“Gorgeous”—gritty, edgy, beyond beautiful—SFMOMA and Asian Art Museum’s exhibition asks you to figure out what “gorgeous” means, just three viewing weekends left
In “Gorgeous” at the Asian Art Museum through September 14, 2014, Mark Rothko’s “No. 14, 1960,” one of SFMOMA’s most visited artworks, shares a small gallery with an exquisite 17th century Chinese bronze Buddha, whose robes seem blown by a soft breeze, and a 17th century Tibetan Buddhist mandala, all of which encourage very slow looking—the full extent of their gorgeousness is experienced through reflection over time. “Gorgeous” presents mostly Western modern and contemporary works from SFMOMA in conversation with artworks from AAM that span 2,000 years and many different cultures, opening up whole new ways of experiencing all of these works very much in the present moment. Photo: Geneva Anderson
An evocative Mark Rothko painting shares a gallery with a richly-colored 17th century Tibetan mandala and an immovably calm bronze Buddha; a voluptuous 16 to 17th century stone torso is placed next to a hot pink neon sign that reads “Fantastic to feel beautiful again”; an ornately embossed and gilded 19th century elephant seat, a symbol of status, is near Marcel’s Duchamp’s iconic factory made urinal; John Currin’s confounding portrait of a meticulously-painted nude that combines the physique of a Northern Renaissance master with the grinning head of a corn-fed mid-Western girl shares space with a number of other portraits that provoke discomfort. They’re all part of Gorgeous, the inventive collaboration between SFMOMA and the Asian Art Museum (AAM), a mash-up of 72 artworks (39 from SFMOMA and 43 from the Asian), spanning 2,000 years, that asks the viewer to decide what ‘gorgeous” means. Artwise, it’s one of the summer’s highpoints that grows on you with each successive visit. There are just three viewing weekends left as it closes on Sunday, September 14, 2014.
“ ‘Gorgeous’ just clicked right away, hitting all the marks in terms of an exhibition that really had the potential to offer something fresh and provocative and to approach a mash-up of two very different collections,” said Janet Bishop, SFMOMA’s curator of painting and sculpture. Bishop oversees SFMOMA’s “On the Go Program,” in place at various sites all around the Bay Area while the building is closed for reconstruction and expansion through early 2016. (The excellent “Photography in Mexico” exhibition hosted by the Sonoma County Museum in September 2013 and about to open at the Bakersfield Museum of Art was one of SFMOMA’s first of the On the Go shows. The next On the Go project is Fertile Ground: Art and Community in California (Sept. 20, 2014 – April 12, 2015) in partnership with OMCA (Oakland Museum of California). In the works since the fall 2011, Gorgeous is co-curated by Allison Harding, AAM assistant curator of contemporary art, Forrest McGill, AAM Wattis senior curator of South and Southeast Asian art and director of AAM’s Research Institute for Asian Art, Caitlin Haskell, SFMOMA assistant curator of painting and sculpture and Janet Bishop.
“A lot of our shows fall into art history where we attempt to clarify things for the viewer” said the AAM’s Allison Harding, one of the lead curators. “This is more art appreciation, where we want the viewer to enjoy themselves as they try to figure out what they think about this subject. It’s meant to be very fluid and engaging.” And fluid it is—the show extends over four galleries and into the expansive North Court. The artworks aren’t easily categorized but embracing their resistance to classification is the essence of the project.
It almost seems as if Harding and McGill free-associated about their perspectives on gorgeous to come up with the categories they’ve grouped the artworks into—Seduction , Dress Up, Pose, Reiteration, Beyond Imperfection, Fantasy, Danger, In Bounds, Evocation, On Reflection. Interesting wall texts elucidate their personal perspectives and possible juxtapositions amongst the artworks.
Having visited the show five times now, I see most of the associations as interchangeable—the more time you spend looking, and the more you understand what drives your own attraction and revulsion with various works, the more you get to the heart of your own personal gorgeous.
Gorgeous often seduces through the allure of the extreme. Jeff Koons’ “Michael Jackson and Bubbles” (1988), rendered in gold glazed porcelain 1988, is a mainstay of SFMOMA’s collection. In addition to being on view in “Gorgeous,” another edition of the sculpture is currently on view at the Whitney’s Jeff Koons’ retrospective. SFMOMA curator Janet Bishop notes that the iconic piece captures “a very real moment in the pop star’s obsessive personal pursuit of gorgeousness.” Collection SFMOMA, ©Jeff Koons.
Certainly central to the exhibition’s immense popularity is that its combination of Asian and Western, ancient and modern, and seeing familiar works in a new context is a fabulous catalyst for spinning out ideas on something as sassy as gorgeous.
In the opening Oscher gallery, a real icon of SFMOMA holdings—Jeff Koons’ “Michael Jackson and Bubbles” (1988)—is right across from a set of twelve 17th century hanging scrolls by Chinese artist Hua Yan who was famous for his strong personality and rejection of orthodox conventions of painting. The expressively painted screens depict a villa ensconced in a sweeping panoramic mountainous landscape on a luxurious golden background. Near-by is a jewel-encrusted alms bowl from Burma (1850-1950) and also close by is Chris Olfili’s “Princess of the Possee” (1990) and Jess’ monumental drawing “Narkissos” (1976-1991). I was revolted by the gaudy excess of Bubbles when I first saw it at SFMOMA’s reveal press opening years ago. Now, 16 years after its creation, I marvel at how it perfectly captures banality of the 1980’s and how its lustrous gold porcelain finish has a magical interplay with Hua Yan’s shimmering scrolls and sweeping hills and with the gilding on the ceremonial alms bowl, a highly-ornate ritual object.
One can’t speak of gold without mentioning Felix Gonzalez-Torres “Untitled” (Golden) (1995), a deeply alluring shimmering gold-beaded curtain—the only interactive work in the show—that seems to produce a smile on the face of everyone who walks through it. Conceptually, it functions as a portal and is installed as a passage between two thematically different galleries; it even grabs the limelight from a nearby Mondrian.
(Left) Torso of a female deity, 1400–1600. Southern India. Stone. Courtesy of Asian Art Museum, The Avery Brundage Collection, B63S3+. (Right) “Fantastic to Feel Beautiful Again,” 1997, by Tracey Emin. Neon. Collection SFMOMA, © 2014 Tracey Emin.
