absence

An excuse of sorts, I was traveling through South East Asia, if you are intersted I have posted a vast amount of photos here. Printed copies can be obtained by contacting me at jkm@johnkmelvin.com

cheers.

Fwd: Raw review @ Visual Art Source

http://www.visualartsource.com/index.php

> Recommendations. . . .
>
>
>
> Colby Claycomb, White Picket Fence, linoleum, plastic edging, at Root Division. RAW features mixed-media works that assert their materiality and overt identity as artifacts "made in an honest manner," according to curator/artist John K. Melvin. One of the ten artists, Barry Beach, writes of "constructing nature. . .from organic and synthetic forms, mixing and experimenting salvaged and new materials. . .not knowing exactly what will emerge," inspired by the hybrid areas "between city and country, urban and rural, nature and culture." Memorable works embodying this post-conceptual/DIY aesthetic stance (some of which incorporate the gallery's architectural elements) include: Colby Claycomb's "White Picket Fence," a wall relief composed of black linoleum shards arranged concentrically, like a fingerprint, from whose center erupts a floral spiral of coiled plastic faux-fence edging; Ruth Hodgins' "Sword in the Stone," a surrealist bat-and-ball sports (and testosterone?) parody; Brandon Truscotts's "Made by Memory," a recumbent baby doll wrapped by and suspended from strands of glossy brown audiotape; and Jesse Walton's "John Deere and the Last Frontier," a "construction detritus" installation symbolizing the industrial domestication of the wilderness. RAW anticipates, with humor and imagination, a coming era of higher-priced energy and "lowered expectations" (California's Zen governor Jerry Brown is back, after all); of creative re-purposing and applied bricolage (at Root Division, San Francisco, California).
> - Dewitt Cheng

Thanks for the memories.

RAW Sculpture coming to Root Division!!

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Art lovers,

I am pleased to announce that an art exhibition I have been working on for a year now, will be opening to the public this coming Saturday, November the 14th. The exhibition will feature a particular and unique range of material oriented sculptors from the Bay Area. If you are in town, please feel free to stop by. Details from the press release are included below.

Thanks for all your continued support,

Best,


John K Melvin
Visual Artist

http://raw-rootdivisionsf.blogspot.com
http://www.johnkmelvin.com/
http://johnkmelvin.blogspot.com/


--

ROOT DIVISION PRESENTS: Second Saturday November 2009

RAW
An exhibition of new Bay Area sculpture and installation

Curated by John K. Melvin

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Root Division is proud to present our November Second Saturday event, an exhibition of new Bay Area sculpture and installation, guest-curated by local artist and curator John K. Melvin.

The work in RAW has a distinct materiality, and each of the artists is uniquely aware of its presence. Whether assembled from found objects or crafted from items not typically associated with fine art, the sculptures and installations featured in this show work to declaim the fundamental appeal of objectness.

Artists like Colby Claycomb, Brandon Truscott, and Sarah Willis evoke their own personal narratives by exploiting the built-in meaning of used materials. Others, like Barry Beach, John K. Melvin, and Kit Rosenberg take a more detached approach, boiling down a conceptual premise to its most essential material elements. But regardless of how each artist approaches their work, there is a shared enthusiasm to maintain the integrity of the chosen medium.

Details are on-line at http://raw-rootdivisionsf.blogspot.com

Artists:

Barry Beach
Colby Claycomb
Benjamin Echeverria
Sean Olson
Christophe Piallat
Kit Rosenberg*
Brandon Truscott
Jesse Walton
Sarah Willis

*Root Division Resident Artist

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 14th, 7-10 pm
Sliding Scale Suggested Donation: $2-$20
Exhibition Dates: November 11th-December 5th, 2009
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays- Saturdays, 2-6 pm (or by appointment)

ROOT DIVISION
3175 17th Street (at South Van Ness & Shotwell)
San Francisco, CA 94110
www.rootdivision.org
415.863.7668

ABOUT ROOT DIVISION:
Root Division is an arts and arts education non-profit located in the Mission District of San Francisco. Root Division's mission is to improve appreciation and access to the visual arts by connecting personal inspiration and community participation. We provide subsidized studio space to working artists in exchange for their service in creating shared learning opportunities for the community. Artists develop creatively and professionally by teaching art to underserved youth, leading adult education classes, and producing exhibitions that showcase local emerging artwork. By combining multiple opportunities for creative exchange, Root Division cultivates an artistic ecosystem that enriches life throughout the Bay Area.

