Entries categorized as ‘San Francisco’
On Monday, I start my new job as Senior UI Designer at a startup called 23andme. The company sells a test for $399 that allows people to get information about their genetic makeup. As you can imagine there are many positive implications for medical research and ancestory data. It would be great to have friends and family to compare and share my DNA with! If you’ve ever been curious about your genetic makeup, and how it might affect your health, I encourage you to check out the site, and see if taking the test is for you!
Farewell Adobe - Thanks for lunch Kevin 
Categories: Design · Health · My life · San Francisco · Social Media
Tagged: 23andme, dna, genetics, genome, google, job, startup, UI
Changes to my personal living space, nature’s rainbow on the lawn of the Getty, and the urban fight against graffiti on city structures are simply stories about the passage of time as documented through my photographs. Because we all have access to digital media and the medium to display it, we can create endless stories to share with the world. I have recently come across some cool projects with a similar theme.
Urban Destruction and Renewal:
Invincible Cities is an interactive website created by sociologist and photographer Camilo José Vergara. It presents “A Visual Encyclopedia of the American Ghetto.” Through this interface, we can see the same storefront as photographed in 1977, and in 2008. I would love to have something like this for some of the places I called home in my life – like the Lizard Lounge building in Chicago @ 1824 W. Augusta Blvd. Or maybe our first house at 96 Oak Drive, in New Jersey.
Humans Aging:
The photographer Nicolas Nixon, photographed his wife and her sisters each year starting in 1975. The name of the series is The Brown Sisters. The consistency of the project is inspiring – never missing a year, the women always arranged in the same order… seeing how they’ve aged year to year, is very humbling.
Nature Never Stopping
San Franciscians are fortunate to give a home to Andy Goldsworthy’s Spire in the Presidio.
“In 2006, artist Andy Goldsworthy visited the Presidio and was inspired by the history and character of the forest. He saw an opportunity to create a sculpture with the felled mature trees. Constructed in October 2008, The Spire tells the story of the forest, celebrates its history and natural rhythms, and welcomes the next generation of trees. It is a poetic reference to the forest’s past; as new young trees grow up to meet the sculpture, it will eventually disappear into the forest.”
Goldsworthy works almost exclusively in and with nature. From building long stone walls, to creating an icicle sculpture, to floating a delicate chain of flowers down the river, his works are ephemeral and temporal, not made last, never made to stay the same. This is true ’sustainable’ art. There’s a very good documentary film about the artist called Rivers and Tides where you can see his art in action.
Categories: Art & Culture · San Francisco
Tagged: "nicholas nixon", art, Design, environmental, goldsworthy, San Francisco, timeline, urban
Bodies and instruments make rhythm and notes makes Music in Twelve Parts. Philip Glass and his ensemble of committed, talented, devoted artists created order out of chaos in a system that I will never understand. For four hours, accompanied by no video, no pictures, no screensavers our eyes closed we accomplished the act of meditating on the pure unfiltered experience of listening with our hearts. Surprisingly enjoyable as notes come and go and little did you know or remember that sound from just five minutes ago. One journey that’s not for everybody – but so surprisingly accessible – for even a music neophyte such as myself. If you ever get a chance to see this performance – please take the opportunity. You might be heading for the door after 45 minutes, or you might just might finally understand what it feels like to be enveloped in the sound of artistic genius. Listen for yourself. (itunes link)
photo via flickr by Jamie Hillman
Categories: Art & Culture · Events · Music · San Francisco
Tagged: classical, concert, davies, glass, Music, musichall, phillip, San Francisco, sanfrancisco