An Indian stone female torso covered with intricate carving, dated 1400-1600, which has been on view at the AAM for over a decade, was easy to skip over. Freshly installed in Asian’s North Court, with a different pedestal that exposes what remains of its legs and beside British artist Tracy Emin’s hot pink neon hand-written sign “Fantastic to feel beautiful again” (1997), the stone work is suddenly re-contextualized. Ermin’s confessional epigram highlights what is absent in the stone work—presumably she was once a complete figure but the centuries have robbed this lush beauty of her of her head, arms, legs—in short, the ability to think or move. “Recovering our awareness of her losses only broadens her allure,” says Allison Harding. “Her acquired cracks and fractures suggest the collision between idea beauty and the world of time and nature.”
“Lawrence Weiner’s ‘Pearls roll Across the Floor’ in the Lee Gallery is a text piece that was installed a number of times in the SFMOMA’s Botta building but is presented here in the Lee Gallery in a new diagonal configuration and a new palette which, for me, really changes its dynamic and the mental images that it evokes,” said SFMOMA’s Janet Bishop who happily admitted “this experience has really changed the way I see objects.”
I imagine like many, I came to Gorgeous with the notion that concepts of gorgeous and beauty were somewhat synonymous. And, as an art writer who’s been at it 25+ years, I was expecting more of a conversation about beauty and where it stands today, a topic that engaged the art world and philosophical discourse in the 1990’s when there was an active rejection of beauty as a creative ideal. As Allison Harding explained, “Gorgeous is meant to be distinct from art historical discourse and precise definitions; it’s more about viewers defining for themselves what gorgeous means. …The works in this show are more than beautiful and they all have aspects about them that push beyond conventional beauty to the max, to the zone where tensions exist beyond what is familiar or comfortable.”
Is posing your five-year-old child so as to capture innate sexuality crossing a border?, or, Is this silver gelatin portrait “gorgeous” because it so sensuously captures an honest slice of childhood? Sally Mann’s “Jessie at 5” (1987) brushes up against social boundaries that are fluidly defined but perfectly illustrate the tensions in the SFMOMA-Asian Art Museum exhibit, “Gorgeous.” @Sally Mann. Courtesy: Gagosian Gallery.
Sally Mann’s “Jessie at 5” (1987), hung in the Hambrecht Galley, is a silver gelatin portrait of the artist’s 5 year-old daughter, nude from the waist up and posed sexily with her hip jutting out. It strikes a number of disconcerting chords. “The power of this image lies in ability to confound boundaries,” says Harding. “The confining square here could be the acceptable borders of childhood, femininity, sexuality; the improvisation is the captured moment and its endless interpretation.” The modern portrait shares wall space with a set of hanging scrolls from the Asian’s collection from another era, Chobunsai Eishi’s “Three Types of Beauties in Edo,” approximately dates 1798-1829. In one screen, a geisha ( erotically?) twists her hair pin with her delicate white hands, her forearm revealed when her sleeve is raised. In Eishi’s time, too, there was a fascination with ranking types of beauties by the coding is fuzzy to our modern eye.
One of the great things about Gorgeous is the feeling that you’re actually meeting the curators, as their wall texts, written in conversational language, are much more personal and engaging than usual. Of a red-lacquered wood chair for the imperial court which is carved with amazing narrative scenes, Forrest McGill writes “Looks uncomfortable and impractical, but who cares when displaying wealth and power is the goal, right?” and “contains narrative scenes that someone with a thorough knowledge of Chinese literature might have been able to identify. But who would have had a change to get close enough to them for long enough to figure them out?”
(Left) “Miss Blanche chair” by Shiro Kuramata (1988), plastic, artificial flowers, aluminum. Collection SFMOMA. @Estate of Shiro Kuramata. (Right) Chair for the imperial court, approx.. 1750-1850. China. Lacquered wood. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60M28+.
This regal lacquered chair is comically paired, in the Oscher Gallery, with Shiro Kuramata’s “Miss Blanche chair” (1988), a see-through modernist acrylic chair that has wonderful floating roses and is said to have been inspired by the corsage worn by Vivien Leigh in the role of Blanche Dubois in the movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire. These two chairs, neither made for sitting, loudly shout-out to the ornate gilded Indian elephant seat (howdah) in the Asian’s North Court which, in turn, dialogues nicely with Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain” (1917), a touchstone of conceptual art, which has been installed adjacent it. It’s quite unexpected to find a factory made urinal in the AAM’s elegant North Court, perhaps as surprising as it was when the original urinal was first designated as art in the 1917 SIA (Society of Independent Artists) exhibition.
Details— Gorgeous closes on September 14, 2014. The Asian Art Museum is located at 200 Larkin Street at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco. Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Admission: Gorgeous is covered by general admission AAM ticket—free for SFMOMA members; $15 adults; $10 seniors over 65, students and youth 13-17; Thursday nights $5; free admission for all on Target Sunday, September 7, 2014 . For more information, visit http://www.asianart.org/.
Successful transplant—Schroeder Hall’s gorgeous Brombaugh Opus 9 organ debuts this evening in James David Christie concert
Boston Symphony Organist, James David Christie, recalls playing the Brombaugh Opus 9 organ installed in Green Music Center’s Schroeder Hall when he was a student at Oberlin Conservatory and the organ was in a Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio—
“I remember playing this organ every Sunday for a whole month, 8 hours a day. I literally lived at that church the organ was so beautiful.”
On Schroeder’s acoustics—
“Everything is just beautiful…the acoustics here are amazing… the decay is beautiful. When you let go of the chord, the sound still travels, that’s what you want in an organ. You don’t want a sudden drop that sounds like it’s being choked but a smoothness. Perfect.”
This evening at 5:30 p.m., Christie will perform this pipe organ’s inaugural concert in Schroeder Hall with selections by Georg Böhm, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Johann Heinrich Buttstett, Dietrich Buxtehude, and Johann Sebastian Bach. Schroeder Hall celebrates its grand opening this weekend with 8 free concerts designed to introduce it to the community and to road-test its acoustics. The concert is sold-out but you still be able to score tickets. Show up early and wait in the stand-by line by the GMC ticket office. IF told holders do not get their tickets scanned 10 minutes before the performance as they enter the hall, their tickets will be released and depending on your place in line, you may get in.
The 9th Annual Taste of Petaluma is today in downtown Petaluma—eat hearty!
