Sky in the Pie: Next Gen

Sky in the Pie space, which I started back in 2007, continues on the corner of 25th and Mission. Sam Slater (on the left) created "The View From Here" by teaching high schoolers at Pie Ranch about photography and public art. He encouraged the students to work with "the camera as tool, much the way a farmer uses tools to harvest a crop that has been planted and nurtured." He continues, "Each week students took 35mm manual cameras into their own environments, with the goal of harvesting their perspectives and offering them up the their community." The results of their explorations can be seen outside Mission Pie.

Javi and Andy Gutierrez, the coolest brothers evah continue to serve up deliciousness inside the sweet shop. Their seasonal offering is Shaker Lemon pie and ....yummy... is it a winter winner. I worked with Javi on the Sky in the Pie mural series and I taught Andy down at Pie Ranch myself. Special brothers, those two. Hearts as golden as they come.

Request for Proposals

First Annual Call for Proposals
SKY IN THE PIE PUBLIC ART OPPORTUNITY

Eligibility: Professional artists residing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Budget: No direct funding provided to artist.

Project size/media: 8’ x 8’ two-dimensional digital print or painted media. Artist is responsible for producing and installing artwork. Painted media must be assembled off site and attached to and removed from existing wooden surface. Digital print may be attached directly over existing media.

Location: Existing outdoor mural space on the 25th Street side of Mission Pie Shop, 2901 Mission Street, San Francisco.

Number of proposals to be selected for 2009: Three.

Duration and timing of project display: Three months each, beginning on September 21, December 21, 2009, and March 21, 2010.

Areas of interest: Community, food systems, urban-rural connections, sustainability, agriculture, urban farming, seasons, nature, place.

Form of proposal: One page project statement describing up to five versions of one idea. Include link to artist’s Website and up to five 8” x 8”, 72 dpi jpegs. Address how you will install and de-install your project.

Application deadline: March 15, 2009, midnight. (At this point, apply for an extension, if needed.)
Email with subject line “Sky in the Pie 2009” to skyinthepieprojects@gmail.com.
Selected artists will be notified on April 1, 2009.

Note: A local, large-scale digital printing resource is Hawkins Communications,
Chris Hawkins, (415) 362-4295, http://www.hawkcom.com.

Thank-a-Farmer Day

Thank-a-Farmer Day at Mission Pie details.
Murale Numero Cuadro will be unveiled at 1:30pm, November 1st.
Come for the pie, stay for the sky.


Turn the car around.
Low sun behind coastal fog.
Equinox darkening the sky already.
Brussel sprout stalks, two dollar honor system.
Biggest pumpkin I can lift, hobbling toward Victoria's trunk.
I thank the farmer, I praise the harvester.
I praise the hands, I praise the gloves.
What Mayan blood moved this pyramid of imagination?
I can barely carry this load.
Victoria laughs and lifts.
I praise. I praise.

When Do You Bake?

It was a fun party on Sunday. Thanks for the videoooooo, Dave Nold.

Mural #3 + Pie Contest #2

Full Event Details.
In brief:
Mural #3 Unveiling
Sunday, August 3rd
2:00 - 5:00pm
at Mission Pie.

Music by old time
duo Susan + Sarita.
Baking demo by Joe the Baker.
Sidewalk chalk for the kiddos.

Pie Baking Contest #2 with returning MC Nathan Lynch. Submit your entry by 3:30pm. Spread the word, and roll
your own.

Sidewalk Reception May 17, 1-4pm

Sidewalk Reception for Mural #2
Saturday, May 17, 1-4pm
2901 Mission at 25th Street
Outside Mission Pie Bakery

Have a piece of Shaker Booty Lemon Pie while you're at it.

Video for Javier

In honor of one of my accomplices on the Sky in the Pie project, Javier Gutierrez, I post this video.

A talented young photographer and student at the SF Art Institute, Javier grew up two blocks from our project site. Equal parts creativity and warmth, his disarming smile made many locals curious about what the heck we were up to. His soft-spoken manner soon had them willing to answer our ten questions and pause for a photo.

Thanks for your hard work and big heart, Javi. And thanks for jumping on the 14 Mission bus so we could keep on interviewing that one guy with the pork pie hat. Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Sky in the Pie Mural Project: This Sums It Up

Mural Numero Dos

After four graffiti-free months, numero uno finally got tagged. Oh well, it was time for a fresh mural anyway.

Numero dos asks the question, "Where is the farm in your family?" and in talking with the people at 25th and Mission streets, we discovered some had family farms in places as far-flung as Korea, Senegal, El Salvador, Slovakia, Morocco, Ireland, and York County, Nebraska.

Even if global mobility is vast and fast, most of us have a settled farmstead in our past. I want one now.

Thanks to Bill Cleary for the installation balancing act, Christie Rixford for the design hours, and Chris Hawkins for the print job. Couldn't have done it without y'all.

Sky in the Pie Mural #1

Last week the first Sky in the Pie mural went up at 25th and Mission. I was helped by teens with a drill, a ladder, a lot of rope, and muscles. Up it went. The previous month, my crew and I surveyed one hundred people in the neighborhood about food and farming. Mural #1 has eight of these folks along with their answers to our icebreaker question: What is your favorite kind of pie? At the opening, an urban barn dance inside the Mission Pie shop spilled out onto the sidewalk. Some fiesta. Yeehaw. Three more murals to come.

Ag Flag

This weekend, I participated in the 2nd Annual Farm Art Show at Freewheelin' Farm on the North Coast of Santa Cruz county. On a one acre plot, Amy Courtney and Kirstin Yogg (top photo) harvest enough organic produce for 38 families and deliver it all by bicycle. Post-
petroleum farming, yee haw.

Answers to the question, "If you could thank a farmer..." from my current Sky in the Pie Mural Project, inspired me to create a Tibetan-style prayer flag for farmers. Freewheelin' Farm guests were invited to add their own "ag flag" to this gratitude clothesline. At sunset we left the installation to fray and fade, a reminder of the Great Impermanence, with a magnificent Pacific Ocean
as backdrop.

If you could thank a farmer...

The Sky in the Pie Mural Project proceeds apace. Last week we finished asking 100 people near the corner of 25th and Mission Streets in San Francisco ten questions about food, farming, and pie. We're done with the research phase. Let the production begin!

This is Jeff, a local tatoo artist, whose family used to farm in Sicily. He was the second person we interviewed. We gave him a piece of pie and a cup of coffee.

SF Arts Commission Grant Awarded

I received a 2007 Cultural Equity Grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission to create the Sky in the Pie Mural Series outside San Francisco's Mission Pie Bakery and Cafe. Cafe owner Karen Heisler and her partners at Pie Ranch connect urban and rural communities through their work/study programs and they serve some of the best pie this side of my Grandma Alice's basement.

Since the fall equinox, I've been a slave to the fleeting light of autumn. My crew Javier, Ammo, JJ and I have been taking pictures and asking questions about food and farming of people we meet around 25th and Mission Streets. From this raw data, I'll create a book and five murals between now and the 2008 summer solstice. We are up to 75 portraits and are aiming for 100 before daylight savings time kicks in on November 4th. Stay tuned.

Her favorite kind of pie? "Any type of pie."