Tom Hill Open Studio
October 26- 27, 2019
540 Alabama Street (at 18th Street), Room 207 in San Francisco
11am-6pm
Tom Hill – Wire and Wood Animal Sculptures
Rebekah Frank – Jewelry and Metalwork
Jamie Vasta – Paintings
Tom Hill Open Studio
October 26- 27, 2019
540 Alabama Street (at 18th Street), Room 207 in San Francisco
11am-6pm
Tom Hill – Wire and Wood Animal Sculptures
Rebekah Frank – Jewelry and Metalwork
Jamie Vasta – Paintings
2044 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
(between Broadway and Pacific across the street from the old Velvet…)
The Velvet da Vinci Pop-Up Gallery is now open!
November – December, 2018
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11-6, Sunday 11-4
2044 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
(between Broadway and Pacific across the street from the old Velvet…)
415.935.1535
About the Exhibition
La Frontera, the important exhibition originally organized and curated by Lorena Lazard and Velvet da Vinci, premiered at the Museo Franz Mayer in Mexico City in 2013. It traveled to Velvet da Vinci in San Francisco, the Art Gallery at Indiana University Kokomo, Kokomo, IN, and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX. Now it opens at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City on March 1, 2018.
A special curator-led tour of La Frontera with Mike Holmes, Lorena Lazard, and Barbara Paris Gifford will take place on Friday, March 23 from 4-5pm at MAD. Read more here.
“Borders separate but also unite.” – Octavio Paz, Mexican poet and diplomat
Nearly two thousand miles long, the US-Mexico border (the border) is the most frequently crossed international border in the world. Although predominantly depicted in the American media as a hub of drug trafficking and violence, the border-porous in nature-is also a place that allows for the exchange of ideas, wealth, and culture.
Recently at the forefront of political and cultural conversation following the current US President’s anti-immigration discourse and executive orders, the border has been characterized by contradictions since the nineteenth century, when the US annexed an important portion of Mexican territory. For Mexicans, Central Americans, and the United States citizens living alongside it, the border presents daily challenges that carry within them both hope and devastation. It is a complex physical, economic, cultural, social, and emotional landscape of human interaction.
The exhibition La Frontera: Encounters Along the Border seeks to explore this space and what it represents. Jewelry artists from Mexico, the United States, Latin America, and Europe expose the underlying currents of the border environment within geographic, political, economic, social, cultural, and ideological contexts. The artists transform metal, fiber, wood, and other materials into representations of their experiences, their influences, their dreams, and their nightmares.
La Frontera was originally organized and curated by Lorena Lazard and Velvet da Vinci Gallery. It premiered at the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City in 2013. It then traveled to Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco, California; the Art Gallery at Indiana University Kokomo, Kokomo, Indiana; and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, Texas.
La Frontera: Encounters Along the Border is co-curated by Mike Holmes and Lorena Lazard with the assistance of MAD’s Assistant Curator, Barbara Paris Gifford, and Assistant Manager of Curatorial Affairs, Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy.
Major funding for La Frontera: Encounters Along the Border is provided by Barbara Waldman. Additional support is generously provided by the Rotasa Fund.
This exhibition is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Sobre La Exposición
“Las fronteras separan, pero también unen.” —Octavio Paz, poeta y diplomático mexicano
Con casi 2,000 millas de extensión, la frontera es el cruce internacional más transitado en el mundo. Aunque con una reputación infame en los medios debido al tráfico de drogas y la violencia, esta frontera –porosa por naturaleza– es también un espacio que permite el intercambio de ideas, riqueza y cultura.
En la actualidad el tema de la frontera ha aparecido en medios políticos y culturales debido al discurso anti-inmigratorio y ordenes ejecutivas del actual Presidente estadounidense, sin embargo, desde el siglo XIX cuando Estados Unidos anexó una importante porción del territorio mexicano este ha sido un espacio lleno de contradicciones. Para los ciudadanos mexicanos, centro-americanos y estadounidenses que viven a lo largo de la frontera esta es una parte significativa de la vida. Ella presenta retos diarios que a su vez son esperanzadores y devastadores. Es un complejo panorama de interacción humana, desde el punto de vista físico, cultural, económico, social y emocional.
La exposición La Frontera: Encuentros a lo largo de ésta, busca explorar este espacio y lo que representa. Artistas de joyería contemporánea de México, Estados Unidos, América Latina y Europa exponen las corrientes subyacentes del entorno fronterizo desde los contextos geográfico, político, social, cultural e ideológico. Cada artista transforma el metal, la fibra, la madera y otros materiales representando sus propias experiencias, influencias, sueños y pesadillas.
La Frontera fue organizada y curada originalmente por Lorena Lazard y la Galería Velvet da Vinci. Comenzó en el Museo Franz Mayer en la Ciudad de México en 2013. Viajó después a la Galeria Velvet da Vinci de San Francisco, California; la Galería de Arte en la Universidad Kokomo, Kokomo Indiana; y al Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Houston Texas.
