San Francisco Adventure

Just got back from a wonderful first time trip to San Francisco. I recently reconnected with my brother Coy and went out there to spend a week with him and his partner Sal. It was a great trip and Coy and I got to know each other a little better. I miss him, Sal & my new feline buddies already.

Coy showed me around town during the day and in the evenings he & Sal took me out on the town. I think my family back here thought I wasn't coming home due to all the fun I was having out there. When I left New York we were in the middle of a heat wave and never having been to San Francisco, I packed shorts and summer tops. Big mistake. It was very cool when I got off the plane so I wound up buying some warming clothing right off the bat. Lesson learned; check out the weather and climate of your destination BEFORE you pack. Thanks Coy for the great scarf you made me. It came in very handy and I love it!

For some reason I wanted to go see Mama Mia even though I never was an Abba fan. Coy being the good host and brother that he is, took me to see it. I really loved it! Before the show we had some time to kill so he shared one of his favorite chocolate passions with me. There was a shop in the same mall as the theater that imports chocolate from all over the world. Walking into CocoBella Chocolates is pure heaven! The only problem is choosing which piece of chocolate to try first. Coy got us each a beautiful piece of chocolate that looked too good to eat but we did. I bought a bag of delicious butter-crunch toffee covered in chocolate that was to die for. After the movie we walked around town and I quickly discovered I am one very out of shape flatlander! San Francisco is great but I thought the hills would kill me!

Later that evening the three of us went to Caffé Macaroni for dinner. The food was truly wonderful but the Italian waiter we had made the whole evening! He brought over a dry erase board with the specials wrote on it. He then sat himself down, rub his chin and started reading the specials to us. The best was when he got to the one that had a choice of fish. “Monk Fish? What is this Monk Fish? I don’t like the sound of that.” He then wiped it off the board with his finger and said, “I no serve that.” Between his accent and jestures, it was all we could do not to burst out laughing. I highly recommend the place.

The next day Coy took me on a walking tour again. We went to see the famous crooked section of road on Lombard street. I had to stop and rest more than a couple of times on the hill leading up to it. We both laughed when a car came up the street with a lady screaming her head off. If she does that going up a hill I can imagine how she must scream going down! I'm told that this section of Lambard Street is not the most crookedest but it is the most famous and with all the flowers it is very pretty and makes for a nice picture.

After taking some pictures we continued on our walk and found a lovely little garden behind a home that was donated to the city. We went in and were greeting by laughter from the famous local flock of wild parrots. They really did sound like they were laughing at us. They must have seen me huffing and puffing up the hills. Cheeky little buggers! As we headed down toward the waterfront, we stopped for breakfast (wasn't really hungry, I just really needed to rest!).

Our next stop was Ghirardelli Square where Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is located. Can you see a theme beginning here? Of course we tried some chocolate and then we moved on to the water front. We walked along the water and Coy pointed out Golden Gate Bridge which was covered in a haze from the fires that are going on up north. He also pointed out Alcatraz and since we both agreed that we have spent our lives trying to stay out of jail so neither of us had any interest in seeing it from any closer then we were. We headed next to Fishermen's Wharf and I meet the bad boys of the bay. I enjoyed watching the sea lions lounging on the docks. One was lazily cursing around in the water on his side showing off his flippers. Fishermen's Wharf held your usual tourist fair though there was a gallery of wonderful photos by a local artist we both enjoyed viewing. The Aquarium of the Bay was right there so we went in to see the sharks and other critters on display. It was cool seeing the big school of fish swimming over head as we walked through the tunnel. Also the young guys with their Aussie accents were adoreable.

Hey Coy.... Coit Tower! (Inside joke here, sorry) I did make a side trip down to San Mateo to visit Jeffrey Castaline and his partner Hiroyuki Kobayashi of Aanraku Stained Glass. Jeffrey's new shop is coming along wonderfully. He has some great plans for the place and will be bringing in some top notch instructors to teach some very exciting workshops. If you are into glass, check them out. You won't be sorry. He gave me a sneak preview of one of their new products they will be coming out with. It's a great book marker that you can adhere a fused glass piece to. I hope they come out soon because I don't want to share the ones he gave me and everyone wants one. Jeffrey and Yuki took me out to dinner and wine at the Melting Pot. I enjoyed it and their company immensely. Yuki picked out some very fine wines and as you can see from the picture, I did indeed partake more than I should have. How I made it back on the train, into a cab and back to Coy & Sal's I'll never know. I wish I would have had more time to spend with them. They are great people and I count myself lucky to know them.

The next day Coy shared one of his favorite spots with me. The Japanese Tea Garden is Golden Gate Park. What a lovely piece of heaven it was. You could feel the tension leave you and a wave of peace enter your soul as you walked through the garden. All the noise of the city disappeared among the sounds of softly moving water and leaves dancing in the breeze. I could have spent the whole day there. I see why it is a favorite of Coy’s. Thank you for sharing it with me Coy. It meant a lot.

