I made this card for my mother's birthday using watercolors and graphite on vellum paper. After it was drawn, I pasted it onto a blank recycled card I got from Scrap Reuse Center.
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A few weeks ago, I met an artist Mark Garrett who mainly works with collages. Tonight I attended his much-attended art opening. The works are beautifully executed and beg the questions, "Where is the artist from?" Does he feel a sense of displacement in the world? Why the maps?

UNTETHERED: DRAWING WITH SCISSORS
​March 21- April 19, 2014
Opening: 6-8PM
DogPatch Gallery, 2295 Third St SF,CA 94107

This liminal body of work evolved before I was fully aware of its origins. My practice of folding and cutting maps with scissors and applying the deconstructed fragments to paper with paint became my technical mantra for almost 3 years. Their sinewy, emotionally linear, and ruptured appearance are visually reminiscent of Rorschach inkblots. There is often some evident duality, or mirroring effect at play here. Though it was never in the forefront of my mind, I believe these maps fueled a better understanding of my/our subconscious minds and how a series of life altering events contributed to this visual expression.
MMG

• http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Bay-Area-arts-news-Feb-13-5229027.php
• http://www.potreroview.net/news11162.html
• https://www.facebook.com/events/547827205325276/
• http://www.sfgate.com/news/slideshow/The-039-Untethered-039-opening-82544/photo-6065654.php

​Tonight I visited my favorite art gallery Creativity Explored.

A Curious Menagerie is a group exhibition of artworks depicting various members of the animal kingdom, factual as well as fanciful, as viewed through the eyes of more than two dozen Creativity Explored artists. Encompassing everything from the domesticated to the wild and exotic, plus a few imaginary creatures, this show also comprises a range of media: watercolor, pastel, acrylic, pen and ink, wire, wood, paper, clay, fabric, and cardboard.
Artist Zachary Adams shows his love for “man’s best friend” in a winsome artwork of his own pet, entitledMy Pretty Pepper Girl Dog, in oil pastel and ink text on paper. Christina Marie Fong contributes Bobcat Rabbit, a fanged, savage-looking bunny covered in ornate Indonesian-inspired patterns of gold and silver, using watercolor and metallic felt pen. Gerald Wiggins brings an anthropomorphic element into his Lizard Man and Jake, both glazed ceramic sculptures of half-man, half-animal creatures, dressed like urban hipsters complete with stitched jeans, modern caps and goatees.
Curated by Suda Changkasiri & Glenn Peckman.
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Opening Reception

March 6, 2014

7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Featuring a 20-minute performance by Chorissima, the concert, recording, and touring ensemble of the San Francisco Girls Chorus.

Here are some of my favorite highlights of the show along with a few other pieces that I discovered in the back gallery. As you can see, I am a huge fan of Pancho Cruz.