Holy Cow It's Hot

After months of rain and freezing weather, my feet are finally thawing out. I guess Spring has arrived in San Francisco, just in time. Events to attend, a bike to ride, a bus to wait on...all are a part of living in the Bay. When the weather sucks, life here tends to suck, too.

Events to attend. I'm looking at my calendar and it appears like it's going to be a busy month. My friends Usha Shukla (Usha Art on Facebook) and Colleen Gianatiempo (Colleen on Facebook) are having their solo shows at the Cannery studios this Friday, May 5. They are graduating, along with me, this month with Master of Fine Art degrees from AAU.

The John Pence gallery (JohnPence.com) is closing at the end of June. I need to pay a visit since it's been a while. The gallery has been in San Francisco 44 years. I know many of the artists they have supported over the years. John is responsible for starting the careers of many artists, especially from AAU. I want to make one more visit before the doors close.

A current exhibition at the Legion of Honor I must see is "Monet: the Early Years." (http://legionofhonor.famsf.org) The exhibition closes May 29, so I need to hurry. Approximately 60 paintings reveal the young artist and his search for a visual language he could make his own. We sometimes forget these great master painters were once struggling kids trying to discover their voice.

"Cityscape I", Richard Diebenkorn, 1963

The Matisse/Diebenkorn show at SFMOMA (SFMOMA.org) also closes May 29.  The exhibition brings together 100 extraordinary paintings and drawings—40 by Matisse and 60 by Diebenkorn—that reveal the connections between the two artists in subject, style, color, and technique. I first grew to appreciate Diebenkorn after reading a biography of David Park and the Bay Area Figurative painters. I have a book of Richard Diebenkorn paintings in my studio to remind me of how great these painters were back in the 1950s and early 1960s. 

Since the weather in San Francisco has finally turned nice, it is time I make these events. Naturally, the ocean, beach, mountains, and scenic areas of the Bay also need a visit. I have a lot to do.