Books
Ruth Asawa’s Life and Legacy, in Both Art and Education
Marilyn Chase’s new biography sheds light on Asawa’s contributions to San Francisco’s public schools and its artistic community at large.
San Francisco
News
Furloughed SFMOMA Staff Ask Director to Draw Salary of Zero to Retain Workers
The museum received a $6.2 million federal loan, lifting its staff furlough through June 30, but the petition’s authors emphasize that management has not yet addressed demands to support staff long-term.
Announcement
YBCA Presents Come to Your Census: Who Counts in America?
Join the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts online as they develop programming committed to offering the Bay Area inspiration and hope around the 2020 US Census.
Film
Quintessential Movies About California, From Its Paradises to Its Paradoxes
This week, we have a roundup of great movies made in, set in, and/or otherwise about California, the home of the American film industry.
News
Renowned San Francisco Art Institute Is Closing Due to Rocky Finances
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, students learned that the institution does not plan to reopen in the fall.
Art
Four Decades of Dawoud Bey
Bey does not simply document Black life, but Black existence in a nation-state built upon the creation and maintenance of our subjugation.
News
In San Francisco, a Panel Defends Controversial WPA Mural at George Washington High School
On Washington’s birthday, artists, community and Native American leaders, curators, and more talked about why Victor Arnautoff’s “Life of Washington” murals should remain.
Art
Mike Henderson, a Bay Area Pioneer, on His Evolution Through Abstraction
The painter and musician moved West in 1965 to attend the San Francisco Art Institute — the only desegregated art institute at the time. Currently featured in the traveling Soul of a Nation, he continues to make ambitious work.
Art
Gloriously Defiant Expressions of Cultures Perceived as Threatening to the West
At Southern Exposure in San Francisco, South Asian, Southwest Asian, and North African artists evoke the challenges they face in celebrating their cultural origins.
Music
Remembering Patrick Cowley, Pioneer of Dance Music and Occasional Composer of Porn Soundtracks
Melding psychedelia with disco at a fast tempo, Cowley helped refine a new music genre, "Hi-NRG,” which seemed ideal to enhance the hot and sweaty vibe of San Francisco’s gay clubs.
Art
An Archive Reveals a Troubling Picture of Late-19th-Century California
At the California Historical Society, paintings of the state’s beautiful vistas are shown alongside archival materials revealing a more brutal history of displacement, discrimination, and murder.
Art
An Art Film Created With Middle Schoolers in Mind
Artist Nicole Miller sees her film To the Stars as being about potential: “I want the kids to feel like they are part of the narrative of what it means to be an astronaut or a brilliant thinker.”