Dances for Camera - 2014

For the fourth year in a row we are so pleased to bring you a selection of films that screened at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival last year.  This year our program coincides with the opening of the Bay Area National Dance Week (April 25 - May 4).

This year we will be screening the dance documentary A History of Dance on Screen by Reiner Moritz from 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.  After a brief intermission we will show a selection of screen-dance short films, which include Aloft, Waterdrops, Outside In, Dervishes, White, Well Contested Sites and Momentum.

Bibliocraft - Craft inspired by the Library

Come join us this Thursday, April 24th, from 6:00 p.m.- 7:30 p.m. for a library inspired craft program! 

The Art, Music and Recreation Center is pleased to welcome Jessica Pigza, author of Bibliocraft: A Modern Crafter's Guide to Using Library Resources to Jumpstart Creative Projects, and librarian from New York Public Library.

At this event, Jessica will share ideas on how library sources at San Francisco Public Library and beyond can inspire hands-on creative projects.  Attendees will get the chance to try their hand at using vintage letter designs to create a stitched paper monogrammed bookmark.

The original vintage letter design used to create the bookmark came from the Etching and Engraving Picture File.

Learning From Each Other - The Reference Fair

Every year the San Francisco Public Library organizes a staff only reference fair so that Main departments and selected branches can highlight their collections and remind all staff what they do.

What treasures do big main libraries hold that even the librarians don't know about?  This fair gives all our departments the chance to share and explore.

At past Reference Fairs, the Art, Music and Recreation Center highlighted specific resources used to answer specific reference questions by patrons.  This year our goal is to illustrate a more subjective type of reference question. This is the kind of bibliographic brainstorming a visual artist might do using our collection. It could also be the kind of "forensic" reference work you need to do for the patron who doesn't know, or can't articulate, exactly what they're looking for. Our hypothetical artist needs to find images based on the elements of Color, Pattern, Graphic Lettering and Copyright Free Images.

We created four sample boards, one for each of the subjects above, filled with examples from our collection.

1. COLOR was further broken down into “theory”, “in combination”, “form and space”, “mixing pigments” and “psychological aspects”.  A few Library of Congress subject headings that can be used to find more books on this subject are: Color in art; Colors; Color guides; Color Decoration And Ornament; and Color In Art Exhibitions.

Selected sources used to create this board are:

Artist's Color Manual: The Complete Guide to Working with Color by Simon Jennings (San Francisco, CA : Chronicle Books, 2003)

Color Management: A Comprehensive Guide for Graphic Designers by John T. Drew (New York: Allworth Press, c2012.)

Color Index by Jim Krause. (Cincinnati, Ohio: HOW Books, c2010)

2. PATTERNS, PRINTS AND TEXTURES - Subject headings and keywords that can be used to find books on these topics are: Mosaics – technique; Tiles – history; Decorative arts – history; Patchwork – patterns; Repetitive patterns (Decorative arts); Symmetry (Art); Stencil work; Decoration and ornament; Design -- Themes, motives

Sources consulted for this board:

Mosaic Patterns: Step-by-step Techniques, Stunning Projects by Emma Biggs and Tessa Hunkin. (North Pomfret, Vt. : Trafalgar Square, 2006.)

Japanese Stencil Designs; one hundred outstanding examples collected and introduced by Andrew W. Tuer.(New York : Dover Publications, 1967)

Floral Design. Second series by Alan Weller designed by Juliana Trotta. (Mineola, N.Y. : Dover Publications, 2011)

3. GRAPHIC LETTERING - Use subject headings and keywords such as: Graphic Design (typography); Type and type-founding; Calligraphy; Lettering; Alphabets; Printing; Letterpress printing; Signs and signboards; Electric signs; Posters; Graffiti; Words in Art; Illumination of books and manuscripts.

A selection of books used to design this board:

Vintage Neon by Len Davidson (Atglen, Pa. : Schiffer Pub. c1999)

Helvetica and the New York City Subway System: The True (Maybe) Story by Paul Shaw (Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c2011)

An A-Z of Type Designers by Neil Macmillan.(New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, c2006)

4. COPY-RIGHT FREE IMAGES.  The main source of inspiration for this board was the library's own Etching and Engraving Picture File.  The list of subject headings can be found here and the actual etchings and engraving can be found in Art, Music and Recreation Center at the Main library.  Twelve items can be checked out at a time and there is a scanner and copy machine available at the library.  Also search the catalog with the keyword Dover Clip-Art Series.

Other books used to create this board:

Food and Drink: A Pictorial Archive from Nineteenth-Century Sources. selected by Jim Harter. (New York : Dover Publications, 1980.)

Ready-to-use Old-fashioned Music Illustrations: Copyright-free Designs, Printed One Side, Hundreds of Uses. selected and arranged by Carol Belanger Grafton. (New York : Dover, 1990.)

