“Spirit of the Arts,” an iconic mural on the face of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts on Mission Street near 25th Street has been restored and will be rededicated with a celebration tonight. From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., dancers and speakers including the Mixcoatl Aztec Dancers, District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen and MCCLA Director Jennie Rodriguez will...
Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, a 40-year-old arts organization based in the Mission District, is celebrating its history and the culture of street art with a film festival exploring the mural art from. From sociopolitical commentary to biographical fiction, the five films in the program explore the stories and motivations behind murals. The festival will be held at the Grand Theater,...
It’s time for MAPP, the Mission Arts Performance Project, when spaces around the neighborhood are opened up to the public and come alive with performances. This month, the organizers want to demonstrate their solidarity and the city’s role as a sanctuary, declaring that “The Mission will melt I.C.E. through our sanctuary & solidarity.” Venues around the neighborhood including bookstores, art galleries,...
Last Friday, 60 people shared a meal, but no one could see what they were eating. All sat blindfolded at the dinner table in a Mission District basement, where they could feel, with their hands, a steamer in front of them, a jar of water, a pile of napkins, and not much else. They had come for a “dinner in...
A circle of ceramic flowers now hangs above the 23rd Street entrance to Buena Vista Horace Mann, symbolizing the unity of the school’s community. After a year of divisive political rhetoric aimed at immigrants, the teachers and parents at San Francisco’s first public Spanish-English immersion school hoped creating the work of art would send its students a powerful message: They...
A bit of sunlight brought crowds out to the sidewalks of the Mission on Sunday to watch performers stationed in front of the neighborhood’s murals in “Baile en la Calle: The Mural Dances,” a recurring performance program, now in its fifth year, from Brava Theater Center and the Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center. Featuring Antoine Hunter & His Urban Jazz Dance...
Before a former motorcycle workshop becomes a multi-story housing development, it will be home to a pop-up arts and design shop called “Parlor.” The developers of a mixed-use project planned for 235 Valencia Street at Clinton Park are sponsoring an arts and design pop-up at the site, which they describe as “Part community living room, part art house, and part greenhouse.” The collection will feature...
Photographer Michael Johnson captured these lowriders outside the launch party for The Mission last Thursday and remarked: “Woman lowriders are very few and far between, but these two have got the cars and the cred.”
In the bruising tumult of San Francisco’s housing crisis, Paul Madonna’s On to the Next Dream is the absurdist balm to soothe your sore and weary soul. Madonna is an artist who for 12 years had a drawing and short essay series called All Over Coffee in the San Francisco Chronicle. You might more immediately recognize him by his detailed...
The sites of catastrophic fires that displaced dozens of residents and several businesses at 22nd and 29th streets along Mission Streethave been adorned with poetic signage. Alliteration-heavy poetry is printed on signs that look like an office notice from the city. By the first paragraph, however, it’s clear something subversive and non-bureaucratic is happening here: “This marsh was built by captain...
In a burst of color and poetry, a new book of photography and writing called The Mission will enter the literary scene at the Grand Theater tonight. The Mission‘s focus is on the community murals the neighborhood is known for, photographed by Richard Evans, but also delves deeper than their artistic surfaces. With poetry and musings from important artistic and literary figures in...
Years after flyers around the Mission announced the production of a television series chronicling the tech life in the Mission District, “94110” has apparently made its online debut, Capp Street Crap reports. The casting call flyers caused quite a stir, but nearly 100 hopefuls attended the audition. At the time, producers insisted the show was a serious television program about techies living in the Mission....
Artists throughout the Mission will open their studios to visitors this weekend, April 1 and 2. From individual studios like Talavera Ballon at 25th and Guerrero to large art complexes like the Pacific Felt Factory, a staggering variety of work will be open to the public from noon to 6 p.m. At the Pacific Felt Factory, artists will also be...
Returning to 24th Street this Saturday is Paseo Artistico – a free art crawl that will enliven the 24th Street corridor from Valencia Street to Potrero Avenue with song, art and film. Activities for the event will kick off at 11 a.m. at the Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center. In celebration of Women’s History Month, participants are invited to embark on a bilingual, guided mural...
If you do a double take when you pass the giant letters spelling out “Home Street Home” on Folsom Street, that’s exactly what artist Brian Singer, the man behind the piece, wants. “There’s a lot of homelessness [here]. Over time we’ve become desensitized to it,” Singer said. Singer is known for outdoor art with a message, from his billboard campaign calling...
