Think, Look, Make

“If an  offense come  out of the  truth ,  better  is it that the  offense come than   that the  truth be concealed .”  Thomas Hardy George Washington High School in San Francisco is unique amongst other institutions bearing Washington's name. It is a treasure trove of New Deal WPA art that includes architecture, bas-reliefs, "buon fresco" murals and freestanding sculptures. These extend from the football field to the library. The school features an "Olympics" frieze by African American sculptor Sargent Johnson, and its architect was the pre-eminent Timothy L. Pflueger. This school, its name and even the site correlate conceptually. It was designed to showcase outstanding art and provoke reflection. The Sargent Johnson frieze In thousands of American high schools, AP Art History students learn about George Washington by studying a sculpture by Houdon. It is described in most textbooks with only a paragraph. On the back of this sculpture is a ...

Alpine Lake, Marin Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park  Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park Pacifica  Pacifica  Pacifica  Pacifica  Marin Headlands   

I first photographed this rock in April, when the national concern was Covid-19 and if you were or weren't wearing a mask. Then George Floyd's murder happened and by June, people were in the streets. They were also on this street overlooking San Francisco. Kseniya Makarova painted the BLM sign but someone else promptly painted it over at night. This happened a few times and the local paper even reported on it. Frustrated, the original artist found a way to wait until the "eraser" (a middle-aged white woman) appeared in the wee hours of the morning to paint over the previous day's work. She was quoted as saying:  " I don't want the politics. I just want to go for a walk and have a nice day." SF Gate SF Chronicle