The San Francisco Citizen

This is Wednesday, so that means they’re already preparing for another Friday Night at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. This week’s effort will include Rolando Morales and AudioBus. Per Rolando:

Friday nights at the De Young are a happening place: the whole museum is open to 8:45 and they feature music, film, dance, poetry, tours, etc. Tonight will feature the Rolando Morales Group with the amazing bassist for Airto, Gary Brown; from Nicaragua, the great Latin percussionist/vocalist Danilo Paíz; the wonderful keyboardist from Spearhead, Bob Crawford; from Brazil, the great drummer from Steve Winwood and Airto, Celso Alberti; and Rolando Morales leading the journey on guitar, guitar synthesizer and vocals.

And AudioBus? Well, they’ve got two “trips” scheduled for the night but they appear to be sold out now. You can always show up early and try to become a  stand-by fare. ”Human Street Textures” is the theme for this bus.

This whole Night at the Museum thing is quite lively, attracting folks who aren’t heavy museum goers. Here’s what it looked like last week:

Refreshments!

Dancing!

Chihuly! An evening docent tour, check the schedule to when they offer this.   

Kid-friendly activities:

And they had packed house to hear a lecture about Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and a few other topics from William Maynez, mural historian at City College of San Francisco:

See you there!

Oh mercy! San Francisco Chronicle Art Critic Kenneth Baker’s “empty virtuosity” review of “Chihuly at the de Young” sparked a bit of a controversy. So much so, that Ken is back for another go with “Unfavorable ‘Chihuly’ review sparks emotions.”

1.Ken makes it abundantly clear he feels “Chihuly’s baubles” do not merit a major museum show, but of course that didn’t stop him from checking out the exhibit. Here’s what he says about a reader who feels exactly the same way:

“One sensible reader found a middle path: He agreed with me that Chihuly’s baubles do not merit a major museum show, but found it useful to figure out for himself why, through firsthand experience.”

So, if you agree with Baker 100%, he’ll label you a “sensible” reader. O.K., fine. Does Mr. Baker really not want you to see this show? Not even for free on Target Weekend back when we had the chance? We should take our 15 bones and go see Saw IV instead? Really?

2. Comes now another Reader:

“Yet another, though she deplored my effort to discourage people from seeing the show, described how she came to see the emptiness of Chihuly’s work on her own - after three visits.”

People people people, now who told you to see this show three times? Everybody should see it once - how’s that for unsolicited advice? (Thankfully, Kenny Boy didn’t write, “You see, you philistine, I was right and you were wrong!”)

3. Remember KB’s ”effort to discourage people from seeing the show” - forget all that: 

“As a practical matter, nothing I or any other critic can say will slow the juggernaut of Chihuly’s success. In all likelihood, as experience suggests, such a damning review will bring more people, not fewer, to the exhibition.”

Please don’t try to reconcile the quotes from above - it will just give you a headache.

4.But wait! Here, straight out of WTF-land, an attack on teh Internet bloggers. Apropos of nothing in particular, we get this: 

“Does the art public need critics, specialists, to help it sort these struggles out? Yes. It truly is a full-time job. Bloggers cannot - at any rate, do not - get it done.”

Daily delivery of the Chronicle’s dead tree editions (which isn’t going to last forever) is really the only thing keeping Ken from becoming a blogger. Would Ken make a good blogger? Sure, why not? Said Sally Field: “You like me, you really like me!”  Says Ken Baker: “You need me, you really need me!”

Could there be some people with views more nuanced than Ken’s? Like this one? At least one blogger cries foul. Another says Ken is “wrong about bloggers.” Uh oh.

You should check out the Chihuly show to see what all the fuss is about, right? To make that easier on you:

Extended Hours for Chihuly at the de Young. Beginning Saturday, August 2, Chihuly at the de Young will extend its weekend hours to accommodate the large crowds that have come to see the exhibition. An extra hour will be added on Saturdays and Sundays for the rest of the run of the exhibition, with the last ticket sold for 5:15 pm entry and the galleries open until 6:15.

Well, let’s end this strife. For your consideration:

Click to expand.

See you there!

