I’ve been reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s excellent book, In the Heart of the Sea, about the whaling ship Essex (it sank in the Pacific Ocean in 1820 after tangling with a sperm whale and became Herman Melville’s inspiration for the novel Moby Dick). The surviving crewmembers, adrift in the ship’s boats, had to decide where their best chance of rescue lay […]
Although this episode of California’s Gold, originally aired back in early 2002, is titled “Sub-Net,” there is so much more history to be found in this small corner of Marin County than just one brief chapter in the 1940s. Unfortunately, there is far too much to cover in just one half-hour segment, but the portions that Huell chooses to focus […]
When I started writing this post yesterday, it seemed like the perfect time to share these powerful paintings which I saw during my visit to San Francisco’s de Young Museum last summer. At first I hesitated to include Jack Levine’s piece, above, because it felt like such a negative image. This painting commemorates the Birmingham Campaign, a series of direct […]
I collected this set of images during two separate visits to two different museums: Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum (September 2019) and San Francisco’s deYoung Museum (August 2022). The artists and the media may be widely varied, but each one speaks to me in a profound way, and the more I consider them, the more connections I seem to discover. Al […]
On my visit to San Francisco’s deYoung Museum last August I revisited some of the blown glass pieces I had seen previously, in 2019, and spent some time getting a better look. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with some of the pictures I shot with my phone on my earlier visit; this time I used my Canon SL2, and I think […]
There were a few brightly painted houses that caught my eye as I walked up Arguello toward Geary Boulevard to catch my bus. But I wasn’t expecting to find such a colorful garden of flowers growing right at my feet beside the sidewalk. It was too irresistible; I had to stop and check them out. I was intrigued by the […]
It wasn’t yet noon, and after visiting the Lyon Street Steps I found myself in the southeast corner of San Francisco’s Presidio, trying to decide the best way to get back to my hotel. I had already been on my feet a lot that day; and even though I was tired and slightly footsore, I chose to walk the mile […]
I think that once you’ve seen one of Al Farrow’s mosaic sculptures you’ll never quite forget it. That was why on my visit to the deYoung Museum in San Francisco last August I suddenly found myself experiencing a strange feeling of deja vu; it took me a few minutes to realize why. His intricate pieces are both jarring and thought-provoking, […]
The Lyon Street Steps turned out to be one of my favorite stops during my trip to San Francisco last August. While it’s something of a challenge climbing all the way to the top, there are so many enjoyable sights once you get there. It’s not just the panorama of San Francisco Bay; there’s also the landscaped garden with all […]