Category Archives: DIY and Maker Culture

Jam the Giant Poodle meets Shrek

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Come to Dada. Come to Pop! Jam the giant red poodle meets Shrek. And his Donkey sidekick. Hee Haw! Redwood tree chainsaw art is a major minor industry up the Cali coast. Like the Giant Red poodle? Jam meets Bigfoot here. Jam the Boot Poodle here. A Versatile Gay Companion here. Woof!

One Day’s Harvest and…

…what we did with it. Nutritious and Delicious! The Buddha Nature grows its own.

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Rural Dungeon Still Life…

…often occupied. Momentarily empty. The space used to be a goat barn. Now it is a dungeon. The focus of the photo is a piece of classic dungeon furniture known in the scene as a St. Andrew’s Cross. Site of many a spiritual journey…et cetera.

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Beautiful SOMA Banksy – Hot Rat!

 

Banksy on 9th St. SF. Photo: Gay Highwaymen, Dec 2010.

Banksy! We snapped this shot on 9th St between Folsom and Harrison Streets in San Francisco’s SOMA (South of Market) district some time back. Popped up “just so” during last year’s run of Exit Through The Gift Shop.

Hey, B,…if you ever want to extend your marvelous marks into the rural fabulosity of NorCal, you are invited. Hospitality, anonymity, great groovy walls and other cool surfaces guaranteed!

The Buddha Nature…

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Running The Gauntlet – Jim Ward Book Event at Mr. S Leather

Jim Ward at LDG, May 2011. Photo: Gay Highwaymen

Friend of this site Jim Ward founded The Gauntlet, and is widely regarded as the grand-daddy of the modern body piercing phenomenon. Now he has published a history. In May, he spoke to a packed room at The Leathermen’s Disscussion Group in San Francisco. Running the Gauntlet—An Intimate History of the Modern Body Piercing Movement tells the detailed story of “how Jim discovered his own fascination with body piercing and went on to found the industry.” Full of wonderful and terrible stories and amazing photographs, it includes details of his friendship with the heavily pierced and very gay Louis Rove – the adoptive father of the notorious Carl Rove. Other interesting bits include how the color purple came to signify piercing in the hanky code, and how he was collared to his long-term partner and Master, Drew Ward.

On Saturday, July 16th, 2011, from 1 to 5 pm, Jim will be at Mr. S Leather , signing books and chatting. Mr. S is at 385 8th St at Harrison in San Francisco, four blocks south of the Civic Center BART Station. If you can’t make it to the book event, and you want a copy, you can order one at the Running The Gauntlet website, here. Jim will even sign it for you.

Glitter Emergency and More at Frameline’s 35th SF LGBT Film Fest

It is the middle of the SF LGBT Film Festival, high holy days are underway in the City by the Bay, Pride is coming,  and outside the festival’s host venues, gay film buffs are rubbing their bleary eyes after marathon sessions in the dark. The cinematic apparatus, not that other dark! There is something for everyone at this annual festival, now in its 35th year. The shorts programs are some of the best, and for those with short attention spans, are just the ticket. One film is not doing it for you? Wait 5 minutes. The next one could be all that.

“All that glitters is indeed gold in this wonderful collection of shorts featuring several gems from our very own Bay Area filmmakers… Take a look at disgusting alien bodies and eavesdrop on the deaf relay system. Follow a camera off a bridge in a memorial for lives lost. A dispute on the high seas can only be settled by a dance off (of course), and we’ll see just how campy an AIDS camp can be. Rounding out the program is a silent comedy set to Tchaikovsky and starring Peggy the Peg-leg Ballerina.” via festival director Jennifer Morris

“Glitter Emergency” shows at the Victoria Theatre, 9:30 pm on Tuesday, June 21st, 2011. The Victoria is located at 2961 16th Street in the  Mission district. Built in 1908 as a Vaudeville House, it is the oldest operating theatre in San Francisco.

We Fund Artists! Want a Commission? Queer Cultural Center – SF Workshop June 29

The Queer Cultural Center will be awarding at least 20 commissions of between $250 – $1000 each for individual artists and groups to help create and stage innovative community-building projects. Cross-cultural, multi-ethnic and intergenerational projects are strongly encouraged. To be considered, you MUST attend the 90-minute introductory workshop on June 29th at 7pm at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. The address is 1519 Mission Street at 11th. For more information on the annual funding process, click here.

Hairy Cartoon Bears at Magnet!

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Noel Ibay is exhibiting his images of Bears and Chubs at Magnet. The show is called BEarMUSEMENT, and includes graphite drawings, electronic media, cartoons, and pop-culture parodies and is intended to queer audience notions of male beauty. At Magnet in San Francisco through June. 4122 18th Street in the Castro district. Part of the 14th Annual Queer Arts Festival. More on that here.

Richard Bolingbroke’s Family Portraits at QIY – Big Gay Art Show in SF

Opening Saturday from 1-4 pm at SOMArts: Queer It Yourself: Tools for Survival. How do we make and do things that will have a lasting import? Straight culture has its traditions, institutions and social formulations and so have we. Sometimes they are parallel, other times a bit askew. When queers ask one another: “Is he family?” the word means something very different than when it is deployed as a semiotic weapon, as is the case with the coded phrase “family values.” How can we reconfigure notions (ie: the family) that have historically been used to separate, condemn and alienate us into useful tools for our collective long-term survival?

Artist and friend of this site Richard Bolingbroke explains how this works for him:

“These two pieces are part of my series Family Portrait in which I portray the men and women I am close to. As a gay man I needed to create my own ‘Family’ and I decided to document it myself rather than let straight society do it for me.. These men are my lovers and close friends. This is my community, my family. There are over 40 drawings in this series and these two of Frank and Luca, and Gary and Joe, are of couples who have both been together over 30 years.”

You can see Bolingbroke’s portraits, and lots of other fresh art Saturday afternoon at SOMArts, 934 Brannan Street in San Francisco. Opening at the same time in the side gallery: A History of Queer Street Art. More on that later.