Herbal Medicine & Then Some Fair in Temescal Alley

Hey San Francisco Bay Area! This Saturday, June 14th in Temescal Alley, join Homestead Apothecary for the 2nd Annual Herbal Medicine and Then Some Fair. This local herbal community celebration will showcase practitioners, musicians, beekeepers, makers, herbalists, artists, chefs and many other crafts folk from Oakland and the Bay Area. For the full list of participants, see here.

One of my personal favorites will be Builders of the New Dawn, above right. Andrea carries a well-curated selection of vintage books and ephemera, specializing in Countercultural and Subcultural movements of the 20th Century but also including Classic & Avant Garde Literature and the quirky & offbeat. (perfect!)

Some of the goodies carried in the Homestead Apothecary shop

 Tinctures made by Nicholas Weinstein, owner of Homestead Apothecary

photos of Homestead Apothecary from my visit last fall

I wish I could be in town for the Fair, but wow, Saturday has A LOT going on here in LA!

2nd Annual Herbal Medicine and Then Some Fair
hosted by Homestead Apothecary
Saturday, June 14th 11am - 3pm
free and open to the public

Temescal Alley  |  486 49th St., Oakland CA 94609

additional photos courtesy of Homestead Apothecary

SF Chinatown on The Bold Italic

The Bold Italic understands and knows my people.
I love the way they have been capturing San Francisco's Chinatown. From Chinatown Sartorialist exploring senior styles to a tour of the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory – these articles bring back so many memories of my youth growing up in the Bay Area and being in San Francisco with my family every weekend.

This was my Ning-Ning's (grandmother on father's side) uniform: some sort of quilted floral patchwork silk jacket or wool cardigan paired with a baseball cap / hat... usually from Snap-On because my uncle is a mechanic. My Paw-Paw (grandmother on mother's side) who is still living at 95 likes to say the more colorful the better because she wants to feel vibrant and happy... and what good is it if I can't see her. ha! I love them so.

I used to visit my Boc-Paw (great grandmother) at a senior's living center and the Lee Family Association in Chinatown. Always hanging clothes drying in an assortment of colors & prints and always a hot pot on an electric stove in her little room with piles of Chinatown papers and calendars. Chinese people love their calendars.... I don't know why.

When I was 4 or 5 years old, we went to visit Golden Gate Fortune Cookies because my Paw Paw recommended my mom take her kids to see how the magic happens. It was along an alley and rinky-dinky. I don't recall much lighting, just natural light radiating from the open doors. The ladies were so nice. They showed us their process: how the cookies came out warm and flat (! -a life-changing revelation for a preschool aged Chinese-American) and how with their swift hand movements around a metal thingie (technical term), they formed the iconic shape. What a rad thing it was to carry off a baggie filled with warm, sweet smelling FLAT fortune cookies.

Thank you. Too many memories to recount.

p.s. Special shout-out to Accidental Chinese Hipster

All images via Bold Italic.

Los Angeles Fibershed

Los Angeles Fibershed is a cooperative effort to bring attention to the concept of bioregionalism. With a focus on local fibers and local labor in combination with a commitment to high design, they are a functioning model of "slow fashion." Their mission is here. 

This Saturday evening, they will be hosting an opening reception for their pop-up at Space 15 Twenty that combines a shop, exhibition space, installations, live demonstrations and educational events – lectures, movies and workshops – dedicated to educate the local community about the soil to skin process. 

Included will be raw fiber and yarn from local farmers and handmade clothing, accessories and home goods by LA based artists made of locally sourced materials. Such items include pieces by Amabelle Aguiluz, Janelle Pietrzak / All Roads, Elanor Lynn and other amazing talents. 

Los Angeles Fibershed will also be host "reskilling" workshops at Space 15 Twenty throughout the next two weeks (see below), movie nights and a Sunday flea market. An ongoing live installation piece will demonstrate how a garment is made from start to finish: Fibershed members will transform the gallery into a collaborative studio space and work together for the duration of the exhibit to create a one-of-a-kind soil to skin garment. Visitors are encouraged to drop in, watch demos, ask questions and feel samples of wool and local materials.

The Workshops sound awesome to say the least! You can sign up for individual classes or for 3 with a discount of $10 off each class. Each instructor is donating all or a portion of proceeds to fund the expansion of LA Fibershed. 

Sat March 22, 1-4pm - Wet Felting with Jo Abellera / KKIBO

Sun March 23, 1-3pm - Ethical Wildcrafting with Rebecca Altman / Kings Road Apothecary

Sun March 23, 3-6pm - Acorn Dyeing with Niki Livingston / Lookout and Wonderland

Wed March 26, 7-9pm - Foraged Bamboo Backpack with Eugene Ahn

Sat March 29, 3-6pm - Cochineal Dyeing with Ashley Thayer / Maricolous

Sun March 30, 10am-4pm - Pine Needle Basketry with Nanette Sullano / Waanaki

Sun March 30, 12-3pm - Plant Based Watercolor Workshop with Jo Newman

Los Angeles Fibershed at Space 15 Twenty 

Pop Up: March 15 - March 30

Reception: Saturday, March 15, 6-9pm

150 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90028

Cosmos and Connectivity

These are articles and links that resonated with me following a late night post Daylight Savings. All these relate to each other in that they all in some way reflect our need as human beings to be connected ... to ourselves, to each other, to the earth, to the universe.

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This article by Andrew Solomon on the New Yorker  – about Adam Lanza's father reckoning with his son's actions and what led up to the Sandy Hook tragedy.

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via Upworthy: Neil deGrasse Tyson's answer to what is the most astounding fact about the universe.

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This video: First Kiss by Tatia Pilevia for WREN
later notation: As this video went viral, many felt duped that it was a piece showcasing Wren's collection and that the people were actors and models. However, the first visual is "Wren presents" - although obviously most folks aren't aware that it's a clothing line. Also, one of them is referred to as having experience with this as an actor and I feel that it's obvious that this is staged... It still doesn't take away the initial impact it had on the public. Beautiful people swooning over intimate human contact.

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This weekend's Sweet Paul Makerie in New York via Design Sponge with such creative folks as Paul Lowe of Sweet Paul magazine, Lotta Jansdotter, Erin Considine and Tamar Mogendorff.

I love this video by Creative Bug with Ali deJohn, creator of Makerie and her explanation of the intent behind Makerie and the Chautauqua Movement.

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This podcast on KQED's Forum about the high cost of living in San Francisco and how the local artists and galleries are being affected. Having had grown up and lived in the area for over half my life it's something dear to me that art stays vibrant there. 

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Lena earthing

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Lastly, these photographs via Fast Co. showing the latest work of Kim Keever, a NASA engineer turned artist.