By Christina Chacon
Summer is OFFICIALLY here! Warm weather brings festival season, and we have some great ones for you to check out, like the San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair, where in addition to the amazing creativity featured throughout the weekend, Handful of Salt will be participating with our own booth (we’re just A LITTLE excited). The Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival is also sure to bring you outside to enjoy the art of these two timeless mediums, and for something unique, take a peek at Woven Treasures of Japan’s Tawaraya Workshop in Washington DC, where history and fashion come together in an exquisite display of silk garments and costumes all the way from Japan.
Northern California
From the show "Very New Work" by Akio Nukaga at Heath Ceramics
Heath Ceramics SF First Artist Reception: Akio Nukaga
Opening reception July 14th, 2012 from 5-9 with the show running through September 5th @ Heath, San Francisco
After his 2009 and 2011 quickly sold-out exhibitions at Heath Ceramics Los Angeles, Japanese master potter Akio Nukaga returns to Heath only this time in San Francisco. “Very New Work” makes the first show and celebration of the soon-to-be-open Heath showroom and gallery in the city’s Northeast Mission neighborhood. Heath will also host Nukaga for a throwing demonstration. In addition to more familiar forms he has been working with for many years, this show will highlight Nukaga’s investigation of new forms that are very loosely inspired by his interest in Cubism.
Dining by Design Kick Off Party
July 12, 6-8 pm @Coup, 111 Rhode Island Street, San Francisco
Come to the kickoff party for Dining by Design and learn what the plans are for the incredible event, how you can participate in it, and basically schmooze, drink, and hob nob with “everyone who is anyone in design.” DIFFA SF produces DINING BY DESIGN San Francisco to benefit the UCSF Positive Health Program at San Francisco General Hospital, consistently ranked the nation’s best HIV/AIDS clinic since 1983. This year’s event will be coming to the San Francisco Design Center’s Galleria on November 14 – 15.
Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival
July 14th-15th, 2012 @ Rinconada Park, 777 Embarcadero Rd., Palo Alto
The prestigious and popular 20th Annual Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival hosts a fabulous, free, fun-filled 2-day celebration of Clay and Glass art. Featuring both fine and functional art, the festival is the largest show of its kind, with 175 juried artists displaying their work. Meet the artists and learn about their art. Enjoy a variety of engaging activities, including hands-on pottery making and wheel throwing demonstrations.
Hark, Who Goes There? BTW, Where Is There?
July 6th – 28th, 2012 @ Vessel Gallery, Oakland
A group show the prods and pokes at the mystery of identity and space, including works by Natalie Cartwright, William Harsh, Kristy Kovacs, Gordon Glasgow, Walter James Mansfield, Cyrus Tilton and Sanjay Vora.
Image Courtesy of Renegade Craft Fair
Renegade Craft Fair: San Francisco
July 21 and 22nd, 2012 @ Fort Mason Center, SF
Renegade Craft Fair will be kicking off the West Coast leg of their Summer tour with the 5th Annual Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco – and Handful of Salt will be joining them with our very own booth! The fair returns to the beautiful Fort Mason Center each day where you’ll find 250+ of today’s very best indie crafters, fun and creative hands-on workshops, music, food, booze and plenty more. Check out their website for a full lists of artits and crafters! And don’t forget to stop by our booth and say hello and show some love!
May 17-July 31, 2012 @ March 3075 Sacramento Street, San Francisco
San Francisco’s thinking person’s kitchen/gatherings emporium, March, curates some pretty glorious goods. And now it’s curating mini-exhibits featuring works by Jonathan Kline, Maria Moyer, and Josh Vogel who individually and collectively “elevate humble materials to an art form.” Who can resist? Opening reception is May 17 from 5-8 pm.
The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier, From Sidewalk to Catwalk
March 24 – August 29, 2012 @ De Young Museum, San Francisco
Fashion’s bad boy is a master of the provocative. He’s also a master of the craft. This dynamic, multimedia exhibition will include 140 haute couture and prêt-à-porter designs created between the mid-1970s and 2010, along with numerous sketches, archival documents, fashion photographs, and video clips that spotlight Gaultier’s collaborations with filmmakers, choreographers, and musicians, most notably Madonna.
San Francisco Center for the Book Workshops
Month of July @ San Francisco Center for the Book
SFCB workshops have a whole new line up to enjoy. From bookbinding to calligraphy, there is a workshop for every interest and every level to choose from. Check out their website for a complete list of exciting classes.
Fiber Futures, Japan’s Textile Pioneers
Phase 1: July 20-October 6, Phase 2: October 23 to December 29, 2012
Museum of Craft and Folk Art, 51 Yerba Buena Lane, San Francisco CA
We saw this fabulous exhibit in New York and are so delighted it’s coming to San Francisco. Co-organized by Japan Society (New York), Tama Art University (Tokyo), and International Textile Network Japan, Fiber Futures: Japan’s Textile Pioneers explores a new art emerging from a remarkable fusion of Japanese artisanal and industrial textile making. Coaxed from materials as age-old as hemp and newly developed as microfilaments, a varied array of more than 25 works by artists from multiple generations will be on view in this extraordinary two-part exhibition.
