Tag: Public Art

No Spectators

“No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man” is an exhibit currently running at the Oakland Museum of California in Oakland. The exhibit runs through February 16, 2020.

Treve with one of the Burning Man art pieces.

Burning Man had its origins in 1986 when Larry Harvey and Jerry James built a human effigy and burned it on a San Francisco beach. The fire drew a crowd of 35 people. Since then the event has moved to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, where it now draws over 70,000 people from all over the world.

An entire city rises out of the dust of the desert and provides a canvas for experimental art installations. Some of those art pieces along with a glimpse of the history and culture of Burning Man are on exhibit. Burning Man is governed by ten principles: Radical Inclusion, Gifting, Decommodification, Radical Self-reliance, Radical Self-expression, Communal Effort, Civic Responsibility, Leaving No Trace, Participation, and Immediacy.

  • Burning Man fashion
  • Ten Principles
  • Burning Man art

Having not been to Burning Man, I found the exhibit quite enlightening; I recommend it to anybody with an interest in culture, art and creativity.

The ultimate goal of Burning Man is to encourage the culture of creativity. -Marian Goodell

  • Burning Man temple
  • Burning Man art
  • Burning Man art

You can view more photos from the Oakland Museum exhibit here. Burning Man now has a network to facilitate and extend the culture that originates with the Burning Man event into the larger world.

If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. – Leonard Cohen

Halloween Paddle

Thursday, October 31, found me on the water again paddling with several of my BASK buddies. One of the members of the group, Steve, decided to embellish the map of our track. See the image below.

We launched from Point San Pablo Harbor. Point San Pablo is at the north end of San Francisco Bay, separating San Francisco Bay from San Pablo Bay. It’s also on the route for ships going up the Sacramento River. Once on the water we headed for deeper water out towards the shipping channel hoping to hitch a ride on the flood tide. At Point Pinole Regional Shoreline we found a beach where we landed for lunch.

  • Larry with his flamingo hat
  • BASK Thursday Halloween Paddle
  • BASK Thursday Halloween Paddle

We paddled in near-perfect conditions with little wind and smooth water. After lunch we gathered around to sing Happy Birthday to two members celebrating October birthdays, Susan and Jen.

On our return with the current still flooding we paddled closer to shore, taking advantage of an eddy to carry us back in the direction from which we came. Over the course of our paddle we covered 9.4 miles.

Back on the beach we put put our boats on our cars, changed out of our dry suits into our street clothes and gathered up at Nobilis restaurant for snacks and drinks. Point San Pablo Harbor is a sleepy little yacht harbor with a funky collection of houseboats and public art. While not on most people’s tourist roster, it’s worth the visit, even without a boat.

  • Our paddling group
  • Point San Pablo Harbor
  • Sailors beware

You can view more photos here and view the track and stats here.

Borrego Springs

On the evening of January 29 I decided I wanted to check out some of Ricardo Breceda’s sculptures, While Borrego Springs is notable for spring wildflowers in the surrounding desert, it’s also home to a collection of amazing sculptures, called the Metal Sky Art Sculptures. There are more than 130 sculptures here that represent everything from a 350 foot serpent that crosses the road, to dinosaurs and historical figures. I was hoping to find an opportunity to photograph a few of these on this trip. After a quick visit to a few of the sculptures the previous morning, I decided that afternoon or night time might afford some interesting photo opportunities. Our timing was a bit off though since we reached the serpent just as the shadows from the mountains were creeping across the valley floor. We only needed to wait a few minutes for sunset though which lit up the sky with color that seemed appropriate for a fiery serpent.

The sculptures were part of the vision of the late Dennis Avery, heir to the Avery Dennison label fortune and a self-made success on his own. Mr. Avery envisioned ‘free standing art’ on his property, Galleta Meadows Estates,. The steel welded sculptures were created by ‘Perris Jurassic Park’ owner/artist/welder Ricardo Breceda.

The sculptures are spread out around the north end of Borrego Springs. I had to search on-line for a map to help me locate them. They are all easily accessible and there is no fee to view them.

We noticed that bikes seemed to be quite popular in Borrego and I discovered a couple of places you can rent bikes including electric fat-tire bikes you can ride up the some of the sandy dirt roads. There are also tour operators that will take you on an off-road adventure.

You can view more photos here.

Lunch at the Albany Bulb

On Thursday, December 6, I managed to sneak away from my usual work routine for a paddle with some of my BASK buddies. We launched from Ferry Point in Richmond and paddled inside the breakwater of Brooks Island. 

  • Launching from Ferry Point

Then after letting some shipping traffic pass we crossed the channel and paddled through a break in the breakwater.

  • Richmond Waterfont
  • Richmond Shipping Channel
  • Paddling through a break in the breakwater

It’s only possible to paddle through the break on a very high tide.  High tide was 6.5 feet at 10:30 am, perfect for us to take a short cut. Once we were through the breakwater we paddled on the inside of Bird Island, where we were entertained by harbor seals and birds.

  • Rich and Bird Island

Once we were passed Brooks Island we set a course for the tip of the Albany Bulb landing at the end of the bulb under the watchful eye of the dragon, a public art sculpture. One of our members managed to stumble on a rock in the shallow water and banged his head on his boat. 

  • Landing on the Albany Bulb
  • Steve gets a bump on his head

After lunch we explored the artwork on the bulb. 

  • David finds a Friend
  • Public Art

  • Public Art

  • Public Art

  • Public Art

When we got ready to launch our boats again, what had been a sandy beach was now rocks. Our boats were left high and dry with the receding tide. We ended up carrying our boats a short distance to a better launch point and paddled back by way of the Richmond Inner Harbor to check out the new ferry terminal.

  • The New Ferry Terminal 
  • Under the Pier

Finding Photos in Your Own Backyard

tjp_1582_9459

I was out photographing a project for a client yesterday, and awestruck by this mural, painted on the side of a warehouse. I’m intrigued by murals, and it seems Oakland has a good share of murals and other public art. I’m continually reminded that I don’t have to go very far to look for photos. Mind you, my bucket list has plenty of places I’d like to visit, and sometimes I pine for the opportunity to travel and spend time in the natural environment that I love, but yesterday I left this photo shoot smiling, and happy to have discovered a an artistic treasure close to home.

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