Root Division is supported in part by grants from Grants for the Arts: SF Hotel Tax Fund, The San Francisco Foundation, and the Walter & Elise Haas Fund. The Second Saturday Exhibition Series is sponsored by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Commission through a Cultural Equity Grant/Organizational Project Grant, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.

Castles in the sky

Funny.  When I was maybe ten years old or so I remember drawing and thinking about freeways being converted into apartments and parks.  This beginning may explain the orgin behind my freeway project series.  As for castles in the sky it seems I wasn't the only one.  

"The Bay Line, a proposed retrofit of the Bay Bridge's eastern span with a park and housing, has become a sleeper hit in the blogosphere, and now even has its own website. The thought experiment was initially put together by Oakland's Rael San Fratello Architects and submitted as an entry to WPA 2.0, a public works design competition put on by a UCLA think tank. The idea: what if, after the eastern span gets replaced, we kept it around and used it for something instead of getting rid of it? And what if we, say, loaded it up with 7,000 homes? Thought-provoking! But the Bay Line didn't make the final cut at WPA 2.0, while another Rael San Fratello proposal did: the U.S./Mexico border project, which includes seesaws among its varying delights."

http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2009/10/30/seriouser_and_seriouser_the_bay_line_condos_on_the_bay_bridge.php

Jon Carroll

"But I don't like social gatherings. I don't like all the people, I don't like the overlapping noise, and I don't like meeting new people because, you know, I already know more people than I can comfortably accommodate with minimum friendship requirements. I've lived in the same city for 30 years. I have a family; surely that's enough.  "

Read the whole article here:

http://mobile.sfgate.com/topic/3767-All%20Entertainment%20Headlines/articles/194189527

Wonderland on the News!!!

wonderland got covered today on the local ABC news!

follow the link below:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7069365

RAW is coming!!!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 3, 2009
ROOT DIVISION PRESENTS: Second Saturday November 2009

RAW
An exhibition of new Bay Area sculpture and installation

Curated by John K. Melvin

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Root Division is proud to present our November Second Saturday event, an exhibition of new Bay Area sculpture and installation, guest-curated by local artist and curator John K. Melvin.

The work in RAW has a distinct materiality, and each of the artists is uniquely aware of its presence. Whether assembled from found objects or crafted from items not typically associated with fine art, the sculptures and installations featured in this show work to declaim the fundamental appeal of objectness.


Artists like Colby Claycomb, Brandon Truscott, and Izumi Yokoyama evoke their own personal narratives by exploiting the built-in meaning of used materials. Others, like Barry Beach, John K. Melvin, and Kit Rosenberg take a more detached approach, boiling down a conceptual premise to its most essential material elements. But regardless of how each artist approaches their work, there is a shared enthusiasm to maintain the integrity of the chosen medium.

Details are on-line at http://raw-rootdivisionsf.blogspot.com

Artists:


Barry Beach
Colby Claycomb
Benjamin Echeverria



Sean Olson
Christophe Piallat
Kit Rosenberg*
Brandon Truscott


Jesse Walton
Sarah Willis
Izumi Yokoyama
*Root Division Resident Artist
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 14th, 7-10 pm
Sliding Scale Suggested Donation: $2-$20
Exhibition Dates: November 11th-December 5th, 2009
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays- Saturdays, 2-6 pm (or by appointment)

ROOT DIVISION
3175 17th Street (at South Van Ness & Shotwell)
San Francisco, CA 94110
www.rootdivision.org
415.863.7668

ABOUT ROOT DIVISION:
Root Division is an arts and arts education non-profit located in the Mission District of San Francisco. Root Division's mission is to improve appreciation and access to the visual arts by connecting personal inspiration and community participation. We provide subsidized studio space to working artists in exchange for their service in creating shared learning opportunities for the community. Artists develop creatively and professionally by teaching art to underserved youth, leading adult education classes, and producing exhibitions that showcase local emerging artwork. By combining multiple opportunities for creative exchange, Root Division cultivates an artistic ecosystem that enriches life throughout the Bay Area.

Root Division is supported in part by grants from Grants for the Arts: SF Hotel Tax Fund, The San Francisco Foundation, and the Walter & Elise Haas Fund. The Second Saturday Exhibition Series is sponsored by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Commission through a Cultural Equity Grant/Organizational Project Grant, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.