The first two days of ChihulyPalooza in Golden Gate Park were well attended, despite the admonishment of New Republic Art Critic Jed Perl:

Everybody rushes to the Museum of Modern Art and the De Young, two overblown buildings with sporadically important collections, while the most beautiful museum in the city–the Legion of Honor, in which masterpieces by Watteau, Le Nain, and Seurat have been given a thrillingly elegant installation- -is hardly ever mentioned.

Well, consider the Legion mentioned, Mr. Perl. Now on with the show:

Director John Buchanan speaking with Dale Chihuly earlier at the preview. Click to expand:

Let’s head outside to see the spectacle in front of the museum. A man controlling his metallic fire animals obscured by propane gas:

The Crucible’s Educational Response Vehicle. Have anvil, will travel:

The thrill of sending a plume of fire skyward the first time:

A bed of nails with a fretful ballerina on top:

And inside the museum, cherubs everywhere:

See you there!

John Buchanan, Director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, calls it “Chihulypalooza.” Dale himself says that he and Team Chihuly “went all out” to put on Chihuly at the de Young. This thing is huge. It’s the Largest Show He’s Ever Done.

Strike a pose. Dale Chihuly in front of Neodymium Reeds

It all starts Saturday. This weekend is called Chihuly Opening Weekend Sponsored by Target. So admission will be free. But things will get start getting hectic on Saturday so be sure to check out the rules.

You might even be tempted to sign up for a Participating or Family Membership just for the perks. (It’s cheaper than you’d expect and about half the cost of similar memberships at the soon to be completed California Academy of Sciences.)

Download the MP3 (or even a picture enabled M4A) to hear all about it, or wait and then pay a small fee for the Antenna Audio Tour.

The Schedule of Events. On both Saturday and Sunday, you’ll be able to see: 

The Crucible’s Educational Response Vehicle (stations will be set up near and around the vehicle showcasing demonstrations of blacksmithing, arc welding, glass flame working and oxy-acetylene torch cutting - plus they will be pouring bronze!), the Von Stilt Family stilt walkers, and the Chihuly at the Hot Shop documentary.

For Saturday only, you’ll be able to see:

Sideshow Spectacular by $teve Ra$pa Productions (DJ Neon Bunny, extreme jugglers, contortionists, acrobatics, hula hoops, and musical saws and accordions), Japonize Elephants (ten-piece musical ensemble includes glockenspiel, junk percussion, and accordion, along with guitar, bass, flute, saxophone, trumpet, fiddle, banjo, and vocals), and they’ll be hands-on art activities for the entire family, including Texture Tower, Color Collage, and Undersea World Creatures.

And on Sunday, you’ll be able to see:

Blue Monk Combo (jazz ensemble of recent graduates from San Rafael High School), Space Heater Blast Furnace (a combination of woodwind melodies and harmonies with noisy, machine funk), Bellow and Pluck: Rich Kuhns and Seward McCain (an eclectic combo of jazz, tango, Latin styles, and the occasional Beatles selection), Fishtank Ensemble (a unique blend of Gypsy, Balkan, Flamenco, Klezmer, and original tunes), Loop!Station: Robin Coomer and Sam Bass (live sampling and looping), Gregangelo and Velocity Circus, Les Aerials: Trapeze Arts, Foo Foo Ha! (mini circus vignettes and dance routines), Musical Chanteusse Nicolette (performance, side show artist Herbie Hatman entertains with body deyfying feats), Dale Chihuly presenting a one-hour talk about his life’s work with an introduction by Timothy Anglin Burgard, Ednah Root Curator-in-Charge of the American Art Department (tickets no longer available, sorry), and the day will end with book signing with Dale himself).

See you there!

The eleven rooms, in order. Almost all the things here are much taller than you are - they’re huge.  

Click to expand: 

Room 1: Glass Forest 3, milk-glass and neon: 

Room 2:

Room 3, Persian Wall:

Room 4, Tabac baskets plus Pendletons:

Room 5:

Room 6, Neodymium Reeds: 

Room 7, Float Boats:

Room 8, Five Chandeliers: Ruby Red, Turquoise Icicle, Orange Hornet and Eelgrass, Chiostro di Sant’ Apollonia, and Palazzo de Loredana Balboni:

Room 9:

The view of Room 11 from Room 10 (the installation you can see through the doorway is 18 yards long):

Room 10, ceiling, looking up:

Room 11, Mille Fiori:

Dale Chihuly is sending some art our way. This is going to be a huge show. Get ready