Dream Job

One of my favorite things about being between jobs is having time to walk places.  San Francisco has so many things to see.  Little bits of life here and there.  Like the dismantling of the big Christmas tree, tourists in knee length parkas with flip flops and shorts, street sign pranks, sunsets, the peace plaza in japantown.

That street sign especially cracked me up.  That’s supposed to say Van Ness.  Only in San Francisco would someone turn it into a leather daddy reference.  It gives me hope for the future of the city.   Long live the leather daddys and all the other weirdos that flock here.

It’s not a far jump from graffiti to public art.  I’ve had several discussions in recent weeks about public art.  San Francisco, despite all the other troubles in the world, still finds a few dollars to fund public art.  A recent Civic Center project is something near and dear to my yarnie heart.   A large scale yarn bomb installation!

It’s rolled out in stages.  You got a first glimpse back in August with phase one, tree wraps in the Civic Center Plaza.

The next phases of the project were designed with community input.  Some arts commission took charge of the project.  In reality, this was part of a marketing scheme to re-brand the Civic Center & UN Plaza as one new location referred to as ‘The Commons’.  Whatever.  That’s less important to me than the fact that they paid people to do this.

They’re a pair of sisters based just a bit south of here and they’ve worked with big names like Old Navy and Lyft, as well.  They’ve been quite successful at making a living by yarn bombing.  This project, though, clearly elevated itself from a humble marketing beginning to a grand display of art.

In addition to the initial color scheme, the community also got to choose two more criteria for the project.  Those choices gave us animals, fitting the theme of ‘land, sea and air’…

…in the form of giraffes, cephalopods (sorry, I forget if they’re squids or octopuses) and local favorite, the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.

Unfortunately, the junkies and the meth-heads don’t appreciate the beauty these critters bring to the neighborhood.  They’ve been substantially damaged.  I’m bummed I didn’t get down there sooner.  The poor parrots have gotten the worst of it.

Poor guy.  The cephalopods have lost limbs as well.  They’re still looking good thanks to height though.

Same with the giraffes.  The high points still look good.  They’ve almost entirely lost their feet though.  Poor fellas.

The amount of time & detail that’s gone into each of these pieces is amazing!  They’re so fabulous.  Definitely look for them, if you happen to be local.  They won’t last forever and they’re worth seeing.  They are guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

So, if you know anyone who wants to pay $50K for a knitted art installation, yarn bomb or otherwise…send ’em my way.  I’d love it so much, I wouldn’t even complain about being a 1099 contractor and having to provide my own benefits.  Unless you know someone who wants me on the payroll full-time, I’m okay with that too!  In the meantime, I’ll be updating my resume!  Happy Knitting!

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