My daughter had one request while I was out there and that was to go to Haight Ashbury and get her something Hippie. Sorry Hun but you are about 30 years or so too late. The Haight has been yuppiefide. I did take a picture of this car and showed her but she said it wasn't even a van! Oh well we all grow old and time passes us by and changes happen. I did find "my" house. Come on Lottery! I loved the old Victorian homes. They have so much character and style.

Coy and I continued walking and I enjoyed the scent of Eucalyptus in the air. Normally I can’t stand the smell of the stuff as it is in bunches in the stores, but the light scent from the trees themselves was heaven. My sinuses were never so clear. We wound up at the Japan Center for lunch where I had a wonderful bowl of noodles and some lightly tempura battered veggies.

That night we all went out with their good friend Buffy to see Beach Blanket Babylon for his birthday. The show was great with the exception of the obnoxious blond who sat next to me. She was drunk, loud and extremely annoying. God please Buffy. In his sweetest southern gentlemen accent he asked her, “Honey, don’t you ever shut up?” I had to smile. It didn’t stop her and she continued to knock over tables and spill her wine everywhere. She didn’t ruin the show though. It was great. Those wigs and songs were fantastic and I had a blast. After the show we went to the famous Vesuvio Café. Established in 1948, it remains a historical monument to jazz, poetry, art and the good life of the Beat Generation. They mix quite a strong drink too! The decor is great and I loved some of the poetry in the alley next to it. I hope Buffy enjoyed the night as much as I did. I am very glad I had a chance to meet you Buffy and share in the celebration. Oh by the way, I saw said blond the next morning walking on the street in the same clothes looking worse for wear. As she and her companion approached I pointed at her and burst out laughing. You could tell she was walking the walk of shame and had no ideal what happened the night before. What goes around comes around sweetie.....

This seems like a good place to take a break. I'll post more about my trip later.

Glass - Craft or Art

Yesterday I received a phone call from the director of the continuing education program at the college I teach at. Seems NY state has reclassified some of the courses. The course I teach was under Professional Development/Vocational Pursuits but is now being reclassified as a Personal Enrichment course. Bottom line, it's a craft and there is a big drop in the pay scale for instructors in that area. They are even sub listing it under CREATIVE PROJECTS. At least they could have put it under ARTISTIC EXPRESSION but no. Of course Floral Design is still under Vocational Pursuits. What really ticks me off is that part of the course requirement is to take all the students to a professional glass studio and demonstrate for them how to setup and run a glass business. I have a meeting with the director today to talk about wither or not I will teach this semester.

More than the pay cut involved with this has me ticked off. For whatever stupid reason, glass is seen as more of a craft than art by many galleries, museums and people in general and that doesn't seem to be improving. I was once approach to join a large local art league here on the island. When they asked about the medium I worked in, I proudly said glass and they promptly said no thank you. They were a group of "artists" after all and weren't looking for craft people. I tried to politely explain that I did indeed paint and sculpt, I just use glass instead of paints or clays. Well bottom line....I'm not a member of that league. By the way they did have a fabric artist in the group as well as some pottery artists and wood workers so it wasn't just painters.

I went into a gallery with some of my best pieces once only to be told they only represent artist. Didn't bother replying to that. She asked if I painted as well and although I do I told her that glass was my main medium of choice. The owner did buy two of my peices for herself. She loved them and has been to a few of my open houses over the years and bought several other pieces. Again...FTF"!

This whole craft crap has me crazed this morning. Glass is not a hobby for me. I make my living creating with glass. I stopped doing shows a few years ago because number one, the island is inundated with a ton of them and the juring processes is a joke anymore. Pay your fee and you have a booth. The last one I did had a woman selling the same imported stained glass sun catchers all shrink wrapped on cards that I periodically get the catalog for in the mail. Another was selling the imported glass flowers I saw that morning in the local dollar store and yet another was selling tube socks. Between vendors like that and people coming into my booth saying things like, "Is this glass?" (no it's concrete) "Who makes this" (Little elves) "Oh I used to make stuff like that. You bake it in the oven" (really....darn I wasted all those days cutting glass and working in the heat of the kiln for nothing) I couldn't take it any more. Mark, bless his soul, actually threw one nasty vendor out of my booth who had the nerve to come in with her friend and take picture of some of my pieces and discuss how they were going to make some for their next show. He needn't have bothered. I saw their work and they wouldn't have been able to replicate mine. It was sweet of him though.

I am not trying to say that I am a master artist in glass but I am striving to get my work to the highest level I can. The picture above is not one of my best but the only one I have on the computer right now. I have been fortunate enough to study with some of those I feel are and it just unnerves me to no end that these extremely talented people are creating such wonderful pieces in a medium that has to fight to be seen as art.

Some in the glass world say that by teaching my art to people who do just want to do it as a hobby is part of the problem. Do people painting pictures as a hobby down grade all those paintings in museums every where to craft projects? I don't think so. There will always be so called "crafters" in every medium. Why can't we also recognize that there are also artist in every medium as well?

Ok I am done ranting for now and need another cup of coffee before I go take on the director.