The comfort of small things….Brenda Anderson’s Secret kitchen is a quaint, tiny walk-up, take-out kitchen behind Agius Market, a couple of miles out of town, where she, Janice Clement and two young helpers turn out Latin and Asian-inspired classics with delightful spices and heat. Anderson’s moist rum cake is hard to stay away from. The Secret Kitchen is being hosted by Heebe Jeebe (46 Kentucky Street) for Taste of Petaluma. Photo: Geneva Anderson
The 9th Taste of Petaluma kicks off today at 11:30 a.m., in downtown Petaluma. In Thursday’s Taste article, I mostly extolled the virtues of the young hipsters rocking Petaluma’s food scene. Saved the seasoned big gun for last— Brenda Anderson and her Secret Kitchen, newcomers to Taste and to the community. She’s based in rural west Petaluma, so she’s being hosted by Heebe Jeebe (46 Kentucky Street). She’s preparing chili con carne with black beans & a bite size El Salvadoran pupusa (little fried corn cakes stuffed with cheese).
Her current set-up is a brightly colored walk-up kitchen behind Agius Market, a couple of miles out of town (right where I grew up), where she, Janice Clement and two young helpers create Latin and Asian-inspired classics that have been tweaked to reflect what she loves and what’s peaking in the garden. Anderson taught at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America), ran Google’s restaurant, and has cooked all over the world and it’s our good luck that she’s settled in Petaluma. Of her papusas, a yelp review says it all—The papusas make me want to destroy something, they are so good.” She takes take-out presentation to an art form. The Secret Kitchen is located at 4701 Bodega Avenue (where Skillman Lane meets Bodega Avenue)
Brenda Anderson’s small slow-roasted warm tacos are made layers of slow-cooked bbq pork, black beans, sliced radish and cotja cheese, with a spicy crema that ties it all together. Photo: Geneva Anderson
Details: The 9th Annual Taste of Petaluma is today, Saturday, August 23, 2014 from 11:30 AM to 4 PM. Ticket packages are $40 and consist of 10 tasting tickets, good for 1 taste each. Tickets can from 10:30 AM onwards at Petaluma’s Helen Putnam Plaza. Only 1500 tickets will be sold.
Here’s how to get free tickets to Schroeder Hall’s 8 sold-out Grand Opening concerts this weekend
James David Christie, Boston Symphony organist and one of the world’s great organists, beside the gorgeous Brombaugh Opus 9 organ installed in Green Music Center’s Schroeder Hall. Built in 1972, the Opus 9 is the work of John Brombaugh, an American builder whom Christi calls “the master builder.” Christie fondly remembers practicing “for hours and hours” on this very organ when he was a student at Oberlin Conservatory and it was installed in a Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio. On Saturday evening at 5:50 p.m., he will play it again as he performs this pipe organ’s inaugural concert in Schroeder Hall. Schroeder Hall celebrates its grand opening this weekend with 8 free concerts designed to introduce it to the community and to road-test its acoustics. Photo: Will Bucquoy
We’re all excited about the weekend of great music ahead as Green Music Center rolls out its new jewel, Schroeder Hall, which seats 250. Free tickets for all the grand opening weekend concerts were snapped up within the first hour of their release on August 12, which means a lot of music lovers were disappointed. There’s hope. At 2 p.m. today (Friday), I spoke with Green Music Center’s (GMC) press liaison, Jessica Anderson, and here’s how you can get those extra tickets held in reserve that Zarin Mehta referred to in the papers and online media you’ve been reading—
Sure thing—Saturday morning, show up early at GMC and wait in line until 10 a.m. when the Green Music Center Box Office opens. They will have anywhere from 25 to 75 additional tickets for each of Saturday’s 4 performances and you can get free tickets for 1, 2, 3 or all Saturday performances if you are early enough. You cannot get tickets for any Sunday performances on Saturday but, on Sunday, the same procedure will be in place. This is strictly in person, not online.
Risky—Show up early before the concert of your choice and wait in the stand-by line by the GMC ticket office. IF ticket holders do not get their tickets scanned 10 minutes before the performance as they enter the hall, their tickets will be released and, depending on your place in line, you may get in.
Do not phone the box office, go there in person. The Green Music Center Box Office is adjacent to the courtyard of Weill Hall.
The 9th Taste of Petaluma is this Saturday, August 23, and bigger than ever—meet the newcomers
Miriam Donaldson and Josh Norwitt’s Wishbone will serve bacon jam blt’s and iced coffee for Saturday’s 9th Annual Taste of Petaluma. Wishbone, new to Taste, proudly identifies with Petaluma’s ranch heritage. Their unforgettable slow-cooked bacon jam is an amazing alchemy of bacon bits (they use Love Family Farm bacon, where they get first pick of the pork), 24-hour caramelized onions, maple and coffee. The jam is slathered over house-made sourdough toast that comes from a wild starter from the couple’s Roblar Road cattle ranch and apple farm. Vine ripened heirloom tomatoes and greens finish it off. “You can knock out brunch for 150 people and every single serving is amazing,” says Donaldson. Wishbone will be hosted by the Phoenix Theater, in downtown Petaluma for Taste. The restaurant itself is located at 841 Petaluma Blvd. North, in the historic Three Cooks Café brick building. Photo: Geneva Anderson
The 9th annual Taste of Petaluma is this Saturday, August 23, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and it’s all about connecting with Petaluma’s small-town charm and rich sense of community—bite by glorious bite. Taste is a benefit for Cinnabar Theater’s youth repertory programs and if you’ve ever attended one of Cinnabar’s remarkable youth performances, you understand what a treasure Cinnabar is. This year, Taste of Petaluma is bigger than ever with over 100 of Petaluma’s restaurants and food, wine and beverage purveyors participating at 54 locales. Some 85 musicians will be playing in a dozen locales downtown too, offering just as promising a musical menu (full performance schedule here). The event draws people from all over the Bay Area and $40 gets you 10 generously portioned tastes of your choosing.
Recently, I participated in two “mini-tastes” and had the chance to meet the owners and chefs of several new restaurants, hear their stories and sample what they’re preparing for Taste. I tried everything from bacon jam BLTs with duck egg mayo and heirloom tomatoes on homemade sourdough from Miriam Donaldson and her team at homey Wishbone on Petaluma Blvd. North, down by the Police Station, to Wagyu New York Tataki from Joe O’Donnell at upscale Seared on Petaluma Blvd. North’s restaurant row. Both of these inviting establishments opened in the past year, have chefs and staff in their 20’s and 30’s, and represent the energy and diversity in our local food scene. As if cooking weren’t a full time job, many chefs are growing their own vegetables and fruits and are highly attuned to what’s peaking on a daily basis. Their menus are constantly changing and they are experimenting with their bounty. A few are even raising their own meat. They’re all joyous about having a hand in every step of the process and that includes scoring some great salvaged wood or a glass case or pulling all-nighters ripping out flooring. “It’s been nice to move around,” says O’Donnell, “but Petaluma feels like home and it’s got everything I need close at hand. There’s no place like it. We’ve caught up.”
