The 2011 Project is a work by San Francisco artist Tofu. Each day in 2011 he created a 4”x4” mixed media piece. The finished project was made up of 365 smaller mixed media pieces. In 2013 the individual pieces will be distributed to project supporters. The project also acted as sketchbook for new ideas, which continue to be incorporated into new work For more information please visit 2011project.com
It usually happens a little earlier in August but at least the summer is over and the summer has begun. The fog summer is easing up and the hot summer can start. Today there were even blue skies at the Legion of Honor. It’s always nice to head out there for a little inspiration. The current “big” show of 17th Century Dutch painting was all about the sky as well. In a land of a featureless flat landscape, Dutch artists are always forced to play up the sky – and they did a good job of it 400 years ago. Adding drama where there might not have been all that much.
Sandia was one of the first words I learned in Spanish. It’s easy to remember and one of my favorite flavors of aqua fresca. I even make my own lime-watermelon aqua fresca at home. I also learned the word sandia from lotería cards. As it is a watermelon (or sandia) time of year and I knew the 2011 Project needed a summery piece dedicated to the most summery of fruits.
Recently I found a museum catalog from a show about lotería cards in Sioux City Art Center in 2005. I wish I had seen that show, but Iowa is not the type of place I get to. I wait for Leslie Hall to tour. The catalog is real find and I have now learned more than I imagined about lotería cards. Among other things, the image of the watermelon, la sandia, is important because of the colors red, white and green, the colors of the Mexican flag. The ubiquitous sandia in Mexican art is more than just about an appreciation of the fruit.
When I see images of watermelon, my reaction has always been summer. For Mexicans and Mexican-Americans there is an extra meaning in a slice of fruit that represents the national colors. America just doesn’t have a good red, white and blue fruit. But then again, the American identity is defined by being a mix of different people from many diverse places. We might be best represented by a salad with colorful fruit from all over the world.
The rule is simple — If you kids can behave, you’ll get ice cream.
The company picnic is one of those vanishing traditions. It goes back to the days when employers still took a paternal attitude towards employees and kept many of them until retirement. I have mostly worked for smaller companies, but even had I worked for large employers, I still doubt I ever would have had the opportunity to go to a company picnic.
In my collection of collage fodder I have a Standard Oil employee magazine from 1940. There is a whole spread on the two, annual employee picnics they held. One picnic was down at Tejon Ranch and one for the Bay Area employees at the Rod and Gun club at the refinery in Point Richmond. The Rod and Gun Club was a large recreation area that included swimming pools and gyms for the workers at Standard Oil’s refinery. The images in the 1940 magazine have a bit of time capsule quality to them. The 1940 picnic was the last one before the U.S. entered Word War II. Very quickly everything changed in Richmond. A company town became a booming city almost overnight as workers poured into the Bay Area for the war effort.
This is the time of the year when we are reminded that San Francisco is a different place. In a different country called America it is hot and summery. Friends and family there start complaining about the heat. They are either are incredulous, annoyed or both when we casually mention putting the heat on here n San Francisco. Our summer rule is never leave the house without layers, lots of layers.
For all those folks cooking away in America, it’s time for something summery like a frozen dessert. The manual from a 1950’s Coldstar Refrigerator has all sorts of recipes for “delicious” frozen treats. Every desert seems to involve jello. Snow pudding calls for gelatin, sugar, and beaten egg whites. One of these days, when I am feeling particularly ambitious, I’ll have to host a dinner party only using vintage, 1950’s recipes.
