Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Victory is yours... if you're hungry

(an inspiring pitstop from my recent trip to LA)


The Victory Gardens so widespread during WWI and WWII are having a modern resurgence-- and a modern re-interpretation.    Urban organic gardens are popping up all over our city, as a way to reconnect with the land, a way to foster self-reliance in an ever-unstable economy, and a way to utilize public and private space to provide local, sustainable organic produce and reduce the food miles associated with the average American meal.

There are several community gardens in the city where yard-less urbanites can have access to a plot of soil on which to plant, tend and nurture greenery.
San Francisco Garden Resource Organization has a directory of all the Community Gardens in the city.

Also check out SF Victory Gardens, an amazing citywide project in which 15 households are chosen as sites for urban gardens, in an effort to create a city-wide mini farm of sorts.  These households will be welcoming expert Garden Teams into their yards/porches/windowboxes/etc., in order to ready them to yield abundant produce right here in the city, with crops assigned according to the various growing conditions of the sites chosen.  The fruits of their labors will be collected and re-distributed throughout the city as part of an urban CSA box.

Last but not least, check out the blossoming Victory Garden in the sprawling front yard of our very own City Hall.  Tended lovingly by SlowFoodNation volunteers, this ambitious garden will provide organic produce for local food banks, in an effort to get quality organic food to those who would otherwise be unlikely to acquire it.

Happy planting!

Gillian

Thursday, July 10, 2008

SF Events about town

A friend recently pointed out that we have a habit of posting pictures of events after the fact instead of letting our readers in on the fun. Since there are an abundance of fun events this weekend we thought we’d list a few:
  • Home: New work by Julia Rothman and Caitlin Keegan at Rare Devices. The opening is tonight from 7-10pm. Guests who participate in this jumpsuit themed event get 20% off all merchandise.
  • The 13th annual Silent Film Festival runs Friday July 11th –Sunday July 13th. We stumbled upon this event last year and were blown away by the live musical accompanists.
Musical highlights this year include Bay Area ensemble the Baguette Quartette, who specialize in Parisian dance hall music of the 1920s and will be making their festival debut with comedy provocateur RenĂ© Clair’s LES DEUX TIMIDES (Two Timid Souls, 1928).

  • Renegade Craft Fair at the Fort Mason Center this weekend July 12th and 13th from 11am-7pm. Contributors include: Art School Dropout, Betsy Ply, 3 Fish Studios, Caralyndon and many more renegade crafters from across this industrious country of ours.
  • Local handmade guru Minnie Wilde hosts a summertime sale with other local designers turk + Taylor, Tinc, and Alma at El Rio (3158 Mission Street) this Saturday July 12th from 4-7pm. 21+ no cover.
  • Bambuddha Lounge hosts Stellar: SF Fashion Awards Show. Over the past few months, local fashionistas have nominated their favorite designers, style bloggers and models – winners to be announced Sunday July 13th from 3-11pm. DJ commodore 69 will be mixing electro-rock favorites.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Quantum Physics in your Living Room

Created for British furniture company Meta, the Ivo_03 table was conceived for "Atmospherics", a gallery exhibition of object architecture by Asymptote's founder, Hani Rashid.  Based on his series of M-Scapes, or Motionscapes, the table's base is made of a single piece of diamond-faceted Tula steel.  The shape's undulations are mathematically projected to convey allusions to both the technological and the organic, as well as convey a sense of motion in a still object.  I love the way the Ivo_03's curves suggest to the viewer that the utility of modern technology and the beauty of the natural world are inextricably linked, in today's increasingly high-tech world more than ever.

--gillian

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The way I feel's contextual...


"With fashion or photography, I always tried to start with depicting the topography that gives context to a subject."
--Hedi Slimane (former art director for YSL, Dior) 

-gillian