Zodiak co-owner Kristin McMaster is serving their signature Slow Roasted Baby Back Ribs with Cool Mango Slaw at this year’s Taste of Petaluma. McMaster’s radiant personality and high energy propel her through long days as she lives out her restaurant, music club, beer hall, and gallery dream with her fiancé and business partner, John “Jonesy” Jones. The young couple, passionate “garage-salers,” who live in the neighborhood peeked into the enormous space when the old Kodiak Jack’s was closing and they were having an estate sale. They fell in love with its potential and made an offer on the space the next day. They mixed and poured the concrete and Kristy painted the space herself. Zodiac’s wonderful vibe includes daily live musical performances, and professionally displays of local art. Photo: Geneva Anderson
“Even though it’s bigger than ever, Taste was a lot easier this year,” explained the event’s founder Laura Sunday, who estimates that 1,500 people will turn out. “A lot of restaurants contacted me early, eager to participate, and several of the hosting venues took the initiative and told me who they were partnering with. This is the only tasting event on this scale I know of that doesn’t operate like a food fair. People actually get to go into a restaurant, check out the ambiance, and sample very generously. You couldn’t buy better advertising. We’ve got new establishments eager to introduce themselves to the community and lots of well-rooted restaurants and vendors who do this year after year because they enjoy giving back to Petaluma and to Cinnabar Theater.”
Stay-tuned to ARThound for more on Taste of Petaluma.
More About Cinnabar: Cinnabar Theater, located in the old red Cinnabar Schoolhouse on Petaluma Blvd and Skillman Lane, opens its 42 season on Friday, September 5, 2014, with the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, celebrating this golden oldie’s 50th anniversary. The heartwarming story centers on Tevye, father of five strong-willed daughters who is struggling to maintain his family’s Jewish traditions. Stephen Walsh, who wowed Cinnabar audiences in last November’s hit, La Cage aux Folles, plays Papa Tevye with Cinnabar own Elly Lichenstein (Artistic Director) as his wife. “This has enormous personal significance for me,” said Lichenstein. “All four of my grandparents came to America from villages like Anatevka, and it excites me that our magnificent cast is so committed to tell their story.” The original Broadway incarnation of this beloved musical racked up an astonishing 10 Tony Awards by introducing unforgettable songs like “Tradition” and “If I Were A Rich Man.” Music is by Jerry Brock, lyrics by Serldon Harnick and book by Joseph Stein. Fiddler ends September 21 with a special performance and party commemorating the day it first opened on Broadway. Runs: Sept 5-21, 2014, just 10 performances; tickets $35. Pounce! This is selling out. Cinnabar Theater is a 501(c)(3) California non-profit.
Zodiaks (256 Petaluma Blvd. North) signature Dr. Pepper braised baby back ribs basted in house-made Carolina-style BBQ sauce are meaty, juicy, tender and not at all greasy. I’d add proud…they aren’t slathered in layers of sauce that obscures the quality of their succulent meat. Red cabbage is just the starting point for their artful mango slaw, tossed with a zingy dressing with hints of lime that defines its personality and pairs well with the savory ribs. Zodiacs also host 10 local craft brewers— Lagunitas, 101 North Brewing, Moylans Brewery, Morris Distributing, North Coast, Bear Republic, Hen House, Petaluma Hills, St. Florian’s, Moonlight. A ticket will get you 5 samplings of your choice. Zodiaks will also host an After Taste of Petaluma Party from 4 p.m. onwards. Musicians John Allair and Julia Harre will perform. Photo: Geneva Anderson
Cinnabar’s Young Repertory Theater opens its new season on November 28, 2014 with the classic musical, The Wizard of Oz. This charming adaptation by John Kane for the Royal Shakespeare Company is based on the beloved classic motion picture and features our adorable local munchkins on stage along with Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Lion and the Tin Man. There’s no better way to celebrate the holidays! Runs: November 28-December 14, 2014; tickets $15. Pounce! This too will sell out.
Details: The 9th Annual Taste of Petaluma is Saturday, August 23, 2014 from 11:30 AM to 4 PM. Ticket packages are $40 and consist of 10 tasting tickets, good for 1 taste each. Advance tickets can be purchased in person until Friday, August 22, 3 p.m. at the following venues in Petaluma—
Gallery One – 209 Western Ave.
Velvet Ice Collections – 140 2nd Street, Theater Square
Blush Collections – 117 Kentucky Street
Cinnabar Theater between 10-2:30 weekdays
Tickets can be purchased online here (with $4 surcharge per ticket). Tickets can also be purchased on the day of the event from 10:30 AM onwards at Helen Putnam Plaza. Only 1500 tickets will be sold.
Advance tickets can be picked up at WILL CALL at Helen Putnam Plaza (129 Petaluma Blvd. North) after 10:30 AM on the day of the event. The first 1,000 guest to purchase tickets will receive a free Taste of Petaluma tote bag. All participants receive a plastic wine glass. You can purchase more tickets throughout the day for $4 each.
