Monthly Archives: September 2012

The Arion Press

The remarkable folks at Arion Press, Diana Ketcham and Andrew Hoyem, sent this note after they heard the first story in the series. Their type is composed and cast on the premises by M & H, the oldest and largest type foundry still operating in this country.

“How about fitting in the people who make their own metal type for handcrafted books. If there were ever “makers” we are it. Arion Press and M&H typefoundry in the Presidio–unique in the world and one of the most unusual treasures of the Bay Area. The Press and its foundry should have a place in any treatment of unusual crafts in the Bay Area. We stand ready to talk with you if there is any interest.”

Here are some sounds and photos from our visit to the press:

The Making Of… Kimchi

Hi all, We launched The Making Of… on KQED on Tuesday and the calls and notes and tweets and videos have been pouring in. This email caught our eye and we thought it might catch yours as well:

kimchi is at least 4000 years old — I am proposing the making of kimchi by sunhui chang of fusebox in west oakland — kimchi has traditionally been women’s work — men rarely entered the kitchen and were usually not even allowed in the area when women make kimchi a time for them to share knowledge and gossip. sunhui (this is a female name chosen for him after his grandfather visited a fortune teller) is breaking many traditions with his name, and his work with kimchi absolutely hands on and hands deep in the process which takes hours he makes his own gochu jang also time intensive and a lost art — korean women are now coming to try his kimchi and remark how wonderful it is — in korea kimchi is spoken when taking a picture to get the big smile like us saying cheese — kimchi is it a pickle or a salad? sunhui is a humble but amazing storyteller especially about kimchi — kimchi in west oakland, ca.
-ellen sebastian chang (Sunhi Chang’s wife)

The Bay Lights

From our intern, Nora Kroopf:

Some people look at the Bay Bridge and see a way to get to Berkeley. Some people look at the Bay Bridge and see a canvas, an art project, an installation, like Ben Davis, founder of Words, Pictures, Ideas, a creative marketing agency passionate about social and civic projects. Ben and his team had the idea to invite pioneering light sculptor, Leo Villareal, to illuminate the Bay Bridge in celebration of its 75th Anniversary and the completion of the new east span. Villareal drew inspiration for his design from the ever-changing surroundings of the bridge — the on-going traffic, the waves, the weather, focusing on the movement all around. “Just as you start to to get an idea of what it is, it starts to shift and change so there’s a slipperiness to it,” says Villareal. His captivating project, The Bay Lights, an installation of 25,000 white LED bulbs on the north side of the bridge, will be 1.5 miles wide and 500 feet tall. Villareal will be orchestrating the sequences of each individual bulb via laptop. He says the process is similar to tuning a musical instrument, constantly making minute adjustments. The Bay Lights will premiere in March of 2013 and be up for two years. “I hope it will catalyze different arts groups and inspire many different groups in the Bay Area to create and to really start making things.”

Leo Villareal

For more information visit thebaylights.org

The Call for Stories

Story #1: The Call. Today, The Kitchen Sisters & KQED launch The Making Of… what people make in the Bay Area and why. The Making Of… is a community documentary project, that chronicles the art, creativity and invention going on in backyards, workplaces, cultural hot spots and public spaces throughout one of the most diverse and innovative regions in the country.

What are YOU making? How about your grandmother, your next-door neighbor, the guy you sit next to at work?

Call our listener phone line and tell us your story. (415) 553-3362.

Produced by The Kitchen Sisters with Nathan Dalton
Mixed by Jim McKee / Studio Engineer: Ceil Muller
Project interns: Maggie Johnson, Nora Kroopf, Lauren Benichou

Special thanks: Dana Yares, Doug Haut, Katherine Forrest, Paul Kangis, Theresa LaQuey, Laura Sydell, Elliot Gann, Sherry Franklin & Muttville, Mike Beatty, Forrest Lewinger, Ann Hatch & The Workshop Residence, J.D. Beltran, Scott Minneman, Lynee Breedlove, Sherry Olsen, Cecelia Chang, Marie K Lee, Phil Cho, Kevin Cooke, Julia McEvoy, Jo Anne Wallace, Lindsey Wagner, Kara Oehler, and Zeega.

Treats for the Dead

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From our intern, Lauren Benichou:

At the beginning of November, thousands of folks across the Bay Area will celebrate El DĂ­a de Los Muertos by building altars ornamented with marigolds, pictures of lost loved ones, pan dulce and… sugar skulls. With November fast approaching, a story on the making of sugar skulls seems timely. Before interning with The Kitchen Sisters and long before I even knew that I wanted to do radio, the celebration of the Days of the Dead was the centerpiece of my senior thesis at Cal and consequently, the gravitating point of my life for almost half a year. This is a call to all the sugar skull artists out there in the Bay Area. Known and unknown, beginners and connoisseurs, I want to know how and why you make sugar skulls. Lend me your voices and show me your skills.

Barry McGee

When you walk by the Berkeley Art Museum, your eye is immediately drawn to the word, “Snitch” spray painted in huge letters on the museum’s Bancroft side and just like that you are swept into the world of Barry McGee. His current midcareer exhibit at BAM/PFA is open until December 9th and gives us a look into the complex and creative mind of McGee. Using various materials such as empty liquor bottles and surfboards and his extensive collection of drawings, paintings, prints, and installations, it seems like this man never stops creating. Here’s a look at what other street artists have to say about his work from the 2008 documentary, Beautiful Losers, directed by Aaron Rose and Joshua Leonard. Hopefully, we will be talking to Barry for The Making Of… in the future.

-Nora

Chinese Tamales

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From our friend and former intern, Patty Fung:

My grandmother has been making Jung, or Chinese Tamales, in her home in San Francisco’s Sunset District for a long time. It was a recipe passed down by her husband’s mother and I had a chance to learn all about her way of preparing Jung while I was living with her. Jung is made for certain occasions with a history revolving around the death of a famous Chinese poet and patriot named Qu Yuan. It can now be found daily around Chinese eateries in the Bay Area or made with age-old recipes in home kitchens like my grandmother’s.

The backstory, history, and her own recipe can be found here.

Spray Paint, a Ladder, a Bicycle

I’m Nora Kroopf and I just moved to San Francisco this week. I graduated from Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles and am now interning with The Kitchen Sisters working on their new project “The Making Of…” I’m new to this city and have been looking for what people are making in the Bay Area and why. These three videos caught my eye.

MTN COLORS: The Original Since 1994 from WEREHAUS on Vimeo.

Inside the Ladder Shop at the San Francisco Fire Department from ASK Media Productions on Vimeo.

Urban Tree to Bicycle from Jeff Diehl on Vimeo.

Treehouse and Surf Boat

We were recently turned on to the Mollusk Surf Shop in San Francisco. It’s part surf shop, part art gallery.

We missed the Jay Nelson exhibit that closed this weekend, but check out the video above of a custom treehouse and camper boat (aka “surf vehicle”) that he built.

And while you’re at it check out all the great surf videos on the Mollusk site.

Lots of cool making going on in the surf world.

Update: We got word from Mollusk that Jay’s show is still up. Go check it out.