I recently came upon an old newspaper article that quoted artists and gallerists complaining about the lack of local support for the arts. It was published sometime in the 1930s, perhaps earlier. While researching the history of the arts in San Francisco, one vexing reality comes up repeatedly: the paucity of public support the city has provided to its artists. At the same time, the financial limitations of the relatively few serious collectors and even fewer savvy commercial galleries has always been offset by a local arts community that generates support of its own. This has manifested in a great many ways, two of which are currently featured in the exhibitions. “The Dome Show” at the di Rosa SF, and the Fraenkel Gallery’s “Slice of the Pie.” Both make gestures toward a community ethos of mutual support.
Another avenue for collective artist support here has been the purchase of old factories and retrofitting them as artist live-work spaces. Founded in 1971, Project Artaud is one of the most venerable live/work communities in the United States. Lesser known are East Bay equivalents like the Emeryville Coops, and the Vulcan Lofts in Oakland. The subject of the di Rosa SF exhibition, The Dome was founded by Peter Voulkos exactly fifty years ago. Its large space and fabrication facilities allowed Voulkos and other residents to make large ceramic and metalwork in relatively comfortable surroundings. Over the past five decades many noted artists, including Bella Feldman, Viola Frey, Tom Holland and Marilyn Levine, found their way to that space. “The Dome: 50 Years of Life and Art” offers an informative selection of works made at The Dome over its half-century lifespan. What is most striking is the creative nurturing that goes on at such places, a recognition that is especially important today. As curator Twyla Ruby puts it in her catalog essay, “the resilience of artist-led communities underscores their essential role as the cultural backbones of the Bay Area.”
With the recent loss of several vital and historic art schools and exhibiting institutions, the current mood in the northern California arts community is less optimistic than at any time in recent memory. While these setbacks are undeniable and profound, it now behooves the Bay Area art community to move beyond the losses and start to imagine what new possibilities may arise, to generate hope and excitement about what might come next.
One of the remarkable advantages that positions the next generation of Bay Area arts community tent poles is exemplified by “The Dome.” A not-for-profit that is itself struggling to enlarge its audience and establish a solid financial foundation, this is more than a tribute exhibition, but part of the search for solutions. A part of the reevaluation of the conditions, strengths and weaknesses of the community is the historicization of the accomplishments and unique characteristics of the region. Similarly, 500 Capp Street, founded to memorialize the work of David Ireland, is evolving into an archive of not only much of his most significant work but also an archive of the era and Ireland’s role in it. Its staff includes a cohort of young scholars studying the recent history of political and cooperative artist projects in the region. This is a very positive development.
It’s not always acknowledged that, in this regard, commercial galleries have long had an invaluable role to play. In addition to providing under-appreciated free venues to see contemporary art year-round, they have also more actively impacted the community on occasion. For example, the artist-run space 80 Langton Street opened in 1975, made possible by underwriting from several of the leading local galleries. Berggruen, Braunstein, and Hansen Fuller all rented storage space that was the sole source of income for the first several years of that trailblazing organization.
Shows at many galleries during the summer season tend to be modest affairs that often feature inventory that keep the space open for business without allocating a lot of institutional resources. Ironically, sometimes the results exceed expectations, given the lack of pressure and the freedom to take chances in a less scrutinized context. It may not be so much the quality of content that is significant as the overview. That is what makes “Slice of the Pie” noteworthy. Fourteen local galleries contributed three works apiece in a gesture of collegial recognition that includes long-established alongside emerging galleries in what becomes an overview of generational change.
Many of the younger galleries are owned by women and people of color. In a statement remarkably evocative of how Ruby articulated a similar point of view from a non-profit, Jeffrey Fraenkel observes that “[Slice of the Pie] reflects the sense of collaboration that has been a defining attribute of the area’s art scene …” It’s that spirit of collaboration that is intriguing and can be traced back a century and beyond to events that continue to recur in Bay Area cultural history. The Coit Tower murals of the 1930s pay homage to the contributions of the working people whose labor built the city. The influence of Diego Rivera’s 1931 murals is palpable. Depression-era programs such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded this and many other public artworks, setting a benchmark that has not been duplicated in the decades since.
These exhibitions may be modest summertime achievements, but they embody the progressive values, generosity and respect for history characteristic of the Bay Area art scene. These qualities are desperately needed to remind us of what once was, what can be easily lost, and what may still be reclaimed.
