about clouds and conversation with other curators that there was an exhibition of the center for british art that existed the work of a man named mark lenard who was a painting at the getty museum and now at dal ace and he has worked on constable clouds and was so inspired by the work that he has done that he actually responded to the clouds in his own works. so clouds are very timely topic on many forums. and i just wanted to show you an exam el, the many, many types of studies of clouds trying to understand their three dimensionality and not giving you anything else on the composition other than the shapes of the clouds. even though the picture was made in 1822 it is very contemporary without the space.

>> and back to the point of self-curating, and i started to think as an art historic when i became aware of clouds, when i start to think about them? we did an exhibition in 2011 at the duyong new see um which some of you may have seen was drawn from the collection in vienna and i brought an essay including saint sabastian and there is a detail in the clouds where you have a rider in the clouds. and art historians have not been able to agree on exactly what this figure is it a king, is it someone from mythology, but in any case, he has taken that childhood pass time of trying to see the shapes in the clouds and has created the shapes in the clouds of this painting. >> and some of you may have also seen our current exhibition with the girl with the pearl ear ring, there are

not any clouds in this composition and i could not fabricate them and so i wanted to speak about this painting that is also in the collection of the maritz house it actually has three competitions and this was probably the most famous in the works in the collection up until the publication of the novel girl with the pearl ear ring and i will be doing a conversation with her next thursday, the 28th and that will be live google plus streamed. all sorts of fun technology. but before the publication of her book, and the subsequent film, this was probably one of the most famous compositions by verm ere, certainly the most famous, and has three paintings and i love that the way that the clouds hang so low and it is actually much darker on my screen, but this kind of balance between the rain clouds and the white pufffy clouds and

the way that they interacts with the buildings in the city. this competes with two other paintings in the exhibition and i will not say which ones they are and it competes for my favorite painting in the exhibition it is view of harlem with bleaching grounds in the foregrounds and one of the most important innovations for the 17th century, dutch landscape painters was the way that they approached the sky. for any of you who have traveled to the netherlands you know that there is a low horizon line and i have been told that the dutch people and i can be corrected. that they call their clouds the dutch mountains because the landscape is so low that really you get these massive clouds in the sky and that is the kind of important topography to talk about. this is another example by the same artist and it is a winter

scene, and as i move through these images of different paintings from various national schools. i don't want to talk too much over them but to let you feel how the atmosphere and the mood is changed by the different kinds of clouds that the artists have chosen to depict. and i wanted to also var clearly indicate it was interesting when putting together this powerpoint, i don't typically like to put any words on the images on the slides because i like the images in that way to speak for themselves, i feel like your eye competes between the words and images but i felt that it was important to differentiate between what is in our current exhibition and our permanent collection. so this is in the temporary exhibition as well. and then i wanted to let the paintings and the temporary exhibition and our permanent collection speak to each other and i started going through the

permanent collection thinking about all of the ways that the clouds are represented in paintings starting with this early 16th century paintings by an artist nameds chima and i liked the way that the cloud offers like an extension of his halo and then you have this dramatic painting where the clouds are parting and it is like he is parting the red sea in the sky in this dramatic and emotional way that the clouds are not just offering but a part of the action and a part of the drama. and then you have got somebody like el greco who uses the clouds in this really violent and really nervous and really tense way. the clouds are vibrating with energy and they surround the figure of st. john the baptist in this very expressive way. so different than the other kinds of clouds that we were

just looking at. and this is a painting by a norwegian artist named doll and i liked it because we have a nighttime scene and so you think about seeing the clouds in the daytime or the rain clouds or competitions of clouds that are over beautiful land scapes but what do the clouds do in this picture, when we are looking at the moon through the view of the clouds? and this is a painting that is particularly close to my t. it is mid victor an artist named john martin and this painting is his depiction of the aftermath of the great biblical floods and so the clouds and waters are parting and you can't see it in this slide reproduction but in the actual painting very far in the horizon line you have noah and the arc. but the way that the clouds almost start to take on a figural representation, it is like there is a movement of hope and promise coming in the sky and of course the skies have this long history of being

associated with the heavens and mythology. and you can't talk about clouds without talking about the impressionists. also on my mind since we are planning for the impressionist on the water exhibition which opens at the legend of honor june first. and this is a painting by the very-well monet and i was thinking back to constible. clouds where you don't get a figure you have a horizon and you get more of a sense of space and it is not just the clouds. but the whole canvas is taken up by water and sky and it is very architectural wave that he has construct td the brush work of the waiveds tossing in front of us. and then, imented to talk a little bit about the surrealist and i am about to install these paintings into what is

traditionally our impressionist gallery. but they are some of the most popular paintings in our collection and when we don't have them i get people asking what have you done with them? and i think that doli's approach to many things is idiocyncratic and these clouds have a view, and they almost seemed figure all to me but they have this really expensive intention for lack of a better way to describe them. i don't know that he would have wanted me describing them. >> i really love this image, and i think as we have heard from the other panelists, clouds and space and landscape have a personal meaning and what we project on them is very subjective and i think that in

my own attempt to synthesize art history in 15 minutes and looking at clouds and skies, i came to realize that there is a personal vocabary that we project on to these images. and so i felt honored to have participated on this panel and so i feel like it is really changed the way that i look at so many kinds of paintings and i thought about creating a exhibition on clouds and trying to take this project even further and i think that there is really a lot to be said for something that we take for granted perhaps on a daily basis, but much deeper meaning to be read. thank you to meg and the panelists and thank you to the audience. [ applause ]

>> 550 years in 15 minutes. nicely done. i want to thank our panelists so much. let's give them a hand. thank you. >> i want to leave you with a few thoughts. conversation six, i don't know if many of you know this, but is our final exhibition in our current space in main gallery in the veteran's building, that whole building is being retrofit for two years. when we reopen in 2015, we will have 4400 square feet. and we have 900 square feet right now. so it is going to be a remarkable new space. and we will be doing a lot of sort of institutional soul searching as to how we can serve the public and create an exhibition program in the large new facility that fills in gaps

here in our cultural stratta and how we can serve a wide variety of artists and communities, and represent san francisco in a way that we do currently which is by showing regional artists alongside of artists from other places, developing a dialogue between the local, the national and the international. so we will carry that forward in the new facilities. in the meantime we will continue to program at city hall and at the window installation sites. so we are not going dark. we are just, we are putting on hold one of our three different programs. and i want to leave you with one final thought. for the last week bear not has been here and i have been witnessing him make a cloud in the green room of the veteran's building which is on the second floor of that building and overlooks for a balcony that

overlooks city hall for those of you who have been there for private functions. >> it is an extraordinary room, it is the american pizza hut version of the hall of mirrors one might say. it is a gorgeous room. and we were reviewing the final edit of this new piece that will enter into the nimbus series and it will be on view at the gallery in a couple of weeks and again, watch your e-mail and we will let you know when it arrives and you can come and look at it. there will be two images chosen from this large multiday, one is a large print that will be on view in the gallery and is an addition of six. and then, we have been sort of talking about addition size and

then there will be a version that is about this big. that is an addition of 30 and available for purchase at a affordable price. so let us know if you are interested in that and watch the e-mail and the funds will go to both support the artist and support the programs at the arts commission as we move forward. so sign up for our eblast and keep in touch and thank you so much for coming tonight. we will hang out for just a little bit and answer questions, and you can come by and see the exhibition wednesday through saturday, 12 to five. thank you so much. >> you're watching quick bite, the show that has san francisco. ♪

♪ ♪ >> we're here at one of the many food centric districts of san francisco, the 18th street corridor which locals have affectionately dubbed the castro. a cross between castro and gastronomic. the bakery, pizza, and dolores park cafe, there is no end in sight for the mouth watering food options here. adding to the culinary delights is the family of business he which includes skylight creamery, skylight and the 18 raisin. >> skylight market has been here since 1940. it's been in the family since 1964. his father and uncle bought the market and ran it through sam

taking it over in 1998. at that point sam revamped the market. he installed a kitchen in the center of the market and really made it a place where chefs look forward to come. he created community through food. so, we designed our community as having three parts we like to draw as a triangle where it's comprised of our producers that make the food, our staff, those who sell it, and our guests who come and buy and eat the food. and we really feel that we wouldn't exist if it weren't for all three of those components who really support each other. and that's kind of what we work towards every day. >> valley creamery was opened in 2006. the two pastry chefs who started it, chris hoover and walker who is sam's wife,

supplied all the pastries and bakeries for the market. they found a space on the block to do that and the ice cream kind of came as an afterthought. they realized the desire for ice cream and we now have lines around the corner. so, that's been a huge success. in 2008, sam started 18 reasons, which is our community and event space where we do five events a week all around the idea of bringling people closer to where the food comes from and closer to each other in that process. >> 18 reasons was started almost four years ago as an educational arm of their work. and we would have dinners and a few classes and we understood there what momentum that people wanted this type of engagement and education in a way that allowed for a more in-depth conversation. we grew and now we offer -- i think we had nine, we have a

series where adults learned home cooking and we did a teacher training workshop where san francisco unified public school teachers came and learned to use cooking for the core standards. we range all over the place. we really want everyone to feel like they can be included in the conversation. a lot of organizations i think which say we're going to teach cooking or we're going to teach gardening, or we're going to get in the policy side of the food from conversation. we say all of that is connected and we want to provide a place that feels really community oriented where you can be interested in multiple of those things or one of those things and have an entree point to meet people. we want to build community and we're using food as a means to that end. >> we have a wonderful organization to be involved with obviously coming from buy right where really everyone is treated very much like family. coming into 18 reasons which even more community focused is such a treat. we have these events in the evening and we really try and bring people together. people come in in groups, meet

friends that they didn't even know they had before. our whole set up is focused on communal table. you can sit across from someone and start a conversation. we're excited about that. >> i never worked in catering or food service before. it's been really fun learning about where things are coming from, where things are served from. >> it is getting really popular. she's a wonderful teacher and i think it is a perfect match for us. it is not about home cooking. it's really about how to facilitate your ease in the kitchen so you can just cook. >> i have always loved eating food. for me, i love that it brings me into contact with so many wonderful people. ultimately all of my work that i do intersects at the place where food and community is. classes or cooking dinner for someone or writing about food. it always come down to empowering people and giving them a wonderful experience.

empower their want to be around people and all the values and reasons the commitment, community and places, we're offering a whole spectrum of offerings and other really wide range of places to show that good food is not only for wealthy people and they are super committed to accessibility and to giving people a glimpse of the beauty that really is available to all of us that sometimes we forget in our day to day running around. >> we have such a philosophical mission around bringing people together around food. it's so natural for me to come here. >> we want them to walk away feeling like they have the tools to make change in their lives. whether that change is voting on an issue in a way that they will really confident about, or that change is how to understand why it is important

to support our small farmers. each class has a different purpose, but what we hope is that when people leave here they understand how to achieve that goal and feel that they have the resources necessary to do that. >> are you inspired? maybe you want to learn how to have a patch in your backyard or cook better with fresh ingredients . or grab a quick bite with organic goodies. find out more about 18 reasons by going to 18 reasons.org and learn about buy right market and creamery by going to buy right market.com. and don't forget to check out our blog for more info on many of our episodes at sf quick bites.com. until next time, may the fork be with you. ♪ ♪ >> so chocolaty. mm. ♪ >> oh, this is awesome.

oh, sorry. i thought we were done rolling. ♪ ♪ >> we came to seven straight about 10 years ago. -- 7th street about 10 years ago. the environment is huge. it is stronger than willpower. surrounding yourself with artists, being in a culture where artists are driving, and where a huge amount of them is a healthy environment. >> you are making it safer.

push, push. that is better. when i start thinking, i see it actually -- sometimes, i do not see it, but when i do, it is usually from the inside out. it is like watching something being spawned. you go in, and you begin to work, excavate, play with the dancers, and then things began to emerge. you may have a plan that this is what i want to create. here are the ideas i want to play with, but then, you go into the room, and there maybe some fertile ideas that are becoming manifest that are more interesting than the idea you had initially set out to plan. so there has to be this openness for spontaneity. also, a sense that regardless of the deadline, that you have tons of time so the you can keep your

creativity alive and not cut it off and just go into old habits. it is a lot like listening. really listening to watch what is going to emerge. i like this thing where you put your foot on his back. let's keep it. were your mind is is how you build your life. if you put it in steel or in failure, it works. that works. it is a commitment. for most artists, it is a vacation and a life that they have committed themselves to. there is this notion that artists continue to do their work because of some kind of the external financial support. if that was taken away, artists would still do their art. it is not like there is a

prerequisite for these things to happen or i will not do it. how could that be? it is the relationship that you have committed to. it is the vocation. no matter how difficult it gets, you are going to need to produce your art. whether it is a large scale or very small scale. the need to create is going to happen, and you are going to have to fulfill it because that is your life.