I lost track of the beginning of this year. It just felt like a continuation of 2020. So I was alarmed to see that I hadn’t blogged since December 2020.
The season has changed though and I have been deeply enjoying the prolonged California spring. Life will never return to “normal” but it feels like we are in the midst of a transition from pre-vaccine to post. From last spring to this spring.
Unrealistic assumptions (this will be over soon) combined with fear, anger, confrontation, illness, death, and hopelessness are shifting into a different phase that feels more positive. We know we have all changed since pre-Covid. Now we are sorting out how life might be on the other side. As we sift through what we’ve learned and experienced during Covid – such as increased appreciation of nature; being less busy; being quieter and more present; and appreciating where we live while we can’t travel – we try to hold onto the best parts while easing back into increasing our in-person interactions.
In February I was fully vaccinated and I’ve been so relieved and eager for friends and family to be vaccinated too. I don’t feel safe planning trips requiring flights just yet. Transitions are tough to navigate. But I am eager to be back indoors at galleries, museums, and art fairs. I even made my first post-Covid vaccination trip into the desert.
ROAD TRIP: PALM SPRINGS
The sky and the pool area outside of a home we toured at Modernism Week in Palm Springs. People said it was unusually hot and humid but for us it was all a novelty. Since I live in a narrow range of temperatures most changes are refreshing.
MODERNISM WEEK
It was our first chance to get out town for longer than a day. Fully vaccinated and wanting a drastic change of scenery, Palm Springs was calling. A friend had just moved there too, so we got to visit and see the sites with her. She just opened a shop there too, so check it out if you go! Preview her gorgeous Italian linens at Talini Home.
It was so much fun to mingle with art and design loving people! Palm Springs is a mecca for both. The area’s midcentury style is right up my alley (I live in a 1959 house in SF) and it brings back fond memories of my childhood in the 1960s.
This house had a few outrageous pieces, like this feathered lamp.
DESERT X
Driving around in an air conditioned car was a delightful and easy way to navigate a handful of the outdoor sites comprising Desert X.
This “N” is a portion of an art installation within the stunning cactus landscape of Sunnylands. The title is Women’s Qualities by Ghada Amer and large-scale words are spelled out in steel planter boxes with plants inside (below). Possibly best viewed from above for the full affect, this was still a delightful place to relax and get refreshed. It’s a home, art center, retreat, and garden.
Desert X runs through May 16. We also visited Serge Attukwei Clottey’s installation, The Wishing Well made of recycled yellow plastic water containers; Galanin’s Indian Land; Myer’s The Art of Taming Horses; Simmons’ Because You Know Ultimately We Will Band A Militia; and Stringfellow’s Jackrabbit Homestead.
Serge Attukwei Clottey’s The Wishing Well is made of recycled plastic water containers woven together into structures and platforms at Desert X.
JOSHUA TREE & NOAH PURIFOY
This powerful piece of installation art (below left) is one of 100’s created in this “outdoor desert art museum” created by the late Noah Purifoy. Many works are strong statements about racial inequity. See more here.
Hard to see in my shot but on the left the sign says “white” and on the right, “colored”.
Photographed at Noah Purifoy’s outdoor museum where even the plants look special.
HOT WEATHER & COLD DRINKS
Palm Springs enjoys a sensational cocktail culture so reminiscent of its midcentury modernist roots. This is THE place to eat, drink, shop, and lounge by the pool, surrounded by sparkling green irrigated grass and a desert-mountain landscape. Add art and design to the mix, with friendly people, and all this makes it a great getaway.
I had this cocktail at a Palm Springs restaurant then I made it myself. It’s sort of a Gimlet but with fresh lime, cucumber, basil, and vodka. Like a trip to a spa in a glass.
Cocktail aesthetics always improve with a fresh pansy floating on top.
ART EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS
SEEN X UNSEEN
The Invisibility Collective extended our December 2020 exhibition, Seen X Unseen, into January 2021. But Covid surging continued and our audience was extremely limited. Here are my floor-to-ceiling printed chiffon panels in my series, See Through Us, which occupied most of the second floor loft at Radian Gallery (SF).
FEBRUARY, MARCH & APRIL
SF CITY ART COOP GALLERY
I began feeling hopeful about people re-emerging from their cocoons after the winter. Covid vaccines were becoming available and my seniority was for once an advantage, and I was able to get fully vaccinated in February. So I secured a wall space to show my work in February, March and April at City Art Coop Gallery in the Mission (SF).
Here I am in February at City Art Gallery wearing one of my RedBubble tops with my drawings of model Titania across the front. The piece above my head (left - magenta and purple), Swinging Through Summer was just purchased.
April is my last spring show at City Art Gallery and then I’ll take a break. The piece in the center (sunset colors), SF Neighborhood series: Woman Rising, was just sold this month.
During March at City Art Gallery I showed a selection of my digital original collages including four my Word series, a collage of Golden Gate Park’s Casting Pools combined with a model drawing of Lael (lower left), and new works on paper mounted on wood (lower right).