La Frontera: Encuentros a lo largo de ésta, es co-curada por Mike Holmes y Lorena Lazard con la asistencia de la Curadora Asistente del MAD, Barbara Paris Gifford, y la Gerente Asistente de Asuntos Curatoriales del MAD, Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy.
Los fondos principales para La Frontera: Encuentros a lo largo de éstason proporcionados por Barbara Waldman. Apoyo adicional fue proporcionadó generosamente por Rotasa Fund.
Esta exposición es apoyada, en parte, por fondos públicos del Departamento de Asuntos Culturales de la Ciudad de Nueva York en asociación con el Consejo Municipal.
2017 was an important and challenging year. There were exhibitions by Tom Hill, Pierce Healy, Suzanne Pugh, Myung Urso and Amy Tavern. And Velvet da Vinci closed the gallery on Polk Street. It has been a wonderful journey and one that continues but the needs of my dear parents meant the gallery had to close. We (Diane Komater, Nikki Couppee, Amy Tavern and I) miss our pals on Polk Street and look forward to seeing you somewhere along the way. Happy New Year!
– Mike
Our first Holiday without a gallery space… check out special gifts by gallery artists available at the VdV shop. More work added soon, please come visit again!
Velvet Da Vinci is proud to present Gene Pijanowski: 30 Years of Jewelry and Objects. The historic exhibition will feature over 40 important works by the world renowned artist from the late 1970‘s through the mid 2000’s, marking the largest gallery exhibition of Pijanowski’s work in over two decades.
The show will run from February 5th through March 9th, 2014. An Opening Reception will take place on Friday February 7th, from 6 to 8 pm.
Eugene (Gene) Pijanowski’s work can be seen as a marriage of eastern and western tradition and style, representing an integration of modernist aesthetics and ancient sensibilities. Drawing from traditional Japanese concepts, techniques, and materials, the artist investigates the relationships between process and craft, content and form, and meaning and function. Works by Pijanowski can be found in private and museum collections worldwide; highlights include the Metropolitan Musuem of Art, NYC, the Museum of Arts and Design, NYC, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C., the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan, and many more. To view a full PDF of the press release, please click here: VelvetdaVinci_Pijanowski_PressRelease_FIN
Preview of Featured Works:
Velvet Da Vinci is proud to host the US debut of Aeon Profit / Piano Forte, an installation of wearable objects made from reincarnated piano parts by the Swedish jewelry design collective A5.
The show, which has previously exhibited in both Stockholm and Munich, will run from February 5th through March 9th, 2014. An Opening Reception will take place on Friday February 7th, from 6 to 8 pm.
Musical instruments and jewelry share several fundamental similarities: a rich tradition of craftsmanship, function, ornamentation, and inherent value. Both are meant to last generations and to be passed from individual to individual. Thus when an instrument or a piece of jewelry is no longer wanted or needed it falls into a particular space of limbo, the owner wishes to part with the item yet at the same time hopes that it will continue its existence. It is in this way that the group A5, Adam Grinovich, Romina Fuentes, and Annika Pettersson, came into contact with a piano. To view a full PDF of the press release, please click here: VelvetDaVinci_PRESSRELEASE_PianoForte2014
In celebration of the SFO Museum’s exhibition “Turn, Weave, Fire, and Fold: Vessels from the Forrest L. Merrill Collection,” Velvet Da Vinci is proud to exhibit an important collection of works by two California masters, fiber artist Kay Sekimachi and enamelist June Schwarcz. The show will run from April 1st through the 30th, 2014. To view a full PDF of the press release, please click the link below:
VelvetDaVinci_PRESSRELEASE_JuneSchwarz.KaySekimachi_2014
Anne Bader / Germany, Rike Bartels / Germany, Ela Bauer / Netherlands, Catalina Brenes / Costa Rica, Angela Bubash / US, Liesbet Bussche / Netherlands, Petra Class / US, Andy Cooperman / US, Pilar Cotter / Spain, Nikki Couppee / US, Babette von Dohnanyi / Germany, Lluis Duran / Spain, Nicolas Estrada / Spain, Mirla Fernandes / Brazil, Hella Ganor / Israel, Julia Harrison / US, Liisa Hashimoto / Japan, Joanne Haywood / UK, Peter Hoogeboom / Netherlands, Iris Saar Issacs / Australia, Beate Klockmann / Netherlands, Daphne Krinos / UK, Felieke van der Leest / Norway, Judy McCaig / Spain, Martin Papcùn / Czech Republic, Katja Prins / Netherlands, Vina Rust / US, Biba Schutz / US, Karin Seufert / Germany, Jan Smith / Canada, Antje Stolz / Germany, Rudee Tancharoen / Thailand, Amy Tavern / US, Emily Watson / US, Sayumi Yokouchi / US
Exhibition organized by Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h, Montreal, and Velvet da Vinci.
Highlighted Works: