Potrero Avenue, and 17th Street, originally an industrial section of the Mission, is evolving into a vibrant, growing Artist District. Anchored by Project Artaud, Developing Environments, and Art Explosion's 17th Street Studios, the area has seen the addition of 1890 Bryant, Workspace, Compound 21, Art Explosion Alabama St., Root Division and The Blue Studio.

This spring, these studios will collaborate to host Mission Open Studios, opening their doors to the public for an amazing weekend of art viewing on Saturday and Sunday, May 12 and 13. All studios are located within blocks of each other, with more than 300 accomplished artists participating. Mission Open Studios will give thousands of visitors an opportunity to view and purchase beautiful, challenging and affordable art.

A preview night, hosted by all 9 studios, will take place Friday, May 11, from 7 pm to 11 pm. Each studio will host previews, so visitors can move from venue to venue for a first look at studios and a great night on the town.

More info  at:  www.missionarts.org

What: Mission Open Studios

When:

Opening Reception’s at all 9 Studios

           Fri.  May 11th 7pm-11pm

Open Studios:

Sat & Sun May 12th & 13th  11am-6pm

Where:  At the following studio locations:

1890 Bryant Street Studios: 1890 Bryant St

Art Explosion 17^th Street:   2425 17th Street

Art Explosion Alabama St:  744 Alabama St

Compound 21: 2498A Harrison Street

Developing Environments: 540 Alabama St

Project Artaud: 499 Alabama Street

Root Division: 3175 17th Street

The Blue Studio:  2111 Mission Street

Workspace, Ltd.:  2150 Folsom Street

Dan Hoyle's
Tings Dey Happen

@ The Marsh San Francisco | 1062 Valencia Street (near 22nd Street)

Extended June 7 - 23, 2007
thurs, fri at 8pm
sat at 5pm

Dan Hoyle, creator of the hit shows "Circumnavigator"
and "Florida 2004: The Big Bummer," portrays warlords,
militants, oil workers, prostitutes, and the American
ambassador to Nigeria in his new one-man play about
Nigerian oil politics based on his year there as a
Fulbright scholar.

Already supplying 10% of American oil, Nigeria and the surrounding Gulf of Guinea region has been targeted as the 'new Middle East' of oil security. But militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta are blowing up pipelines, warlords are threatening outright rebellion, and oil company workers are being kidnapped. Don't miss the long awaited new show by Hoyle, whom the Chronicle says has "a gift for mime and vocal mimicry that recalls solo artists John Leguizamo, Sarah Jones, or Lily Tomlim."

Developed with and directed by solo performance master
Charlie Varon.

June at ODC Theater

CIRCUS BAOBAB (Guinea)
The Jumping Drums
Wed, May 23, 5:30pm
Thurs*-Fri, May 24-25, 7:00pm
Sat-Sun, May 26-27 2:00pm
Sat May 26, 8:00pm
(*Performance on Thursday 24 will be in French)
Project Artaud Theater
$30 General Admission
Presented by SFIAF

The globetrotting French trained, Guinean nouveau cirque company, Circus Baobab will make its exclusive US debut at SFIAF 2008 performing their acrobatically astounding show, The Jumping Drums. The performance depicts the adventures of a group of young Guineans who tire of life in their small village and who travel to the capital of Conakry in search of prosperity and adventure.

The Cycle Plays
07 / 07 / 07

Theatre of Yugen is developing The Cycle Plays, five plays performed during the course of a one-day-only presentation informed by the ritualistic Japanese Noh theater, written and directed in an ensemble process by Yugen’s Artistic Associate and playwright Erik Ehn, with musical composition by Allen Whitman and Suki O’Kane.

This marathon theatrical event presents American stories told in the signature poetic, dance-drama style of Yugen, with its roots in the spirit of Noh, reaching up to new movement and narrative forms through original, cutting-edge contemporary music. The five categories of plays forming the traditional Noh architecture are re-invented in the lexicon of Western archetypes and with American legendary figures:

• Winterland – the God play – is about two girls and their quest to see Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols in their last performance at Winterland in San Francisco
• Letters from a Small House – the Warrior play – examines the life of Unabomber Ted Kaczinski
• Dark/Silent – the Woman’s play – centers on Helen Keller
• Long Day's Journey into Night – the fourth category play is a “Deranged Woman play” with an adaptation of O’Neill’s American classic
• Pretty – the fifth category Demon play – is the story of the abduction and murder of a young girl.

The day begins with 10,000 – a ritual dance play featuring three of Yugen’s founding members: Helen Morgenrath, Brenda Wong Aoki and founder Yuriko Doi.