SFWA
In March for Women’s History Month I conceived and hosted the gallery’s first zoom Artist’s Talk with Juror, Hillary Olcott, a curator at the DeYoung Museum. She was great to work with and really made the event a success. Now I must learn to edit video to share these Zoom talks.
The March exhibition at SFWA was themed Patterns & Symmetry. My piece in the show is titled Midcentury Woman. She’d look perfect in Palm Springs!
Barbie on the Cusp series: Her Pinkness, is a fine art photographic diptych which is shown here printed on metal. It’s hanging at SFWA for the Spring 2021 Member’s exhibition.
Here’s my photo of a Burmese grate overlooking the city of Yangon, Burma. It was juried into the April “Scapes” exhibition at SFWA.
NATHALIE FABRI COLLABS: The Mission Kiss & The Naked Truth
This heart of mine (an actual painting on wood) is one of many painted hearts hanging in the SF Mission for the second Mission Kiss, an art project produced by Nathalie Fabri.
MY NAKED TRUTH
Draped in my art installation See Through Me was created for the Seen X Unseen exhibition produced by The Invisibility Collective at Radian Gallery, SF, in Dec 2020-Jan 2021.
Nathalie asked a number of artists of all stripes to join her in this social media project and post a black and white “naked” photo of ourselves with a personal and artistic statement about our work during Covid. I wrote this:
As a figurative artist who is used to drawing live models in person on a regular basis, the pandemic led me to discover new ways to satisfy my need to keep up my drawing while supporting the life model community. I did not expect to enjoy drawing virtually but it turns out that I love it and as a bonus, it’s like virtual travel since I’ve been attending sessions held all around the world.
Model-led sessions are a fairly recent development in my experience, but drawing groups have been a part of my art practice for a very long time. Both types of groups are helping models survive under impossible circumstances. In addition to zoom model drawing sessions I attend my regular drawing group virtually. Twice a week I draw fellow artists’ heads and hands as we take turns posing. As a result of these Covid-inspired virtual sessions, I’ve gotten to know more artists, see their newly created work, meet models, and maintain my art practice. At the same time I was discovering the world of virtual drawing I was feeling a greater need to connect with artists to delve into a subject that has plagued me for a long time, and people seemed to be more available than usual. I began a series of bi-coastal conversations and together we formed The Invisibility Collective, which organized a year-end gallery exhibition in San Francisco. These powerful and enduring outcomes wouldn’t have happened without the pandemic.
See more of Nathalie’s Naked Truth Project.
ART AUCTION SEASON
Juried into the Artspan Annual Fundraising Auction this month, “Happy Yet Sad” went to the highest bidder. Congrats to Artspan for a very successful virtual event.
SFWA will hold a fundraiser auction of juried art in May, so please plan to place your bids! Mark your calendar for May 22 - 29 to contribute to our organization’s critical fundraising event.
GRACE OF NO AGE
I continue to contribute articles to this international and bilingual (English + Spanish) website and invite you to explore the many articles written by women (goddesses) from around the world. Follow us on social media! Here’s my latest article. See all of our links here.
If you hurry over to 24th and Shotwell by Wise Sons Deli my heart painting might still be there. It could be yours – even though the art walk is past – there are still hearts left hanging and they need homes!
MORE CHALLENGES
How do we keep up our artistic momentum? During this transitional time – with light at the end of the tunnel – I am tasking myself with assignments like the Sumi Ink / Woman Warrior drawing project I’ve put off for too long. Pulling back from my dependence on my iPad as my primary art-making tool I want to work differently, so I am making myself draw a model with ink on paper every day.
I’m still enjoying Zoom life drawing sessions as much as ever but had a chance to draw in a studio in person last night and that was a thrill.
Gesture drawings of model Titania.
WHAT’S NEXT?
May will be a quiet month of recovery from shoulder surgery on my dominant arm, so if I can draw, it’ll have to be left-handed.
I will still have new work showing in a number of places both online and at physical locations. See my piece in SFWA’s Spring Forward, which is all online. Check out my photo art, Wall of Faces. I took a number of shots from different angles and directions then combined them into this photo montage.
I am captivated by walls. This photo montage is titled Japan series: Wall of Faces.
Check out the SFWA gallery in-person to see the May show, Collage & Mixed Media (my piece is below), part of World Collage Day.
Fractured Alluris, a digital original collage, was juried into the SFWA May collage exhibition.
JUNE - JULY OPEN STUDIO
During the second month of my recuperation starting in June I will begin hosting my own Open Studio at 680 8th Street in SF’s SoMa. (Sobel Design Building). At my studio I have a good-sized gallery space as well as a separate work space. You’ll be able to see how I work and buy directly from me. You can browse my large inventory of art books, cards, original drawings, photographs, and prints.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Contact me at SRKirshenbaum@gmail.com or text me at 415-425-3632 to visit me. My visiting ours will be Mon-Sat, from noon-3pm. There’s ample parking on all sides of the Sobel Design Building.
THE INVISIBILITY COLLECTIVE
We continue our monthly zoom conversations and have added an every other month feature of an invited guest to participate. Watch for upcoming events and another group exhibition in December 2021. Follow us on social media! The Invisibility Collective. Art can and does activate change.