Ready-to-use Art Nouveau Small Frames and Borders: Copyright-free Designs, Printed One Side, Hundreds of Uses. designed by Ted Menten. (New York : Dover, c1985)

BURIED TREASURES:

Floréal Dessins & Coloris Nouveaux by E. A. Seguy (Paris: Calavas, n.d.)
Within the pages of this book you will find examples of a pochoir-illustrated book by the well known E. A. Seguy.

example of pochoir illustration

Color Papers [n.p.] 1930
sample book of Fat Shan, paper dealer, Canton, China.

example of paper for sale for 10 cents

Interaction of Color by Josef Albers

display of color silk screens housed in individual folders

Season of the Witch - The Art, Music and Recreation Center reading list

David Talbot's Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love (Free Press, 2012) is the story of a turbulent but formative period in recent San Francisco history from 1967 to 1982.  This book has stayed on San Francisco Chronicle's local best-sellers list.  Another indication of this book's popularity is that presently 195 San Francisco Public Library patrons are borrowing one of our copies of the book.

Talbot goes far beyond the social turmoil of the time to devote many pages to the City's performing arts and sports.  Each chapter of his book includes a reading list.  Naturally, the music of the Summer of Love is prominently discussed.  The story of the seminal, gender-bending performance group The Cockettes also gets told.  Finally, as a story of redemption, Talbot narrates the San Francisco 49ers path from perennial failure to the Super Bowl.

Here is a listing of the titles that Talbot cites in his book, all available to borrow from the Library.


780.2 J745d2 1991 - Piece of My Heart: A Portrait of Janis Joplin by David Dalton (Da Capo Press, 1991).

780.2 J745e 2000 - Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin by Alice Echols (Henry Holt and Co., 2000).

780.2 J745f 1992 - Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin by Myra Friedman (Harmony Books, 1992).

780.2 J745j 2005 - Love, Janis by Laura Joplin (Harper, 2005).

784.5 ZG76b - Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out by Bill Graham and Robert Greenfield (Doubleday, 1992).

784.5 ZG76g - Rage & Roll: Bill Graham and the Selling of Rock by John Glatt (Carol Pub. Group, 1993).

780.2 ZG771m - A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead by Dennis McNally (Broadway Books, 2002).

780.2 ZJ356t - Got a Revolution!: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane by Jeff Tamarkin (Atria Books, 2003).

784.5 ZSe48s - Summer of Love: The Inside Story of LSD, Rock & Roll, Free Love, and High Times in the Wild West by Joel Selvin (Dutton, 1994).

791.0922 T26m - Midnight at the Palace: My Life as a Fabulous Cockette by Pam Tent (Alyson Books, 2004).

796.33 M762a - Audibles: My Life in Football by Joe Montana and Bob Raissman (W. Morrow, 1986).

796.3326 B2336w - We Were Champions: The 49ers' Dynasty in their own Words; text by Phil Barber; photography by Michael Zagaris (Triumph Books, 2002).

796.3326 D559g - Glenn Dickey's 49ers: The Rise, fall, and Rebirth of the NFL's Greatest Dynasty by Glenn Dickey (Prima Pub., 2000).

796.3326 M9924c - The Catch: One Play, Two Dynasties, and the Game that Changed the NFL by Gary Myers (Crown Publishers, 2009).

"Art of the Walk" on Pinterest

In conjunction with “Art of the Walk: An Instagram Tour of Art by Women in San Francisco” the Art and Music Center created a Pinterest board showing the 31 photos of public art that were posted in March. Each one of these art works is displayed (in reverse order- the first photos that were posted are at the bottom of the page.) Viewed on a desktop computer these photos show up on the left side of the monitor, while a map displays in the remaining area on the right. Clicking on one of the markers on the map will locate the work on the left side by highlighting it in red. If you click on the right side, on one of the photos, you’ll bring up a larger photo with text and a small map underneath.

Here is the link for the Pinterest page:
Art of the Walk

If you're interested in discovering these art sites yourself, there’s a high concentration of "Art of the Walk" art work near the Market St. corridor. One possible itinerary could start in the Civic Center, at 8th St., 100 yards south of Market. You’ll see the mural created by Lady Mags and Amanda Lynn. Cross Market at Hyde and Grove Streets to enter the Main Library where you’ll find a work by Ann Chamberlain and Ann Hamilton covering the southeast walls of floors 3-5. Here are 50,000 library catalog cards annotated by volunteers. In City Hall there are 2 works by women available to view.  A bust of Angelo Rossi by Ruth Wakefield Cravath sits in an alcove, near the west entrance. Near the south side is one of the heart sculptures benefiting General Hospital. This heart, created by Deborah Oropallo, is entitled “LOVE + MARRIAGE,” and celebrates marriage equality by listing first names of many of the gay couples who wed in 2004.

"LOVE + MARRIAGE" by Deborah Oropallo