Wishbone co-owner and chef Miriam Donaldson, of Humble Pie fame, is fighting the good food fight in Petaluma at her new locale in the funky brick building previously occupied by the Three Cooks Café—“Raise up! Eat up! More locally-raised meat, veggies and cheese than you can shake a stick at, a full espresso bar, a fun wine list, and the best record collection this side of 101.” Photo: Geneva Anderson
Executive Chef Joe O’Donnell often puts in 15 hours days at Seared and they are paying off—it’s the best steak house in town. Celebrating its one year anniversary this August, Seared, 170 Petaluma Blvd. North, occupies the space that Graziano’s had for over 30 years. O’Donnell’s pedigree includes Scottsdale’s Le Cordon Bleu and cooking stints in San Francisco, Sausalito, Olema, and years spent helping out at McNears, owned by his father Ken O’Donnell, also a partner in Seared. “We’re trying to take a different approach to the steak house mentality here. We do a lot of interesting small plates and top quality servings of great meats and fishes.” Seared is serving chili pepper cod aquachili with avocado, cilantro, on a crisp tortilla with pickled onion AND Wagyu New York tataki on a crispy Kennebec potato chip. Photo: Geneva Anderson
Seared Executive Chef Joe O’Donnell brings a strong Asian influence to his cooking. His Sichuan-tiered Wagyu New York is all about the art of layering. The meat, an Americanized Kobe grass-fed beef, is seared to rare. A kennebec potato is sliced to make chips and dusted with a combination of seaweed, salt, sugar sesame and then grilled. The chips get a dab of black garlic puree (fermented garlic slow-cooked over a week) before the meat is placed on top and then topped again with a scallion ginger puree, some soy bourbon reduction, Sichuan peppercorn and a few pink-tinged micro shiso (asian microgreens). Sichuan peppercorns are a staple of Asian cooking that O’Donnell uses frequently. Harvested from prickly ash shrubs, they have a fragrant aroma and are more floral than peppery. Photo: Geneva Anderson
McEvoy Ranch Winemaker, Margaret Koski Kent, will be pouring McEvoy’s 2013 Rosebud rosé at Thistle Meats which also stocks McEvoy’s prized olives. Nan McEvoy grew in Hillsborough with Thistle co-owner Molly Best’s grandpa and there’s an enduring connection between the families. Kent initially headed McEoy’s expansive gardens and then she studied oenology at Napa Valley College and apprenticed in Italy. She helped launch their expansion into wine. With a nod to tradition and in pursuit of a wine that would complement their high-end virgin olive oil, McEvoy began to interplant grapes on its estate around 2006 and then dedicated several acres to separate vineyards for pinot noir, syrah pinot noir, syrah, grenache, viognier, alicante bouschet, refosco and Montepulciano. McEvoy is now producing several award-winning wines. Kent could not be happier with her job. Photo: Geneva Anderson
Thistle Meats (160 Petaluma Blvd. North) will sample their delectable charcuterie—house-made sausages, pates and terrines, along with McEvoy Ranch’s vibrant 2013 Rosebud rosé. Thistle’s Salami Cotto (above) is cured and then poached, a process which is shorter than some of the other Salami techniques but yields a tender, velvety and very flavorful meat. Thistle’s pork, all pasture raised, is sourced from Green Star Farm in Sebastopol; River Ranch in Potter Valley, Mendocino; B & B Family Farms in Petaluma, and Llano Seco Ranch in Chico, one of the last Mexican land grant properties that remains intact. Thistle is a whole animal shop and receives and uses the entire animal. Their artful displays of exquisite cuts of meats are worth the visit. Workshops in butchery and salumi making are in the planning phase. Photo: Geneva Anderson
Some guys always have a great story to tell and Twisted 2’s owner Dick Warner holds court at his famous Happy Hour (and a Half), every Thurs-Sat from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Here, he talks baseball with Katie Watts, Petaluma’s Press Democrat correspondent at a mini-Taste of Petaluma held for local journalists. Warner’s warm personality is a fine accompaniment to the legendary wines he serves and sells. His ace in the hole is the amazing fresh pistachio nuts he generously offers customers. He worked on a ranch near Fresno for 15 years and negotiated a lifetime supply for all the good business he brought them. “You can’t find a wine that pistachios don’t go with and everyone loves them.” Photo: Geneva Anderson
Twisted 2 (29 Petaluma Boulevard North) in the Lanmart Building is offering Ono Sashimi fresh from Kona, Hawaii with sushi rice, seaweed slaw and a sip of owner Dick Warner’s specially selected 2012 Morgan Sauvignon Blanc from Dan Morgan Lee’s winery in Monterey County. Warner, a renowned wine specialist, pairs courses of their prix fixe dinner menu with wines he selects. Julie Warner cooks and grows almost all of the vegetables she uses herself. Happy Hour (and a Half) is from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and dinner is served from 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Reservations are essential in this intimate 360 square foot treasure. Photo: Geneva Anderson
Sax’s Joint, a 1950’s style diner, co-owned by Tiffany Saxelby, creates delicious cupcakes with buttercream frosting that are all made from scratch with the finest ingredients. They will serve a selection of mini-cupcakes at Marisa’s Fantasia, 29 Petaluma Blvd. North. Surprisingly, these gorgeous treats look rich but they are not too sweet. Each packs a special mouthwatering surprise—the interior is filled with dollop of scrumptious creamy homemade fruit conserve, caramel, mocha or chocolate. Along with dessert, Sax’s will also serve their popular Chicken Fried Chicken—fileted fresh chicken breast, egg washed and dipped in dry floured seasoning mix, deep fried, served in a cup with homemade country gravy. Photo: Geneva Anderson
Night owl? Speakeasy (139 Petaluma Blvd. North, in American Alley at Putnam Plaza) is open for dinner from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily and is the only place in town where you can go for late night gourmet bites. Owners and life partners, Amber Driscoll and Roger Tschann, have built their reputation on serving elegant tapas-style delicacies in their intimate space. For Taste, their new chef, Josh Dellwo will prepare empanadas with Niman Ranch steak and potatoes topped with a lime cilantro cream, crumbled queso fresco and microgreens. Dellwo’s light flaky crust and the interplay of the tangy lime, cilantro and beef elevate this South American snack into a gourmet treat. Speakeasy, which opened in late 2012, has been so successful that the owners are expanding across the alley with The Big Easy, a banquet-size space where they can showcase music and offer an extended list of wine by the bottle. Photo: Geneva Anderson
Gustavo Martinez, chef and owner of Paradise Sushi in Petaluma’s River Plaza, was trained by Japanese chefs in Lake Tahoe and has been a sushi chef for 16 years now. After working in Santa Rosa, he opened is Petaluma restaurant in November 2012 and never looked back—his Petaluma clients are “much nicer” and his (sushi) bar is hopping on weekends. His ceviche roll, a creative shout out to his Mexican heritage, is a spicy fusion of salmon, serrano peppers, and avocado topped with several varieties of fish, red onions, wine, lime juice & cilantro. Photo: Geneva Anderson
Paradise Sushi in Petaluma’s River Plaza (20 E Washington Street) will serve Ocean and Ninja Rolls. The Ocean Roll (in foreground) is calamari tempura and cream cheese, topped with salmon, lemon slices, crab, scallions and eel sauce. The Ninja Roll is shrimp tempura and crab, topped with tuna, avocado, red snapper, tobiko, eel sauce and spicy mayonnaise. Photo: Geneva Anderson
The Hess Collection is screening great art documentaries on select Sundays—Jeremey Ambers’ “Impossible Light” screens August 10
Artist Leo Villareal tests the lights for his fantastic installation “Bay Lights”— 25,000 LED lights on the side of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge—touted to be the world’s largest LED light sculpture, which officially opened on March 14, 2014. Filmmaker Jeremy Ambers tracked Villareal as the dream became a reality and his feature length documentary, “Impossible Lights” (2014), screens Sunday, August 10, at Napa’s Hess Collection. Image: courtesy Jeremy Ambers
“The Bay Bridge was the first thing I saw the day I moved to San Francisco, driving down Route 80 in a U-haul Truck,” recalls filmmaker Jeremy Ambers who was awestruck when he met Ben Davis, the driving force behind the seemingly impossible idea to transform San Francisco’s Bay Bridge’s western span into a light sculpture and one of the world’s largest art installations. Ambers’ acclaimed documentary, Impossible Light (2014), follows Davis and renowned American artist Leo Villareal and their team of designers, along with entrepreneurs, philanthropists, art enthusiasts and Bay Area optimists, as they set out to install 25,000 LED lights on the side of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge for an abstract dancing sculpture known as The Bay Lights. This impressive feature length doc, which captures the heart, soul and intense drama behind this $8,000,000 installation—to date, not paid for—is screening this Sunday, August 10, at 3 PM at Napa Valley’s Hess Collection as part of their wonderful summer series of art film screenings, presented in partnership with the Napa Valley Film Festival (Nov 12-16, 2014). Hess Collection Chef, Chad Hendrickson, will provide wine and appetizers, one more reason to see this amazing contemporary collection and take in the film. Click here for tickets and for more information, contact Hess events manager Ashley Cox 707 255-1144 x226.
