Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Via ActionNewsSF, you might search to find a KGO-TV bit covering the traffic-disrupting venting steam pipe at McAllister and Larkin today – it’s more steam than usual, that’s for sure.
But this area of Civic Center right in front of our Asian Art Museum (this year, it’s Shanghai) is basically steaming all the time, right?
HC SVNT DRACONES:
Click to expand.
This intersection is usually steaming, unless it’s flooding. Like this:
via Lulu Vision
Oh well.
As per usual, it all happens on (or near) McAllister Street, Gateway to the Golden Gate Park Panhandle and home of the Snickerdoodle bike path (Route 20), your best way of getting over Alamo Heights while avoiding the abysmal, Hayes Valley NIMBY-designed Octavia Boulevard 24-7 traffic scrum.
Tags: 20, 7, alamo heights, art of the city, asian art museum, bicycle, bike, boulevard, broken, channel, civic center, cover, crosswalk, ctiy hall, cyclists, department, dept., disrupt, disruption, dpw, dragons be here, flodding, flood, hayes valley, HC SVNT DRACONES, Here Be Dragons, hic sunt dracones, hill, intersection, kgo, larkin, macallister, manhole, market, nimby, octavia, octavia boulevard, pass, path, pipe, public works, repair, report, restaurant, route, San Francisco, shanghai, snick, snickerdoodle, soluna, Steam, steaming, street, tc, traffic, vent, venting, water
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Thursday, February 18th, 2010
These days, if you don’t have young people and DJs mingling about your museum on Thursday or Friday nights, you isn’t a museum. So, just as the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park has NightLife and the de Young has Friday Nights at the de Young, our Asian Art Museum has nighttime MATCHA. And, bonus, if you go tonight, February 18th, 2010, you can also see Shanghai.
“2010 is the Year of the Tiger! MATCHA kicks off the Lunar New Year and special exhibition Shanghai with dynamic tiger-style kung fu (martial art) demonstrated by Shaolin Temple USA monks. Each mode of Shaolin kung fu is associated with an animal, and in Chinese culture, the tiger is king and symbolizes bravery. Its kung fu style involves footwork, acrobatic kicks, and unique fist positions, relying solely on internal power, simplicity, and explosive force. The evening also includes art activities (make your own good luck poster), Shanghai dumplings available for purchase in the museum cafe, cash bars, music by DJ Friendly Traveler, docent conversations, gallery tours of SHANGHAI, and mingling and merriment with friends!”
See you there.
The “fourth room” of the Shanghai exhibit:
“See SHANGHAI in its opening week. This epic exhibition explores, through the mirror of its art, the tumultuous history that has resulted in one of the world’s most dynamic and cosmopolitan cities.
Don’t know what MATCHA is? Find out here
Wanna try to win tickets to MATCHA? Click here
Check it out, share with friends, and show your support on Facebook!
4:30-7 An Evening for Educators at MATCHA
5–9 DJ Friendly Traveler, Artmarking: Create a Good Luck Poster, Shanghai Dumplings (available for purchase in museum cafe), Cash Bars
6-6:30, 7-7:30 Docent Conversations: SHANGHAI
6:30 & 7:30 Shaolin Temple USA Monks: Tiger-style Kung Fu
8:00 Docent Conversations: Lunar New Year
Tags: 18th, 2010, arts, asian art museum, California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park, China, chinese, de Young, DJ Friendly Traveler, docent, dumplings, February, Friday Nights at the de Young, kung fu, kungfu, Lunar, martial, matcha, monks, new year, nightlife, nighttime, Northern California Chinese Culture Athletic Federation, shanghai, Shaolin, style, Temple, thursday, tiger, tiger-style, tonight, usa, year of the tiger
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Friday, February 12th, 2010
Well there was a huge turnout of 100+ souls attending the Asian Art Museum’s recent preview of Shanghai - the whole shebang opens today and runs through September 5th, 2010.
Part of the scrum in Samsung Hall the other day – wouldn’t you just love to get married in this Beaux Art chapel? Rentals available.
Now this isn’t any kind of lost treasures kind of exhibit, but it shows the progression of art in Shanghai over the years. This is from the first room:
Asian Art Museum
I’ll make a point to get in there and look at everything closely.
By the way, the massive paperback catalog /collector’s item they’re selling in the bookstore is amazing – it’s pretty cheap considering it weighs four pounds plus. (And Amazon is selling the hardback for $32.34 delivered.) It would seem to be a good way to get to know a bit about the most populous city in the most populous country in the world.
Or this, this video is a start.
See you there!
Tags: 2010, art, art of the city, asian, asian art museum, Assistant Curator, california, China, chinese, Curator, Dany Chan, Michael Knight, museum, San Francisco, shanghai
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Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Why did Shanghai, the largest city in China, become one of our 16 Sister Cities in 1979? Well, we should all thank former Mayor and current U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein:
“It was sort of a race between Los Angeles and San Francisco to establish a Sister City relationship with Shanghai and of course San Francisco won – and it was the first such Sister City relationship between an American city and a Chinese city.”
