Browsing by subject : Visits to Museums, Libraries and Other Places of Interest

Botticelli drawings at Legion of Honor Museum 12/1/23

12/1/23 - Eleanor and I went to the Botticelli drawings exhibit at the Legion of honor last night, December 1, 2023. I created and curated this exhibit while we were there! Furio Rinaldi was the curator and did a great job. I was surprised to hear the story of Botticelli and how he fell out of favor at the end of his life, and after his life, and only in the 18th or 19 century, did he regain appeal. I’m curious as to why he fell fell out of favor. keyword: curatedvisits

TMP visit to Bonhams at 601 California 1/30/24

1/30/24-I had a lovely visit to Bonhams today during my lunch hour and made this exhibit in about twenty minutes. Apparently all of these images are for sale from one collection and they will be more fully curated, with artist names, next week sometime. keyword: curatedvisits

St. Mary’s Art Museum 2/15/2024

2/15/2024-Eleanor and I had a great time at the opening of an art exhibit at the St. Mary’s College Art Museum. We met our good friends, Rich and Leslie Breiman, as well as Costanza Dopfel, who’s been teaching at St. Mary’s in Art history for 22 years. We also saw Gabrielle Ly who is curating Rich Breiman‘s collection on Pam. We met Shawny Anderson, the interim dean of liberal arts at St. Mary’s College who’s been at St. Mary’s for 28 years. We met Trinity, a student at St. Mary’s College who is studying the digital in museums today. We met Lydia, a student at St. Mary’s College who is an artist, and she showed us her Led Zeppelin poster that she found. We met Ali Kozoll of the Lamorinda Arts Council. We met Harmoniao Rosales, the featured artist!https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/museum-art ….keyword: curatedvisits

Haitian Metal Scultpure at SFO 2/23/24

From 2/23/2024 at the SFO airportI went to the airport today and got here early and decided to explore this exhibit of Haitian metal, three artist that I never seen before. Generally left me feeling happy. Really interesting creations, combinations of man and animal and birds in particular. Things coming out of peoples heads, made from metal. “Combinatory”, “happy” what else? I’m sure there are deeper meanings in these but I need to study it longer and talk with someone who knows, but it was really fun to see.https://youtube.com/shorts/jucGQYHOxJ8?si=BNDO6_H4vRckGErQ https://youtube.com/shorts/J5jrTOmhWBk?si=x6YHhtcnfj4xAA70 keyword: curatedvisits

Visit to Wash U Library 3/24/24

3/24/24-Great visit with my map buddy Steve Hanon to Wash U special collections. Thank you to Kate Goldkamp and Steve for showing us around.keyword: curatedvisits

SFO Museum Tour with Bao Li - 3/26/24

OK so I had a great tour yesterday at the SFO Museum with Bao Li. I got there at 10 o’clock and the tour went till 1130. I’ve been with the airport for nine years and had great knowledge of all the various exhibits. The first part was about just getting through security. The first part was seeing the museum which is open every day, seven days a week in the international terminal. It’s imaging number 44,45 4049 was a great time , we got through security that was a TSA check your badges didn’t know about the badge program and then she calls they called a supervisor and the supervisor comes over oh yeah you get through security so that’s the reason why going on a weekend is hard thing to do and the staff of museum are typically not there to help you get through security, but that really is part of what really about this is not having a flight to get to, and seeing all the art on the other side of security Side of that doesn’t show I’m gonna leave it at that and then move to the next audio.keyword: curatedvisits

SFO Art - curated by Tom Paper

Tom Paper’s exhibit of his various encounters with art at the SFO airport. keyword: curatedvisits

The Box Shop, Hunter’s Point, San Francisco 4/14/24

Tom Paper and Eleanor Bigelow visited The Box Shop on 4/14/2024. We both love what they are doing. The box shop was started by Charles Gadeken is a burning man artist. We also met Laura Ogle and Jason Reichl, who are the force behind an organization called People on a Mission which is trying to become the meowwolf of the Bay Area, getting people energized and excited about art and understanding that art exists everywhere and everyday. We saw a lot of really cool art. My favorite pieces were the cash register that made musical sounds and the gear screwdriver thing and of course the trees that Charles Gadeken makes. I also liked the whole vibe of that machine shop construction area and the murals on the containers were all really cool. Eleanor liked the music and the creative energy in the air, the invitation to participate in the air, to open your heart and mind.The Box Shop is looking for donations. If you are interested, please contact: info@boxshopsf.org. You can also find them on Insta or FB or #BoxShopSF or www.boxshopsf.org. keyword: curatedvisits