SFJFF hits the Smith Rafael Film Center for a long weekend, Friday-Sunday—14 films, great stories, from all over the world
Who would have thought that listening to old fishmongers could be so interesting? The Russ sisters, Hattie, 100, (L) and Anne, 92, (R), daughters of Joel Russ, founder of New York’s Russ & Daughters, have hit their golden years with their sense of humor fully intact and banter delightfully on screen in Julie Cohen’s documentary, “The Sturgeon Queens.” Cohen’s doc has its world premiere at the 34th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and screens Sunday at noon at the Smith-Rafael Film Center. Others docs screening in San Rafael cover topics as diverse as a profile of the creator of the word genocide, a woman who learns her birthfather was black, American-style football in the Holy Land and the story of the son of a Hamas leader who became a spy for Israel’s Shin-bet. Image: courtesy SFJFF 34
The 34th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF 34) comes to Marin’s Smith Rafael Film Center this Friday-Sunday for a long weekend, presenting 14 of the festival’s top films. I’ve attended this Marin segment for the past five years and the savvy programmers understand what clicks with our Marin, Sonoma and Napa attendees—intellectually resonant stories, creatively told. Bonus points added for food, wine, art and causes we can get behind. Begun in 1980, SFJFF is the oldest and largest Jewish film festival in the world and it traditionally kicks off and runs at San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre before opening at other Bay Area venues. This year, SFJFF 34 screened 67 films from 17 countries; 44 of those had some sort of premiere and over 30 visiting filmmakers and international guests attended. For those of us in Northern California, battling the recently horrendous traffic on 101, the weekend in Marin is the only thing that that makes this beloved festival doable at all. In our favor, the Smith Rafael Film Center’s offers an intimate setting and unbeatable acoustics and its wise liberal vibe contributes to sharp and sizzling audience exchanges. All the films in this mini-fest exemplify the humor, warmth, wisdom, angst, and diversity of Jewish experiences around the world and introduce a strong crop of independent filmmakers. Now, on to ARThound’s recommendations—
Friday, August 8, 8:45 p.m.—24 Days
In “24 Days,” French director Alexandre Arcady re-examines l’affaire du gang des barbares, (the Affair of the Gang of Barbarians)—the 2006 abduction and brutal torture in Paris of the first French Jew, since WWII, to have been viciously attacked for being Jewish. The suspenseful ransom story is told through the through the voice of a grieving mother, Ruth Halimi, played by Zabou Breitman, who informs the audience that the events they are about to see actually happened. The film captures the dramatic struggles of the family and French authorities who were at odds with each other over calling this abduction an act of anti-Semitism. Image: courtesy SFJFF34
24 Days U.S. Premiere (France, 2014) French director and actor, Alexandre Arcady (Day of Atonement (original French title: Le Grand Pardon II) 1992), takes us back to 2006 and astutely delves into l’affaire du gang des barbares (the Affair of the Gang of Barbarians)—the abduction and brutal torture in Paris of the first French Jew, since WWII, to have been viciously attacked for simply being Jewish. And what a story he weaves, meticulously researched and narrated with a surprising degree of suspense through the voice of a grieving mother. After Shabbat dinner on January 20, 2006, Ilan Halimi, a 23 year-old telephone vendor of Moroccan Jewish descent, decides to go out, against his mother’s wishes, and celebrate. On his way out, he kisses his mother, Ruth Halimi (Zabou Breitman), who will never see her son again. Arcady, himself an Algerian-born Jew who emigrated to France at age 15, adapted the story from the mother’s book and police records. She had a gut feeling that her hapless son was abducted because he was Jewish and the kidnappers assumed that all Jews have money, but the authorities stubbornly refused to acknowledge this as a factor in the abduction. During their three-week nightmare, relived on film, the mother and her ex-husband, Didier (Pascal Elbé), received over 650 insulting, anxiety-producing phone calls. It turns out that their son was being held in a public housing block in a Paris suburb by a multi-racial gang of French youngsters and at least 30 people knew about it but did nothing, afraid of what the gang’s leader, Fofana (Tony Harrison), would do to them if they snitched to the authorities. This is such an important story and so faithfully told that the French Ministry of Education had it shown in French schools. 111 min (Screens at 8:45 p.m.)
6:30 p.m. The Green Prince (Germany, Israel, UK, 2014) Nadav Schirman’s espionage documentary opened SFJFF 34 at the Castro to a full house on July 24 and won the Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Award (World Cinema: Documentary). The film is based Mosab Hassan Yousef’s startling memoir, Son of Hamas, and relives how Yousef, the son of one of the leaders of the Palestinian group Hamas, became a spy for Shin Bet, Israel’s security service, while working for his father. The film’s title refers to the Israeli security agency’s nickname for Yousef, named for the color of the Hamas flag and his high-ranking affiliation with the Islamist organization. Given the recent violence in Gaza, which we’re all heartsick over, the film’s happy-ending— Palestinian-Israeli friendship—falls apart. ARThound recommends seeing it later, when it opens in the Bay Area. 99 min (Screens 6:30 p.m.)
