The San Francisco Citizen

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:

Well, it appears this will be how B2b 2008 will be remembered:

“It’s often called the world’s longest party, but this year’s Bay to Breakers race through San Francisco was anything but fun for the residents, cops and public workers who bore the brunt of the drunken young “runners” who staggered around Golden Gate Park and the city’s west side, relieving themselves wherever it proved convenient.”

Imagine that!

Turkeybot ably captured a fine moment:

The Golden Gate Park Panhandle had far more than ten portajohns set up and waiting to go the night before the big race. But, Matier & Ross report that there were only ten there on the big day. Mmmm, how did that happen?

Speaking of the Panhandle, the half million dollar bathroom in the Panhandle was closed and surrounded by yellow police tape while racers were passing by during the early part of the day. Why was that?

This might have been the only place in Golden Gate park where people weren’t urinating. That’s all part of the Good, Bad, and Ugly of the longtime footrace. Most people had fun though, purported MUNI Meltdown or no.

See you next year!

You already know about the Good of B2B 2008. A good time was had by all.

But what about the Bad? Muni didn’t appear to be working very well north of Golden Gate Park in the afternoon following the big race. It wasn’t like all the buses were packed with people, it was like there didn’t seem to be any buses around at all throughout the Richmond. Must be tough to get drivers working on a Sunday.

And finally, the Ugly. Garbage everywhere, and more so than usual. Check the Flickr to see Drunken Douchebags Trash the Panhandle. Reopening Fell Street was such a chore that the DPW’s Mohammad Nuru called the cops to get some help.

Heading back uphill to the acme of the race course in Golden Gate Park (which is no where near Hayes Street Hill, the purported highest point on the race route): 

The cold dawn of day reveals a lot of trash still out there on the Streets of San Francisco. Maybe the people from Dutch financial institution and B2B sponsor ING could come down from their aerodynamic house and lend a hand with the cleanup? Just asking.

Hopefully, things will go more smoothly next year. Speaking of which… 

See you next year!

[The Panhandle is much cleaner now around 11:00 AM Monday morning. Yay.]

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