Finale

April 26th, 2007

view

From the Mayor’s balcony, one can see how beautifully Recycle Ryoanji commands its prominent place in the Civic Center Plaza. From this vantage point I was able to confirm the rightness of all of my calculations about placement and proportion. The garden was in perfect alignment with the stripes of the crosswalk and the grassy quad and the city scape beyond.

It has been an amazing ten days of exhibition. So much has transpired in the plaza: rallies, parades and passerbys. Hundreds and hundreds of people have looked and wondered and contemplated the garden. Some have discovered it by accident, some by intention…all have been impacted by its presence.

Cherry Blossom Festival

April 22nd, 2007

sign
float
Recycle Ryoanji was poised in the center of the staging area for the Grand Parade for the Cherry Blossom Festival. As if it was a distant travel destination, it became the Kodak “picture point.” It provided a perfect backdrop for photographing Japanese dignitaries, elegant women in kimonos, taiko drummers, and zany Anime costumed teens.

pose
smile

Reception

April 20th, 2007

The reception ceremony for Recycle Ryoanji was nothing like I had envisioned. In the late afternoon the Civic Center Plaza was a bustle with school groups and tourists and the melange of San Francisco denizens. I had imagined a formal presentation with a moment of quiet reflection. With the 4:20 PM pot smokers toking up on one side, the abortion rights activists protesting the Supreme Court decision on the other, and the news helicopter hovering above; the surrounding events made it feel like we were staged in a surreal three ring circus. This is San Francisco, after all! The ambiance did not lend itself to a moments pause. But, Recycle Ryoanji and my stalwart guests held their own. The garden was honored with words from Richard Lang, my husband; Jared Blumenfeld, Director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment, Ross Mirkarimi, the Supervisor who initiated the plastic bag ban; and Jeanne Bogardus, director of the Marin Arts Council. Contributors were acknowledged. There was applause. Plus, it did not rain! until just after 6 PM.

Then we all went inside City Hall to the Fourth Floor Rotunda Gallery for the Natural World Museum reception for their exhibition MAKING THE CHOICE - Bringing Forth an Environmental Renaissance.

Later, as Richard and I left the festivities, on the steps of City Hall we took a deep bow in gratitude to San Francisco. In a moment of quite reflection we gazed across the plaza to Recycle Ryoanji and across to an amazing city.

CityHall
protest

BARTtv

April 20th, 2007

Recycle Ryoanji is a short walk from the Civic Center BART station at 1150 Market Street. Because BART is an easy and environmentally friendly way to visit the garden, it was selected as BARTtv’s destination of the week. On the BART website you can see the interview created by Warren Foster and Cheryl Stalter, multimedia producers.

BARTtv

Recycle Ryoanji

April 17th, 2007

garden

WHAT A DAY

April 16th, 2007

It was a stunning day in San Francisco- clear and breezy.
A perfect day for the installation of Recycle Ryoanji.
Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!!
to the capable and tireless crew of folks
that turned out to help.
Lots of good humor and “do it” attitude.
Jody Stegman
Phoebe Ackley
Krishnakali Chaudhuri
Judy Johnson-Williams
Alida Line
Richard Lang
Janis Selby Jones
and the expert video crew
Reiko Fujii
Darwin Lee
Harvey Quan

Photographs by Janis Selby Jones
dayone
daytwo

daythree

dayfour

Counting the days

April 8th, 2007

City Hall

It is almost a year to the day that I first envisioned Recycle Ryoanji.
A quick photocopy version helped me to imagine how it would
look in front of City Hall. The architectural projection was useful
for promoting my idea, for permits, for funding.

I have held the vision
these many months plus I have planned and measured
and tried to figure every detail,
anticipate all the unexpected happenstances.

Now I am counting the days.

On Saturday, April 14 at 10 AM the installation of Recycle Ryoanji,
just steps away from City Hall (just exactly where I had imagined),
will begin. It will remain in place until April 24.

I am so excited.

Newspaper bags

March 30th, 2007

yellowdress
Inspired by a Quinceanera gown.
this dress was made in 2005
from one hundred and twenty
San Francisco Chronicle newspaper
delivery bags that were
gathered onto elastic bands
to form the tiers of the ball gown.
Every year 18,699,408 of these bags
are left at households
in the City of San Francisco.
Imagine what would happen
if all of those non-recyclable bags
were made from corn based
biodegradable compostable plastic.
That would be a real fashion statement!

News Paper Wrappers May Be Next

BIG NEWS for BAGS

March 28th, 2007

headline
Plastic bags made the front page headlines and the newspaper was full of the good news.

Yesterday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a ban on petroleum based plastic shopping bags.

When Mayor Gavin Newsom signs the ordinance, San Francisco will be the first U.S. city to adopt such a rule.

First City

More About the Ban

Two Cents

Editorial:Neither Nor

canvasbag

My day started early with the EcoArts class at Laney College taught by Andree Singer Thompson. Many members of her class have volunteered to be in my setup crew on April 14. To ensure an effortless installation, a graceful dance, a choreography of completion, I briefed the students on the sequence of events and the specific tasks.

Then I headed over to City Hall in San Francisco for the noon press conference; to join in the plastic bag festivities and the canvas bag give away. I set up my circle of white chairs right across from City Hall. I cajoled and convinced people to help with the sewing. Before I knew it I had quite an illustrious group: a preacher, someone from the press and the director of the Department of the Environment. Soon the television crews caught on to what was happening and in a paparazzi frenzy my little group was surrounded by folks with microphones and cameras. I am not sure where all of those images and answers ended up??? Not even, 15 minutes of fame.

But, I did feel to be a small part of a momentous change. Some argue that the issue of plastic bags is insignificant and in some ways it does seem so but, the bags connect to the larger issue of our dependence on oil. Every effort we make towards reusable and sustainable will add up to a BIG difference.

EcoCareer Day

March 25th, 2007

eco

Vocation Rotation was the name of the game. In eight minute intervals, groups of ten high school students joined me in a fast paced sewing circle while I answered questions like:

What do artists do all day?
Why do you do what you do?
How did you get started?
Do you make money? lots of money?
How do you make money?
Would you encourage others to become artists?
How do artists contribute to society?
What did you study to do this?

Good questions. Ten minutes is not long enough to even begin to answer.
They got me going. Got me thinking about the job of the artist as an image maker, creating images that can effect real positive change.

EcoCareer Day gives high school students the opportunity to learn about job opportunities from environmental activists, educators, scientists, and business people. This annual event, coordinated by Aekta Shah, is sponsored by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy at the Crissy Field Center.

Golden Gate Parks Conservancy