I checked out The Atheon, the new installation by conceptual artist Jonathan Keats, yesterday in Berkeley by the Berkeley Public Library. You know, the art piece that has been blogged about on Boing Boing, Wired, and Discover Magazine. Pretty impressive stuff, huh?

Here’s a photo of the art piece:

Oh, you can’t see anything but windows? Let me give you a closer look.

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I finally got on over to UC Berkeley Friday to check out the Associated Press’ “American President” exhibit in the Graduate School of Journalism’s North Gate Hall.

Some of the photos, like the one pictured left of Judge Robert Rosenberg using a magnifying glass to examine a disputed paper ballot in Florida by AP’s Alan Diaz, are so iconic that I actually recognized and remembered them. Others, from photos of Abraham Lincoln (man was he tall!) to pictures of Maime Eisenhower, I had never seen before.

The fact is, AP photographers seem to have been everywhere at all times. They were there when John Hinckley, Jr. tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981. The photo in the exhibit is terrifying as Secret Service agents are on the ground nursing bullet wounds and Hinckley is surrounded by other agents, guns drawn.

There are beautiful pictures of John F. Kennedy, who was before my time, arriving in Dallas just a short time before he was shot and killed. And, of course, there are photos of the aftermath of Kennedy’s killing including a heartbreaking portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy receiving the flag that covered her husband’s casket during his funeral service.

While some of the photos were quite fun – I really like the shot of Nixon and Elvis together – the entire exhibit reminded me how dangerous it is to be President of the United States. I spent the time returning to my car thinking about how hard of a job it is and wondering, really, why anyone would want to do it.

Stop by the exhibit if you’re in Berkeley near the UC campus. North Gate Hall is at Hearst and Euclid Avenues. Vistiting the exhibit is free and it is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

I had the chance to talk with San Francisco-based filmmaker Harriet Storm about her film “Kaden” being shown Thursday at Lunafest, a film festival by women and for women sponsored by Luna Bar.

In “Kaden,” Storm follows a young transgendered man around San Francisco as he talks about his upcoming “top” surgery, an $8,000 surgery he will soon go through to remove his breasts to appear more male.

The film is one of eight shorts being shown at the Thursday night festival at the Palace of Fine Arts. The festival is meant to support women filmmakers and proceeds from the festival go to the Breast Cancer Fund.

I got to see the entirety of “Kaden” before talking with Storm and I have to tell you I was moved by his openness and transparency as I followed him through a relatively average day at work, in the park and with his partner.

Storm had just started film school at San Francisco State University when she made “Kaden.” She says she knew of the young man through a friend and found his story compelling, a great fit for a short documentary.

“There’s nothing threatening about him,” she says. “He’s just this normal guy with a normal job. His dreams are the same as so many people’s.”

I got more curious about the festival and started watching other films that are going to be screened Thursday night. Let me tell you, there are some real treats on the bill. Just take a look at this film, “My First Crush” which will be on the big screen Thursday night.

Tickets to Lunafest are $10 for students, $20 regular admission and $50 for a VIP reception with treats and drinks. I went to the festival a few years ago and was delighted by a night of pure, women-focused entertainment. You can feel good about what you paid for the tickets, too, because it goes to a good cause. Oh, and the evening is hosted by Sara Snow, a green living expert and TV show host.

The folks over at Luna say the festival always sells out so I would buy tickets here now or call 866-760-8223 for reservations. And get there before the 7:30 p.m. show time to get good seats!

Photos by Ralf Burgert
I didn’t want to be the only one who is excited about the opening of the new California Academy of Sciences Sept. 27, so I decided to eavesdrop on a bunch of visitors at the first academy members’ tour and press party Sunday. If I was going to hear people’s reactions to this place, or anything bad for that matter, this was the way to do it, I figured.

Turns out, people talk really loudly when they are enjoying something. If I bothered to count all the exclamations of wonder and joy… well, I’d still be counting.

The academy’s new building in Golden Gate Park across from the DeYoung will be open and inviting once the construction gates are down. I have always thought the DeYoung looks like a bunker and the academy is the opposite of that. It’s glass windows invite you in and show you, in a small way, that there is something special here.

Inside most of the building, though there were a lot of people touring the place, it felt open and airy. On a day like Sunday, there was enough room to really just look around and discover without constantly bumping into folks. I would say the only exception to this was the Steinhart Aquarium, which is darker than the rest of the building and decidedly more cramped.

The center’s two most-talked-about exhibits were not yet open - the Morrison Planetarium and the Rainforests of the World - so my tour did not include these.

My first stop was to the top of the academy’s living roof, which I thought would be likely the least visually thrilling part of the new building.

The living roof was inspired by the concept of lifting up a piece of Golden Gate Park and sliding the museum underneath it. It has nine annual and perennial plants growing on it, most of which were a lovely purple and white.

“Oh look mom!” one young boy around 8-years-old exclaimed as he crawled the railing of the roof’s observation deck, “those are strawberry plants!”