Saturday, August 9, 3 p.m.—Little White Lie
Lacey (L) grew up believing she was white and Jewish. When confronted, her mother, Peggy (R), confessed that she had hidden an extramarital fling with a black man from her and that Lacey was the result. Lacey Schwartz’s documentary, “Little White Lie” (USA, 2014), has its world premiere at SFJFF34 and screens Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Smith Rafael Film Center. Image: courtesy SFJFF34
Little White Lie World Premiere (USA, 2014) Harvard Law School graduate Lacey Schwartz turns the camera on herself as she explores how she was raised as white and Jewish and learned as an adult that was her biological father was black. This relatively short but engrossing doc is about as real as it gets when it comes to confronting one’s long held feelings about identity and race and how those solidify or change with new information. Schwartz grew up in the mostly white town of Woodstock, New York, and her tawny complexion was always attributed to her father’s deep olive-toned Sicilian Jewish grandfather. She learned by accident that she was biracial while she was an undergraduate at Georgetown University. Based on the photo accompanying her entrance application, her contact information was forwarded to its black student association. When Schwartz confronted her mother, Peggy, she confessed that she had hidden an extramarital fling with a black man from her and that Lacey was the result. A few years into living with the news, Lacey says this shocking news has not changed the way she sees herself but it has influenced the way she sees the world and, of course, her mother. 65 min (Screens at 3 p.m. with Little Horribles: Mini Bar, a darkly comedic web series that tracks the poor decisions of a self-indulgent lesbian, here trying to resist raiding her the mini bar in her family’s hotel room.)
Saturday, August 9, 4:45 p.m.—God’s Slave
César Troncoso is Ahmed, a Kuwaiti Muslim extremist posing as surgeon and family man in 1994 Buenos Aires in Joel Novoa’s debut feature, “God’s Slave,” (2014), which has its Bay Area premiere at SFJFF 34. This well-crafted political thriller pits two determined men against one another, crossing paths in the aftermath of the real-life bombings in Buenos Aries in 1994 against the Jewish community. Image: courtesy SFJFF34
God’s Slave (Ecsclavo de Dios) Bay Area Premiere (Argentina, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela) 90 min) The plot sounds familiar—as children both a Muslim and an Islaeli witnessed unspeakable atrocities which have come to define the men they became and the violence they will perpetuate in the name of religion. Ahmed Al Hassama (Mohammed Al-Khaldi) masquerades as a Venezuelan surgeon waiting until his assignment, a suicide bombing, is revealed to him. David Goldberg (Vando Villamil) is a cold-blooded Mossad intelligence agent stationed in Buenos Aires, with a relentless aptitude for terrorists’ careers and threats. Fernando Butazzoni’s screen play, which is set against the 1994 AMIA car-bombing in Buenos Aires, which left 85 people dead, becomes a living breathing portrait of crusaders about to implode in the hands of Venezuelan director Joel Novoa. A master storyteller, Novoa transforms a seemingly open-and-shut political thriller into a moving and nuanced portrayal of commitment and crusade. 90 min (Screens at 4:45 p.m.)
Saturday, August 9, 6:50 p.m.—El Critico
Argentinean film critic turned director Hernan Guerschuny’s comedy, “El Critico,” screens Saturday evening at SFJFF 34 in San Rafael. Jaded, socially awkward, emotionally repressed, full of himself—film critic Víctor Tellez (Rafael Spregelburd) writes reviews for a daily newspaper in Buenos Aires and identifies so completely with the French New Wave, that the voices he hears inside his head speak French. Newly divorced, he divides his time between watching films and then discussing them at a local dive with his nerdy friends. All that changes when he accidentally meets quirky Sofia (Colores Fonzi) who seems to be right out of French comedy (and hence perfect for him). Soon he’s even sobbing and relating to rom-com’s. Image: courtesy SFJFF34
Sunday, August 10, noon—The Sturgeon Queens
Who would have thought that listening to old fishmongers could be so interesting? Filmmaker Julie Cohen has made “The Sturgeon Queens,” a history of the legendary Russ & Daughters appetizing store on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Pescatarian pioneer Joel Russ (center) surrounded by daughters (from Left) Hattie, Ida and Anne. Image: SFJFF34
The Sturgeon Queens Bay Area Premiere (USA, 2013) For New Yorkers noshing on smoked fish and fine appetizers wouldn’t be the same without the venerable Russ & Daughters which celebrates its centennial this year. . Julie Cohen, NY Emmy winner and founder of BetterThanFiction Productions, tells the story —100 years, 4 generations, 1.8 million pounds of pickled herring—delightfully. It’s really a love story of family bonding and fish. And of a noun called “appetizing”—a Jewish food tradition that is most typical among American (especially New York) Jews and has its origins in the Eastern European Jewish tradition of starting meals with cold appetizers, known in Yiddish as “forshpayz”….modern day translation “the foods one eats with bagels.” One hundred years ago, workaholic founding father Joel Russ started hawking fine herring on the streets of New York with a push-cart and finally scrimped enough to get his own store on the lower East Side. This is literally the house that herring built. His three daughters, the Sturgeon Queens—Anne, Hattie and Ida—helped out their dad and worked behind the counter for decades, pulling their husbands and relatives right along. In the film we hear from two of the sisters, now grandmas—100-year-old Hattie Russ Gold and 92-year-old Anne Russ Federman who still banter delightfully while reflecting on lives richly lived and customers who passed through their doors. Their grandchildren, who run the store today, Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper, talk about carrying on the Russ tradition and bringing this institution into the age of computers and author Mark Russ Federman (Russ & Daughters, Reflections and Recipes from the House that Herring Built, 2013) adds more mouthwatering detail. Well-known enthusiasts of the store add spice—Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, chef Mario Batali, New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin, and 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer. 54 min (Screens at noon) Will screen on various PBS stations later this year.
