In This Issue

• Announcing BRAF’s 2014 new grantees!
• Artist Updates
  • Sean Orlando & David Shulman
  • Peter Hudson
• Grantee Updates
  • Why Can’t the First Part of the Second Party be the Second Part of the First Party? Opening Reception this Friday!
  • The Pool
  • The Music Box
  • Before I Die…

Here they are! Announcing BRAF’s 2014 new grantees!

Congratulations to our 2014 Grantees! This year, the Black Rock Arts Foundation Grants Committee awarded more money than ever, $70,000, to more projects than ever before (15 in total)!

Here’s just a glimpse at this projects, highlighting their diversity, ingenuity, and community benefit:

• Interactive L.E.D. murals in Bombay and Dharamasala, India
• Mini art museums made of shipping containers in Oxford, Mississippi
• A performance/installation illustrating the waveforms of its visitors’ pulses in Barcelona, Spain
• A spirited and entertaining free fire art festival in Reno, Nevada
• A thriving, free, and accessible art studio for low-income and homeless artists in San Francisco, California
• A roaming cabinet of curiosities in Wales, United Kingdom
• An impressive program of visual, installation, and performance art in Caracas, Venezuela
• A garden of oversized, glowing flowers, each made from intricately folded plastic, which respond to visitors with motion and sound in San Francisco, California
• … and more. Read on for complete descriptions of all 15 projects!

We can’t wait to see how these projects evolve! Stay tuned for updates here on our newsletter, or by following us on Facebook.

Your donations directly support these projects. Thanks to all who made donations to our Grants to Artists program last year, and please consider supporting future grantees with a donation today!

Also, check out our Grantee Updates section, below, for details about one of our new grantee project’s debut next week as well as updates about several past grantees.

Congratulations 2014 Grantees, and welcome to the BRAF family of artists!

 

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Artist Update: Something fishy from David Shulman and Sean Orlando in the Pacific Northwest…

Sean Orlando and David Shulman have been selected to design and create a large-scale permanent “Gateway” installation in Tacoma, Washington. On March 10, 2014, the SoundTransit Art Advisory Council and the Tacoma Arts Commission unanimously approved their concept for Gertie’s Ghost. Gertie’s Ghost is a large-scale, monumental steel sculpture inspired by the mythical 600-pound octopus that theoretically lives in the submerged ruins of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Eight octopus tentacles will emerge out of the ground, an abstract representation of the “Ghost of Galloping Gertie” climbing straight out of the City’s history and into the future. This massive sculpture in eight segments will span over 100 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 20 feet tall, and is scheduled to be installed in the spring of 2015.

For more information visit: www.engineeredartworks.com/public-art

 

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Artist Update: Peter Hudson – Save the Date!

Creator of the beloved BRAF 2008 Civic Arts project Homouroboros, artist Peter Hudson shares his latest amazing zoetropes with the public! We are happy to report that Peter Hudson and crew are working to complete Eternal Return, the most dynamic stroboscopic zoetrope yet.

To kick off the final build, Peter and his crew invite you to join them for an event that they’re calling “Hudzo’s Spin.” They will be exhibiting and spinning past zoetrope favorites for two nights in Peter’s studio on Treasure Island. The pieces will be set up to spin and Peter will give a presentation about his artistic inspiration. Come celebrate the countdown to completion of Eternal Return and join the crew for appetizers, cocktails, big art, and a great time!

Hudzo’s Spin
May, 15th-17th
Peter Hudson’s Studio
Treasure Island
San Francisco, California
For updates and ticket sales find the event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eternalreturnzoetrope

Additionally, artist Peter Hudson and crew are looking for volunteers to assist with Eternal Return. There’s plenty to do and the crew is a lot of fun! For more information please email our volunteer coordinator: maggiemonroesf@gmail.com

 

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BRAF Grantee Updates

 

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BRAF 2014 Grantee – Why Can’t the First Part of the Second Party be the Second Part of the First Party?

Intersection for the Arts presents Why Can’t the First Part of the Second Party be the Second Part of the First Party?, a new, large-scale, interactive wood installation by San Francisco-based Guggenheim Artist Fellow Bernie Lubell.

Lubell’s works are complex systems of wooden gears, cranks, wheels, and rubber pulleys. They rely entirely on participant engagement to come to life. The experience engages touch, hearing, movement, teamwork, and collaboration. As participants pedal, crank, and play together on the sculptural installation, they become active partners in the construction and understanding of the work, and an essential component of a complex system that participants can see activated as a direct result of their movements.

Bring a friend and take part in this interactive experience!

Opening Reception
Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 6-9pm
Ongoing exhibition
April 9 – June 7, 2014
Gallery Hours: Tuesdays – Saturdays, 12–6pm
925 Mission Street
San Francisco, California 94103
Free!

 

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BRAF 2012 Grantee – The Pool

Jen Lewin’s The Pool delighted participants in Singapore’s Marina Bay Light Festival!

The Pool was also featured in the Los Angeles’ Times “Photo of the Day.”

For more information on Jen Lewin’s art projects visit www.jenlewinstudio.com

 

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BRAF 2010 Grantee – The Music Box (Dithyrambalina)

New Orleans Airlift is very pleased to announce that New Orleans-based artist Dawn Dedeaux will be building the first new musical house of 2014 for Airlift’s ongoing musical architecture project Dithyrambalina. In partnership with a variety of community partners, the Airlift plans to build transportable houses in 2014, creating a roving musical village that will visit different neighborhoods in and around New Orleans in 2015.

Dedeaux’s Can You Hear Me? house is being built in partnership with the children and musicians of the Lower 9th Ward. Made entirely of tin cans, an age-old acoustical device that speaks to invention and the humble origins of the blues, the house will be assembled at the Lower 9th Ward Village, a non-profit community center. This project was developed in partnership with the Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development. Airlift is collaborating with Dedeaux and the wider community to turn the Can You Hear Me? project into an amplifier for the Lower 9th Ward, where community members continue to struggle for their voices to be heard and for their needs to be met nine years after Hurricane Katrina.

 

The Music Box and the New Orleans Airlift thank New Music USA! New Orleans Airlift is honored to be a new grantee for New Music USA in 2014. Airlift will create a year-long series of six performances on musical houses: structures built with invented instruments embedded in the floors, windows, and walls. New Music USA aims to increase opportunities for composers, performers, and audiences by fostering the creation, dissemination, and enjoyment of new American music, both nationally and internationally. For more information visit New Orleans Airlift at www.neworleansairlift.org or www.dithyrambalina.com.

 

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BRAF 2010 Grantee – Before I Die…

There have now been a total of 468 Before I Die… walls in 67 countries and in 31 languages. In the past two months, 25 new walls were built in over nine countries. Wow, this project just keeps growing!

See an impressive list of all of Candy Chang’s Before I Die… walls.