07/07/07
at Project Artaud Theater in San Francisco
FREE – reservations strongly recommended
(415) 621-7978 or online

California's Largest Annual
Multi-Cultural Celebration to Make
Spring Sizzle with Carnaval San Francisco
Festival and Grand Parade Over Memorial Day Weekend

One of the city's most spectacular traditions, Carnaval San Francisco showcases the very best of Latin American and Caribbean cultures and traditions with a diverse array of food, music, dance and artistry, including works created by the talented community of Mission District residents and Bay Area artists.

On Saturday and Sunday, May 26 and 27, the Carnaval San Francisco Festival will offer food, music, dance, art, crafts and other fun activities and events on several stages for the entire family to enjoy. Spanning seven blocks, the Carnaval San Francisco Festival will take place on Harrison Street between 16th and 23rd streets (10 a.m.-6 p.m.).

On Sunday, May 27, the Carnaval Grand Parade starts at 9:30 a.m. at the corner of 24th and Bryant streets, where it will proceed west to Mission Street. From there, the parade heads north on Mission down to 17th Street, where it will turn east and flow into the festival area. 

Most Wanted

by Taraneh Hemami
@ Intersection for the Arts 446  Valencia

May 9 - June 30, 2007
Gallery Hours: Tues by appt, Wed - Sat, 12 - 5pm, FREE
Opening Reception: Wednesday, May 9 at 6pm

Most Wanted, a solo exhibition by Iranian-born painter, installation and conceptual artist Taraneh Hemami, investigates the nature of perception, recognition, and representation while examining the construction of the image of the new enemy. Interpretations of a series of faceless portrayals of the most wanted terrorists as identified by the United States government contemplate the ways in which stereotypical perceptions of people are created while pondering the relationship between image and identity. Exploring themes of displacement, preservation, and belonging, her paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and installations investigate the in-between spaces: between art, artifact and architecture; between two and three-dimensional space; between technology and hand crafted objects.

THE EVENT
Illusion is a one-night event, developing over the course of 4 hours, where 50 artists engage in making, with other artists, and the public to share the space of the Mission Cultural Center’s two galleries. All surfaces are wrapped in white paper: walls, floors, columns. Artists come dressed in white for the making and the public dressed completely in ONE FULL COLOR, for the viewing, what takes place over the course of an evening is the optical illusion of vibration.
Illusion is a moment of energetic, public happening. This is an opportunity to discover self among others and to create in a shared space for all ages, children and adults.

THE THEME
This year’s theme of “LA FIESTA” is open to interpretation and is offered as a design parameter to those artists interested in commenting upon and creating around this theme. The idea can be simple and transformed into its own making, with the FIESTA of land, color, words, sound, movement, food…
Adrian Arias, curator
Contact: illusionshow@gmail.com

Mission Cultural Center
for Latino Arts

 2868 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

The 2007 Bay Area Summer Poetry Marathon @ The Lab

2948 16th Street @ Capp
San Francisco 415-864-8855

Curated by Donna de la Perriere & Joseph Lease

Saturday, May 26, 7-10 PM
Saturday, June 30, 7-10 PM
Saturday, July 28, 7-10 PM
Saturday, August 25, 7-10 PM
$3-$15 sliding scale admission

From its inception during the summer of 2000, the Boston Poetry Marathon developed a national reputation among experimental poets. An annual weekend-long event, it featured approximately 40 readers (poets primarily but also artists from mixed genres). Everyone, from the distinguished poetic elder to the excited emerging poet, read for 20 minutes each. Boston Marathon readers included Charles Bernstein, Anselm Berrigan, Frank Bidart, Maxine Chernoff, Norma Cole, Robert Creeley, Forrest Gander, Paul Hoover, Fanny Howe, Laura Mullen, Jena Osman, Maureen Owen, Heather Ramsdell, David Shapiro, Tom Sleigh, Juliana Spahr, Cole Swensen, Anne Waldman, John Yau, and many others. When co-founders/co-curators Donna de la Perriere and Joseph Lease moved to the Bay Area in 2003, they moved the Poetry Marathon to San Francisco. A tremendous success, the 2004, 2005, and 2006 Bay Area Summer Poetry Marathons took place as four day long events at The LAB.

This year, poets from across the U.S. and the Bay Area join together again to celebrate innovative poetry in a series of readings throughout the summer at The LAB. May 26, 2007 readers include: Lee Ann Brown, Anna Eyre, Kevin Killian, Dana Teen Lomax, Erin Morrell, Stephen Ratcliffe, and more. Come join us to hear this year's exciting line-up!