Saint Mary's College Museum of Art 'Behind the Scenes' 4/20/24

“A great day yesterday at St. Mary’s College Museum of Art “Behind the Scenes” tour. I love what they are doing! Their team is super smart, creative, entrepreneurial, service-minded, always learning. They ARE what a museum should be.” Tom PaperFrom: Museum Art <museum@stmarys-ca.edu>Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2024 9:57 AMTo: Museum ArtSubject: REMINDER: Saint Mary's College Museum of Art 'Behind the Scenes' members event - Saturday April 20th from 3-5pmFollow Up Flag: Flag for follow upFlag Status: FlaggedDear Museum Supporter,We look forward to seeing you at the Saint Mary's College Museum of Art 'Behind the Scenes' members event which takes place this Saturday April 20th from 3-5pm.Please note that we will not be meeting at the Museum of Art but instead we will meet at the Saint Mary's College Rheem Campus located at 380 Moraga Road in Moraga, California.Free parking can be found in the large lot in front of and to the side of the building. There will be signs directing you to the location of the tour.Should you have any questions about the event please don't hesitate to call us on (925) 631-4379. See you on April 20th! *******************(Transcription of Tom Paper voice note)So I had a great day visiting the St. mary's College Museum of Art, behind the scenes event, which took place at in Moraga, three, 80 Marauga Road. It looked like a safe way, re converted. They have, um, like, three rooms. One room, they do photographs, and then two other rooms are for storage of items. Their temperature controlled. There were, I think, four people from the museum, and then about 20 or so patrons. We got a great tour. It’s amazing the care they take into each piece. They have 3 or 4 % of their collection, which is on display, and most museums have, like, only 1 %. Now, maybe they don't have a big permanent collection, but it's, doesn't. I mean, they've got 5000, 5000 items. They're ethnographic items, which are kind of like folk art items. Was one of the biggest collections that they have. UM, which was really interesting. UM, leo showed me. So Leo and John work on the on the UM, hanging of all the exhibits and managing the collection from the backside. And Leo built this little, kind of like a mini library that people have in their houses. He built a little mini museum. And so he was showing that off. That was really cool. Um. What else? Let's see, they have their own photographic capability to digitize pieces, but they, they've got a long ways to go. Apparently, they digitized a bunch of their art and put it on the website, and then the school changed something about the website. And, and, um, john mentioned that he lost some things, and then Brit said she had the same experience, so that was too bad to hear. UM. They have a couple different ways of hanging things and accessing pieces. UM. The collection is quite varied. UM saw some artists that I actually recognized. UM Beth van Housen, who I think is Mary Hospitals, one of her favorite artists, had some pieces in their collection. Um, they're moving into a bigger, a bigger campus, or a bigger place to store all of their art. And so they're gonna be raising some money for that. They got an NEA grant for that. So we heard from Lauren Mcdonald, who's the director of the Museum of Art. Um Brit Royer is a curator, super smart, super articulate. I can't believe her recall of images. John Schneider is the director of collections. Um, terror. Hard. You works on the team. And then Leo. Um, I like Leo. I didn't get his, his last name, but he's been with him for about a year, john, I think, 14 or 15 years. Um, brit went to Davis. Lives in Oakland. Bridge, working on a dozen or so different exhibits at any one time, which seems like a lot, because they only have two or three exhibits each year. UM. It's a great it's a great collection. And it was fun to see. UM, how they manage it all. I'm trying to think of what else they talked about. Can't remember. UM Anyway, it was a great event. I was really glad that I went. John loves John loves maps. So we bonded on that. Brit asked me about the revenue plan for Pixium, which was a great question. I said, well, I love the helping people cure rate and helping people, um, helping people curate more efficiently, and then helping people who are not curators, but they're the consumers to consume curated material. Um, anyway, hope to be back and continue to stay involved with with what they're doing.keyword: curatedvisits