Opening Reception is July 20, 6-8 pm.
July 23-28, various venues, Midtown and Downtown Sacramento
Founded in 2009, LAUNCH is an annual celebration of music, art, fashion, design and architecture that will take place from July 23-28 at multiple venues through midtown and downtown Sacramento. We’re BIG fans of Model Citizens NYC, which will be curating a pop up store there (Monday July 23). You’re going to see some lovely stuff!
Southern California
June 30 to September 10, 2012 @ Heath LA
Starnet, one of the most respected galleries and design stores in Japan, marks its United States debut with a Summer Shop called “Starnet Works,” installed at Heath Ceramics Los Angeles. Designed by Starnet Founder Baba Koshi and made by artisans in the Starnet workshop, items in the show include hand-thrown ceramic vases and bowls, leather bags, shoes and hand woven and dyed textiles.
Starnet Works is curated and produced by Playmountain’s Shin Nakahara and Heath LA Studio Director Adam Silverman. Founded by acclaimed designer Baba Koshi in 1998, Starnet, in Mashiko, Japan, is known for its unique and constantly revolving collection of handcrafted home items, clothing and accessories.
Midwest
Texture and Tradition: Japanese Woven Bamboo
June 30, 2011 – July 29, 2012 @ The Denver Art Museum, Colorado
Focused on Japanese woven bamboo, over 70 beautiful pieces will be displayed in this installation, including baskets, screens, trays, containers, accessories, hand warmers, and a chair. Among the works on view are pieces by basket makers who have been designed Living National Treasures.
- Image Courtesy of The Denver Art Museum
Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective
March 25 – July 8th, 2012 @ The Denver Art Museum, Colorado
A sweeping retrospective of the designer’s 40 years of creativity, Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective features a stunning selection of 200 haute couture garments along with numerous photographs, drawings, and films that illustrate the development of Saint Laurent’s style and the historical foundations of his work. Organized thematically, the presentation melds design and art to explore the full arc of his career, from his first days at Dior in 1958 to the splendor of his evening dresses from 2012.
East Coast
Fabric for Noh Costumes at Woven Treasures of Japan's Tawaraya Workshop
Woven Treasures of Japan’s Tawaraya Workshop
March 23rd – August 12, 2012 @ The Textile Museum, Washington DC
Japan’s Tawaraya Workshop has produced exquisite silks for more than 500 years for uses which include imperial garments and Noh theater costumes. A selection of these precious textiles and kimono will be featured in “Woven Treasures”. This exhibition was organized with the help of Hyoji Kitagawa, the 18th- generation head of the workshop who was recently designated a Living National Treasure by the Japanese government.
June 2 – October 7, 2012 @ Fuller Craft Museum, Boston MA
Iron Twenty Ten: A Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Blacksmithing offers both the casual viewer and the seasoned metalsmith a comprehensive survey of the finest contemporary blacksmithing in the United States today. The artists in the exhibition are united by a commitment to the highest levels of craft and a point of view that is both distinct and contemporary.
February 18th, 2012 – September 3, 2012 @ Fuller Craft Museum, Massachusetts
Dan Dailey, the first graduate student of Dale Chihuly, has pursued his own unique voice in glass, from his singular work in antique Vitrolite sheet class to complex constructions of blown glass and metal. This retrospective exhibition focuses on the various methods and techniques employed by the glass artist during his 40-year career.
Swept Away: Dust, Ashes, and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design, through August 12, Museum of Arts and Design, NY
MAD has a way with unsual materials. This exhibit features works that deal with issues such as the ephemeral nature of art and life, the quality and content of memory, issues of loss and disintegration, and the detritus of human existence. Sculptures made from ash by Chinese artist Zhang Huan, life-size sculptures of unfired dirt by American artist James Croak, and works created from city smog by American artist Kim Abeles, among others, illustrate the transformative potential of humble, overlooked, and discarded materials.
United Kingdom
British Design 1948-2012: Innovaton in the Modern Age, March 31-August 12, @ Victoria and Albert Museum, London
This exhibit elebrates the best of British post-war art and design from the 1948 ‘Austerity Games’ to the summer of 2012. Over 300 British design objects highlight significant moments in the history of British design and how the country continues to nurture artistic talent and be a world leader in creativity and design.
May 3-August 12, @ Barbican Art Gallery
This exhibit elebrates the best of British post-war art and design from the 1948 ‘Austerity Games’ to the summer of 2012. Over 300 British design objects highlight significant moments in the history of British design and how the country continues to nurture artistic talent and be a world leader in creativity and design.