Renaming Bush Street:

An artwork that incorporated conducting a survey over four days at four locations on Bush Street in San Francisco. Playing off the name Bush Street and its possible identifications with our 41st and 43rd Presidents, the survey recorded the reactions of passersby to the name Bush Street. The survey was purposely framed by the highly controversial Bush presidencies to elicit impassioned responses. These responses, or lack thereof, reveal some examples of how a cross section of San Franciscans relate to history, politics and cultural ideology.

2007. Artists’ book. Color or black and white. Wrappers. Perfect bound. Text and content Amber Hasselbring and Jerome Grand. Design: Eric Savage (Corndog Brothers). 11 x 8.5". Unpaginated.

Books are available for sale or may be downloaded for free at www.lulu.com

I STAND:

A street action intended to amass a thinking conversing group of people at the intersection of 5th and Market Streets in San Francisco. The intersection separates an apathetic, bustling financial district from a margin of homelessness, boredom and drug trading. From sunrise to sunset, I stood at this location and made available markers and adhesive labels, printed I STAND. I asked participants to write onto the labels something they were willing to pronounce to passers by. Participants arrived, signed into a guest book, wrote onto and wore these personalized labels, and they discussed their thoughts with each other. Some people held vigil for five minutes, others stayed for hours.

2004. DVD. Video by Monja Merkel with photographs by Roberto Yepez and editing by Amber Hasselbring. 5 x 5.5”.

$25

ART on BART, An artist guided tour of the San Francisco Bay Area Urban Ecosystem:

This publication was assembled using photographs taken during the tour, writing by Toph Woodward, and selected entries from the ART on BART Found Journal Project (Toph Woodward’s contribution). During ART on BART, Woodward distributed three Found Journals, in which participants and riders recorded their thoughts, ideas and responses.

2005. Artists’ book. Color. Wrappers. Gromett bound. Edited by Amber Hasselbring with contributions by John Grimes, Andres Larin-Baranda, Jessamyn Lovell, Bill Owens and Toph Woodward. 11 x 8.5”. 11 pages.

$30

ART on BART, An artist guided tour of the Bay Area Urban Ecosystem:

This map / guide was distributed to participants on the day of the tour. Photographs and imagery represent the Bay Area ecosystem, and there is a map of the BART route connecting the images. On the back of the map is a list of BART Stations with text presenting information about regional ecology.

$50

Mission Greenbelt Puzzle

This puzzle was made to be pieced together by gallery visitors during Mission Greenbelt Campaign Headquarters at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, November - December 2007. The puzzle was laid out on an upturned, refinnished shipping crate with cinder block legs.

2007. Jigsaw puzzle contained in a reused, painted box with an image on the box top. Color. Printed from a digital file. Edition of 50 copies. 24 x 32".

$300

For more information, visit the Mission Greenbelt page.

San Francisco Bay

This aerial map was made in 2002 to visualize the the urbanized areas around San Francisco Bay. This map was altered with a white square in 2007 to highlight the area where the Mission Greenbelt may one day be built.

2007. Map. Color. Inkjet print. Edition of 50 copies. 88 x 44".

$400

Drake's Beach, Point Reyes

January 26, 2007.

Elephant seals etch a sand worn track from shore to cliff. The animal warms itself and is gone. A gigantic mammal, flesh and fir match the finest grains of beach sand. Wrinkled body stretches upward; tilts back whiskered flesh exposing teeth. Wait. No sound. Large deep crackle, a drain unclogging arcs splitting the wave sounds. Thin flippers push the thousand-pound body rippling toward weightlessness. A stream corridor erodes the cliff behind me to expose light, rapid birdcalls echoing through winter grasses.

Watercolor pencil on smooth, heavy paper. 8 x 8.

Unavailable

Frontier Airlines # 825 from Denver to Kansas City

February 2, 2007

The same words open in bright chirping tonal circles over looping under sound bites, unremarkable, barely serious. Low, steady motor grinds from outside in light blue jagged ruffles. The window is cold. Information is turning, repeat, funneled into tiny black cords, touching black foam, which pad human ears. Crackling ice settles into fizzy liquid delimited by plastic cups, vibrating, gently hovering on napkins outlining the United States, one neatly situated island enclosed in a perfectly white square sea.

Watercolor pencil on smooth, heavy paper. 8 x 8.

$200

Hotel California, Todos Santos, Mexico

January 11, 2007.

Doves and canaries flap in the fountain. Water moves down slippery cement curves, splashes, drains and is drawn up again to repeat the process. There are two lounge chairs, a couch, an umbrella and a low, round table. I listen to recall our conversations. Sex, family, death, feminism, time. In the mornings, we read poems to each other, empty coffee cups. We tolerate each otherís irritability and complacency. Now alone, I canít recall. An engine turns over five times, rolls into motion and rounds a corner to stir a new morning.

Watercolor pencil on smooth, heavy paper. 8 x 8.

$200

Muddy Waters Cafe at 24th and Valencia, San Francisco

November 26, 2006.

The rains begin in the fall. A fountain strains, spits, gurgles beside a window facing the street. Cars slip to a stop at the traffic light outside; at green, the tires detach with a ripping sound from newly wetted streets slick with oil. On the other side of the window, coffee grinds, metal raps, espresso gushes. Just audible conversations murmur squeezing in between an unrelenting radio. A confident, capable voice cuts the room in half with a warm greeting.

Watercolor pencil on smooth, heavy paper. 8 x 8.

$200

Dolores Park, San Francisco

June 24, 2006.

I am in a tunnel of internal sounds, grinding anger and dulled perception. The joy is gone. I canít see the color; I can barely see the page. The grass is wet. The lines and my thoughts are tangled, jagged, tight. The drawing works out the pain, dark blue circle by circle by dark by circle, by dark blue circle, repeat.

Watercolor pencil on smooth, heavy paper. 8 x 8.

$200

Angel Island, San Francisco

June 4, 2006.

I am sitting in a dense eucalyptus grove; seedpods fall hard onto dry, leaf-covered earth. A spider ventures onto the white paper and migrates from the top left to the bottom right. I trace the tiny jagged motion in red-purple crayon. The spider rests in the center of the drawing, and in the meantime, I draw yellow frantic marks to imitate the birds' calls.

Watercolor crayon on smooth, heavy paper. 8 x 8.

Unavailable