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I don’t know about you but I’ve already had my fill of election coverage. I’m tired of - and frankly disappointed - by the increasingly contentious back-and-forth between America’s most prominent political parties. That’s why I’m heading to “The Art of Democracy: War and Empire” at San Francisco’s Meridian Gallery this weekend in an attempt to get my mind back where it belongs this political season: on the issues.

And does this exhibit address them: war, destruction of the environment, corruption and violations of constitutional rights. 40 artists including Fernando Botero, Enrique Chagoya, Eric Drooker, Bella Feldman, Art Hazelwood, Hung Liu, Rigo 23 and others contribute paintings, assemblages, prints, sculptures and more. It’s one of forty exhibitions across American entitled “Art of Democracy” organized by Hazelwood and New York Society of Etchers president Stephen A. Fredericks. According to the press release, the exhibitions were created in an attempt to “analyze what went wrong within this millenium with an America that was admired not so long ago.”

The exhibit runs 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays through Nov. 4 at 535 Powell St., S.F. Call 415-398-7229 or visit www.meridiangallery.org for more information.

Here’s are a peek:

“Poppies/Amapolas” an etching by Fernando Marti

“Apartheid Wall” by Erik Drooker

“Oh America” by Gee Vaucher

To view Francisco Botero’s “Abu Ghraib 72″ from his series depicting torture at the infamous prison, follow the link. Warning: Strong content.
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Part of Oakland’s alternative art charm is the questionably legal (or illegal?) spaces where art happens strangely or dangerously. NIMBY, the warehouse space on 28th in West Oakland, was one of those places that I never knew if it was legal or not to be there, but I didn’t care.

I saw the Bay Area’s own Sesame Speed Metal band Cookie Mongoloid there one time, years ago, and nearly died laughing while being pelted in the noggin’ with chocolate chip cookies. It felt apocalyptic.

 I watched East Bay Rats fights there and attended fundraisers for various Burning Man projects. I even got to see Rosanna Scimecca’s incredible Cleavage in Space art piece off the playa and up close at NIMBY.

Well, Sept. 10, there was a fire at NIMBY. No one was hurt, thankfully, but I knew when I read the story in our paper that that was going to be the end of the space. It is. They are not zoned for the great things they do in that warehouse and when there’s a fight between art and zoning, zoning always wins.

On NIMBY’s Web site you can donate money to the artists still there so they can pay their rent for the rest of their lease.

But right now, we say goodbye to a great space that embodied underground Oaktown.

And enjoy a vid of Cookie Mongoloid, if you haven’t seen them before.

“The carport” by David Hector

It was a real treat for me to go to the Sun Gallery in Hayward yesterday to check out art done by local firefighters in a show called “The Hottest Show in Town,” which closes today. Ten firefighters from all over the Bay Area - Alameda, San Jose, Hayward, Oakland - have work in the show.

There’s photography, ceramics, drawings, poetry and well-worn firefighting gear. Not all of the items on display were perfect but there was some really nice photography of hard-working firefighters on duty. A drawing done by Eduardo Ramos called “Dreaming Big,” of a girl looking into the mirror and seeing herself as an adult firefighter, was worth the trip alone.

The gallery is open until 5 p.m. If you miss the show, catch up with the nice Sun Gallery folks Sept. 26 during their fundraising event at Hayward City Hall. There will be Ballet Folkorico dancing by Ballet Folkorico Tlapalli, food and drinks. Tickets are $40 at the door and $35 in advance. You can call Christine at the gallery for reservations (510) 581-4050.

Learn more about the Sun Gallery here, on the gallery’s blog.

Don’t tell my boss but I am totally going to be glued to my computer starting at 1 p.m. (Pacific Time) Tuesday, Sept. 16 for the pre-show of zoo animals doing art. It’s part of an Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) event that features live auction of art made my animals in zoos accredited by the AZA. Art from about 60 animals from zoos across the U.S. will be sold to benefit conservation programs and the like.

Our very own Oakland Zoo has a budding artist living in those golden hills. Benghazi the retriculated giraffee paints by holding a paintbrush in his mouth.

There is also work from elephants, polar bears, lions, meerkats and snakes.


 

The animals do art as part of an enrichment program, says Margaret Rousser of the Oakland Zoo. Because the animals are not in the wild, zoos often use other tools such as art to keep them stimulated. Rousser says making art is popular with some of the animals.

“Some animals use paint brushes, some use their noses, some use thier paws,” she says.

None of the animals are forced into a painting beret.

 ”When given the choice, most of the time that’s what they’ll choose to do,” she says.

Creating the art also is safe - the paints are non-toxic and washable.  And who doesn’t want to see what wonderful creations an otter can make?

You can watch a live-streaming high-definition pre-show starting at 1 p.m. on http://www.auctionnetwork.com. Register to bid on the work an hour later at http://www.auctionnetwork.com/aza.

By the way, if you’ve never seen an animal paint before and missed this viral video a few months back, I suggest you watch this Thai Asian elephant do a self-portrait.