TMP Visit to Shipyard Open Studios 4/27/24

I visited the hunters point shipyard open studios today on April 27, 2024.transcription of voice note -----------00:00So I went to the shipyard, hunters Point Shipyard open house, and really enjoyed it.00:09Um, there were these portraits, this portrait of a guy with airplanes around him and a new surrounded as a necktie.00:18That was amazing. Whoever that artist is, I like them, sort of three three dimensional portraits.00:23Um, this guy with the wacky What the heck do we call it the wacky costumes.00:31I might be a guy named Nick Cave. I don't know.00:34Um, I saw Lorna in her shop, which I loved. It's beautiful.00:39We need to do some work at the house. This Japanese this guy named Boon Pang, who did a painting of a sculpture.00:45I didn't like much of I didn't like a lot of what he did.00:48But this one thing he he did a, um, a painting of a sculpture that's in a, it's called the Venus Sculpture.00:56It's in a courtyard in San Francisco. That was interesting.01:01Um.01:04I liked this guy named Dennis Palante. Kind of liked him.01:10I liked some of the collages. They were interesting. I would have liked to have talked to him more.01:14And then I met a guy that I really liked and found interesting.01:20His name is, um, robert Schwarzenberg.01:25And I really liked his stuff. It's, it's we had. We had a good conversation.01:30He he likes squares and rectangles, and he doesn't like circles.01:33And what did he say? He gave me some reason. Why isn't like circles circle?01:37And I was, I was like, I don't like circles because they're too.01:41I don't remember his word. And I was like, well, it's not the circle's fault.01:45I think he said, the circles are too.01:47Like, I don't know not. They they're they're too. Lucy Goosey, something like that.01:53Anyway, he had a New York Times trash bag. A lot of his stuff was sort of recycled word, um, but lots of squares and and rectangles and different colors and different textures, and then a few things that just I-I didn't get at all what the the the new york times um you know trash banks that was really fun good for him and then he had a recycled Macintosh computer.02:23So it was good I-I enjoyed I enjoyed, the here being here i was here.02:30For probably, i was supposed to be for an hour. I think it was 2 H, but it was great. keyword: curatedvisits

Dominique Rojas - 5/2/24

Notes from visit by TMP and EMB on 5/2/24. See below for Voice Note Transcription.https://www.marinij.com/2019/07/06/marin-snapshot-san-rafael-artist-creates-portraits-of-music-icons-with-guitar-picks/Q What inspired you to use guitar picks to create art?A My sister married a musician from a touring band called Blues Traveler. I saw a bunch of guitar picks that he had in his case and I realized that I could make mosaics of them. I had been doing mosaics with the kids up in Seattle. Transcription of Voice Note00:00Eleanor and I visit the our opening for Dominique Row House at the Charles W Thomas Salon on When the heck was it on may 2 2024.00:17We met Dominique, and she showed us around the studio. We also met the owner of the salon.00:27Can't remember her name now, off the top of my head, she this series was all about art of celebrities made from guitar picks.00:38And it was interesting. We saw Bob Marley and I think, ah, gosh, was elephants, gerald and the Grateful Dead.00:48And, um, what else it it was? It was, oh, there was Jimmy Hendrix, that's right.00:56We also met John Ryan, who's michael's hairdresser. And we met Lindsay Glazer, the owner of the of the salon.01:05And it was interesting. The prices, the pieces all went for, I think, wanna say, from seven to $15000, um.01:15And Dominique is her sister married. One of the band members of Blues Traveler.01:24Seemed like her work would be right at home at a studio in Las Vegas.01:29UM A very pop art ish and nifty. Um might add to a collection, but a little bit out of our price range, I would say, um, it was nice.01:49Okay.Keyword: curatedvisits

The Mitchell Library - July 3, 2024

visit with Hazel McLatchie (introduced by Susan Taylor) Keyword: curatedvisits

National Library of Scotland - July 4, 2024

June 17, 2024Dear Tom and Eleanor, Diana Webster kindly forwarded your request to visit the Maps Reading Room at the National Library of Scotland on to me.I would be delighted to host a visit for you – does the morning of Thursday 4th July still suit you?The Maps Reading Room is at 33 Salisbury Place, EH9 1SL, (at our Causewayside building rather than our main building on George IV Bridge – it’s about a mile away!). We open to the public 10am-1pm. I will book out the reading room for your visit so you will have exclusive use and we can get out a few of our lovely antiquarian items.Best wishesPaula************************************June 16, 2024Dear Diana,In addition to the intro from Mike Sweeting, I was also referred to you by Wes Brown.Please allow me to introduce myself and my wife: I am Vice President of the California Map Society and also the Founder of Pixeum, a website that helps people tell stories with their intricate and beautiful images. My wife Eleanor is the Editor of the California Map Society’s magazine, Calafia.We are traveling to Scotland July 1st through July 10th and plan to be in Edinburgh on July 2nd and July 4th. I was writing to see if you might be able to help us arrange a visit to the Maps Reading Room at the National Library of Scotland anytime on July 2nd or the morning of July 4th. There are number of topics that would be of interest. Of course, we are interested in any of the historically well-known cartographers; in scanning maps by mapmaker, I saw Blaeu, Ortelius, Moll, and Mercator. Wes mentioned the Nordenskjold collection. We would also be interested in arctic and Antarctic maps. In the end, we would be grateful for whatever kind of visit is possible.We would also love to write an article about our visit for the magazine, Calafia.keyword: curatedvisits