Sunday, August 10, 1:45 p.m.—Touchdown Israel
Almost four years ago, San Francisco-based documentary filmmaker, Paul Hirschberger, started learning all he could about the North American-style of tackle football that is being played in Israel. “Touchdown Israel” (2014) has its world premiere at SFJFF 34 and explores how the growing sport is bridging cultural gaps in Israel. Hirschberger will attend Sunday’s screening at the Smith Rafael Film Center. Image: SFJFF34
Touchdown Israel World Premiere, filmmaker Paul Hirschberger in attendance with post-screening Q&A (USA, Israel, 2014) Israel is the last place you would expect the corn-fed, Friday Night Lights tradition of American football to catch on. But don’t tell that to the passionate players and coaches in the 11-team Israel Football League, who play for nothing but pride and have had to endure years of matches played on woefully short soccer fields, under bad lighting, with no locker rooms, in front of an indifferent public. Touchdown Israel is a surprising look at how the gridiron sport has found an unlikely toehold in the Holy Land. Initially imported in the 1990s by American-born Israelis who deeply missed the scrimmages of their youth, American football in Israel has had to counter not only the vastly more popular appeal of soccer and basketball, but legions of Jewish mothers worried about their grown sons’ injuries. As league macher Steve Leibowitz claims, “Jewish mothers somehow don’t get it, it’s nice to be bruised.” But the documentary has serious points to make as well, as it examines the Jewish-Arab camaraderie (and occasional tensions) within the multiethnic lineup of the Tel Aviv–Jaffa Sabres, as well as the controversial “bad boy” profile of the Judean Rebels, a team composed largely of West Bank settlers. Some rivalries go deeper than sports. (Synopsis by Peter Stein) 85 min (Screens at 1:45 p.m.)
Sunday, August 10, 4:15 p.m.—Watchers of the Sky
Watchers of the Sky CA Premiere The term “genocide” was created by the Polish Jewish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, and first used in his 1944 book, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. MacArthur Award-winning documentarian, Edit Belzberg, explores Lemkin’s legacy in creating an international framework for prosecuting acts aimed at the intentional destruction of a people. At Sundance, this smart doc picked up an Editing Award and Special Jury Award for Use of Animation US Documentary. Inspired by Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide (2013), Belzberg takes you on a very disturbing experiential journey over the past century of genocide intercutting Lemkin’s story with interviews from Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz; journalist-turned-UN ambassador Samantha Power, who covered Bosnia’s ethnic cleansing; Luis Moreno Ocampo, prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, who is building the case against Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir over the deaths in Darfur; and Emmanuel Uwurukundo, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide now aiding Darfur refugees in Chad. Belberg evokes Lemkin’s spirit through quotes from his memoirs and wonderful animation. This is a must-see primer in human rights awareness and action. Watchers of the Sky will open theatrically in the US in October 2014. 114 min (Screens 4:45 p.m.)
Details: The Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center is located at 1118 Fourth Street in San Rafael. Metered parking is available on the street or chose from several lots close by. The San Rafael portion of the festival starts Friday, August 8, 2014, and runs through Sunday, August 10, 2014. Tickets: $14; $13 seniors and students. Advance purchase is recommended—click on film links below or visit www.sfjff.org or call 415.621.0523. (Rafael passes, CFI Fast Passes or members’ discounts are not valid for these screenings.) The Rafael box office will not sell advance tickets; however, it will sell tickets remaining for various screenings on the day of their screening.
Full Schedule, SFJFF 34 at Smith Rafael Film Center, Friday (Aug 8)–Sunday (Aug 10)
Friday
2:10 p.m. Mamele (dir. Joseph Green, Konrad Tom, USA, 1938, 97 min)
4:20 p.m. Swim Little Fish Swim (dir. Ruben Amar, USA, France, 2013, 96 min)
6:30 p.m. The Green Prince West Coast Premiere (dir. Nadav Schirman, Germany, Israel, UK, 2014, 99 min,
8:45 p.m. 24 Days U.S. Premiere (dir. Alexandre Arcady, France, 2014, 111 min)
Saturday
1 p.m. My Own Man CA Premiere (dir. David Sampliner, USA, 2014, 83 min)
3 p.m. Little White Lie World Premiere (dir. Lacey Schwartz, USA, 2014, 65 min)
4:45 p.m. God’s Slave (Ecsclavo de Dios) Bay Area Premiere (dir. Joel Novoa, Argentina, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, 90 min)
6:50 p.m. El Critico CA Premiere (dir. Hernán Guerschuny, Argentina, 2013, 90 min)
8:55 p.m. Comedy Warriors Northern CA Premiere John Wagner (USA, 2014) 75 min
Sunday
12 noon The Sturgeon Queens Bay Area Premiere (dir. Julie Cohen, USA, 2013, 54 min)
1:45 p.m. Touchdown Israel World Premiere (dir. Paul Hirschberger, USA, Israel, 2014, 85 min)
4:15 p.m. Watchers of the Sky CA Premiere (dir. Edit Belzberg, USA, 2013, 114 min)
6:45 p.m. Snails in the Rain CA Premiere (dir. Yariv Mozer, Israel, 2013, 82 min)
8:40 p.m. A Place in Heaven CA Premiere (dir. Yossi Madmoni, Israel, 2013, 117 min)
Opening Saturday, August 2—Dana Hooper and Douglas Cruickshank at Toby’s, Point Reyes Station, and Joseph McDonald and Murray Rockowitz at Aqus Café, Petaluma
Sonoma County artist, Dana Hooper spontaneously paints animals and things bathed in gorgeous light. “Cowgirl,” 24 x 36, acrylic on canvas. courtesy: DanaHooper.com
Saturday, August 2nd from 1 to 4 pm, Toby’s Gallery—artist reception “Inspired by Patterns” with Petaluma artist, Dana Hooper, showing paintings inspired by rural Sonoma County, AND Douglas Cruickshank, photographer, columnist and Salon.com editor, and showing “Photographs of Point Reyes woods and water” Toby’s Gallery is located at 11250 Highway 1, Point Reyes Station, phone 415.663.1223. “Inspired by Patterns” runs through September 2, 2014.
“Rock Printing,” portrait of Sam Rockowitz, father of Murray Rockowitz, in his print shop, an old iron front building, in downtown Rochester, adjacent the Genesee River. 2014 marks Murray Rockowitz’s 25th year in business as a photographer. Of course, he’s been a photographer most of his life. 15.25 x 15.25 inch Selenium toned gelatin silver print, 1981, twin lens Rollei. Image: courtesy Murray Rockowitz
Saturday, August 2nd from 3 to 5 pm, Aqus Café — artist reception for Petaluma photographer and Digital Grange guru, Joseph McDonald, showing recent work, and Petaluma photographer, Murray Rockowitz, showing “People and their Work.” Aqus Café is located at Petaluma’s Foundry Wharf, 189 H Street, Petaluma, phone 707.778. 6060.
ARThound 