Tag: Art in unexpected places

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Why I look for art in libraries (and what else I’ve found)

fuller pasadena library

You might not think of walking into a library when you’re traveling, and it used to be that I didn’t either. I think it was stumbling on the Biblioteca Nacional del Perú that changed it for me.

I don’t remember what it was that afternoon during our (otherwise awesome) 2005 Peru trip that had gotten us down. Just that Lima’s big city, horn-honking, rumbling-diesel, street vendors/restauranteurs/bus drivers-shouting-for-customers cacophony had suddenly overwhelmed us, when we realized we were standing in front of Peru’s National Library. It wasn’t on the agenda, but we decided to duck in.
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Mission Street Art: Clarion Alley

Clarion Alley San Francisco street art: woman

Clarion Alley San Francisco street art: graffiti wall close up

One of the things San Francisco’s Mission District is famous for is street art.

Clarion Alley San Francisco street art: woman

There are portraits painted on shop entryways, sketches on sidewalks, and whole alleyways covered in giant murals, like public open-air museums. Some murals have social messages, some are funny, some are abstract. They’re all fascinating.

Clarion Alley San Francisco street art: abstract black and white lines on wall

I visited the mural-covered Balmy Alley in 2012, during the San Francisco portion of our Epic California Road Trip (that I keep alluding to and still hope to write all about one of these days). More recently, on my BlogHer Pro trip in October, I got to wander through Clarion Alley with two of my cousins. They got deep into a discussion, while I snapped the photos I’m sharing with you in this post.

Clarion Alley San Francisco: 2 women talking in front of a mural of a corpse and ants

Art in Clarion Alley and throughout the Mission is raw and colorful. It speaks a different language than art that hangs in air-conditioned buildings and says “Hey! I am in a frame, so adore me!” Instead of being enshrined, it must be discovered in the wild, searched out in the nooks and crannies of the city.

Clarion Alley San Francisco street art: Evict Google.

You have to keep your eyes open in the Mission. You might step on a statement or pass by a masterpiece.

Art is everywhere.

Clarion Alley San Francisco street art: silhouette of a man with cityscape inside him

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