(Once again L.A. loses, of course(?) - thanks DiFi.) Now it turns out that our Big Sis is hosting a big party this year – it’s World Expo 2010. So, that’s a good excuse for a bunch of the Bay Area’s cultural organizations to represent, via the Shanghai Celebration featuring Honorary Chair and San Francisco First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
Jay Xu, Director of the Asian Art Museum, confronting a media scrum after today’s announcement:
Check out the calendar of upcoming events all related to the Paris of the East - it’s packed, baby. Swan Lake featuring San Francsico Ballet Principal Dancer and Shanghai native Yuan Yuan Tan will kick things off from January 23-31 and then on February 12th comes the debut of the cornerstone of the Shanghai Celebration, a big exhibit at our Asian Art Museum simply called Shanghai. It’s going to be mega.
Just ask Jay Xu:
“The 2010 World Expo that opens in May is Shanghai’s coming-out party, the official debut as the city reclaims its position as a global powerhouse. The Asian Art Museum’s Shanghai exhibition was timed to coincide with this prominent international event. Only through understanding its tumultuous history, can one truly understand the progressive and stylish Shanghai of today.”
O.K. then.
Our jet-setting mayor was on hand to cheerlead for San Francisco, a part of his job which I think everybody would agree he does well. He was dressed for rain today, with blue jeans, and a pair of brown shoes that he claimed were “ruined” by the wet:
More deets from the AAA:
“The Shanghai Celebration is an unprecedented, year-long festival presented by more than thirty San Francisco Bay Area organizations commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the sister city relationship between San Francisco and Shanghai.
Spearheaded by the Asian Art Museum, the Celebration runs throughout 2010, coinciding with the World Expo presented in Shanghai from May to October. The more than 50 Shanghai-related programs feature exhibitions, concerts, performances, films, lectures, book readings, artist demonstrations and other special events and cover topics such as Shanghai’s architecture, jazz, historic Jewish communities, Art Deco design, filmmaking industry, contemporary art, cuisine, high-rise urban planning and fashion.
The cornerstone of the Celebration is the Asian Art Museum’s presentation of Shanghai, a major exhibition examining the visual culture of one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities, scheduled for February 12-September 5, 2010.
For the Shanghai Celebration program calendar of events, and a list of participating organizations, please visit www.shanghaicelebration.com.”
Check the lengthy, lengthy sked, after the jump.
(more…)
Tags: 2010, American Jewish Committee, Anchee Min, angel island, Angela Au, architect, Architecture and Survival, art, Art Deco, Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Art Speak, Arts Commission, Arts of Pacific Asia, AsiaAlive, asian art museum, Assignment Shanghai, Ballet, Better City, Better Life, Birth of Jazz in Asia, botanical garden, building, Building Green in China, celebration, Chamber Music Concert, China, chinese, Chinese Jews of Kaifeng, city club, City Club Roundtable, comics, concert, Congregation Emanu-El, Conservatories, Contemporary Figurative Painting, Cultural Encounters, Dany Chan, de Young, Decorative Arts, documentary, dr., Drunken Dishes, East Meets West, Economica, Ellen Lou, Embroidery, Exhibition Opening, Eye of the Tiger, Fabric of Everyday life, Fall Antiques Show, Fall Antiques Show Preview Party Benefit, First Free Sunday, First Thursday Lecture Series, Forbidden City, Friday Nights, gala, Gavin, Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs, High-rise Architecture, Historically Sensitive Development in Shanghai, immigration, Immigration Station, jay xu, Jeff Heller, jennifer, Jews in Modern China, joan chen, Later Jewish Communities of Shanghai, Lehrhaus Judaica, Li Xiaofei, library, life, Lisa Claypool, lounge, Lunar New Year, Lunar New Year Flower Market, Lynn Marie Kirby, matcha, Mayor, Mint, Moderne and Modernity, Music at Meyer, Music Festival, Newsom, O Perspective, old, Old Mint Building, Open Books, Opening NIght Gala, Oregon Reed College, Past/Present/Future, Personal Stories and Reminiscences, Photographs on the Eve of Revolution, piano, Preview, professor, Propaganda Poster Art, public, reception, Recital, Remaking of China’s Gateway to the World, Renee Chow, SAA, San Francisco, san francisco ballet, San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, San Francisco Museum and Historical Society, Sandra Lee Gallery, shanghai, Shanghai 2010, shanghai celebration, Shanghai Connection, Shanghai Dress, Shanghai Film Series, Shanghai Jazz, Shanghai Painting, Shanghai’s Jews, Shuang Stella Zhang, siebel, sister city, Sisters, Society, society for asian art, spur, SPUR Urban Center, Station, stories, String Quartet, swan lake, Swinging Chinatown, target, Target First Free Sunday, U.S. Immigration Station, UC, uc berkeley, UC Berkeley Art Museum, urban center, Visual Narratives of Inter-War Shanghai, Women & the Global Economy, Xian Rui 2010, Yuan Yuan Tan
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Monday, June 8th, 2009
SF Citizen’s CitizenShip One was able to get up after the winds died down this past weekend, so enjoy a close-up view of the business end of the largest crane to ever hit the West Coast, the best coast. Maybe this bad boy will put and end to the delays and help get the eastern span of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge finished on (the revised, revised) schedule.
Click to expand:
The Left Coast Lifter is painted red white and blue reflecting the fact that it’s straight out of Shanghai, China. It can lift about 2000 tons (American short tons, the best kind).
Keep up the good work, LCL.
Tags: American Bridge, bay area, bay bridge, bridge, CalTrans, China, crane, earthquake, Fluor, lcl, left coast lifter, loma prieta, Oakland, quake, San Francisco, shanghai, versabar
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