Last week was Art Basel Miami Beach’s 10th edition, and after attending ten out of the eighteen participating art fairs, walking nearly 20 miles and visiting over 400 galleries, we were proud to see our Bay Area visual arts ambassadors well represented. We stayed on Collins street in the heart of Miami Beach where many of the art hotels took place. more ›

After Luis Cancel's disastrous tenure—which, among other things, included telecommuting from Brazil, reports of horrid behavior to underlings, and "questionable granting practices"—the city made a spot-on decision by hiring Tom DeCaigny as cultural affairs director of the San Francisco Arts Commission. more ›

(By Micke Tong) While observing Bay Area artist Scott Greenwalt's work, we can't help but imagine a real-time transmutation taking place. Humanoid deconstructed body parts, follicles of hair and organs are displayed with high contrast and a rich colorful palette. Scott shows us a very labyrinthine technique of paint strokes, which depicts polygonal shapes (plane figure that is bounded by a closed path) and branches of veins. more ›

Lots of folks will be heading to Treasure Island this beautiful weekend for some un-stressful concert-going. For those who want to stay close to home, there just might be a fair going on in your 'hood, or one nearby! more ›

In more mural news, San Francisco-based artist and muralist Brian Barneclo, who happens to be from the same Midwestern suburb as this contributor, began his mammoth Systems Mural Project yesterday last week. The 24,000-square-foot panoramic piece, which plays on the theme of interconnectedness -- "from the solar system to our nervous systems," will cover "the big brown wall" at 7th and Townsend, facing the Caltrain rail yard in Mission Bay. As the Chronicle notes, the mural will be the first thing Caltrain passengers see entering San Francisco and the last thing drivers see leaving the city via the Interstate 280 on-ramp from Sixth Street. more ›

Most savvy photographers about town probably already know about the fabulous, decades-old Harvey Milk Photo Center (50 Scott Street), which is nestled at the top of Duboce Park and housed within the equally fabulous Harvey Milk Arts Center. The building was recently remodeled (and then unfortunately vandalized). More to the point, have you checked out all the great classes both places offer? more ›

There must be something in the air between artists and cafes these days. SFist spotted this flyer the other day, which was plastered on every block in the Tenderloin/Tendernob area. Apparently, a 3 x 4-foot painting was stolen from an art exhibit at Cafe Royale (800 Post) in May, and the artist/curator, Emilia, would like everyone to know that she was not paid her alleged curating fee of $400 from January through May for organizing the show. (Incidentally, that sounds like an awfully large sum of money for a cafe to fork over.) more ›

Some last-minute screenings of David Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly have been scheduled on Friday night as part of a national protest of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery's removal of the video from their Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture exhibit last week because it was declared “hate speech” by Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, incoming House Speaker John Boehner, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. more ›

by Micke Tong more ›

by Naomi Kirsten Back in March 2009, San Francisco photographer Julie Michelle launched I Live Here:SF, featuring an ever-growing collection of beautiful, lush portraits shot in various San Francisco locales, which are paired with the subjects' odes to San Francisco. more ›

Potrero Hill Festival/The MAP Potrero Hill Exhibition: The 20th Annual Potrero Hill Festival takes place all weekend. During Saturday's event, Mobile Arts Platform will present visual art, video installations, performances, and spoken word. more ›

There’s sex, love, and betrayal in the Fall Paris Review. Prepare to be seduced. by Naomi Kirsten more ›

Sesame Street recently turned 40, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is having a month-long celebration of the iconic show, featuring different programs each weekend at More Muppet™ Magic: Jim Henson's Legacy. Tonight and tomorrow afternoon's screening features a "best-of" compilation, Sesame Street at 40: Milestones on the Street. The program includes excerpts from the first episode, celebrity guests, and some of the best bits from Ernie and Bert, Big Bird, Snuffy, and the rest of the gang. more ›

Did you know that California's creative economy ranks third of all 50 states, yet it remains 50th out of all 50 states in per-capita funding for the arts? (See California's Creative Vitality Index, WESTAF (PDF) and California Arts Advocates for more info on these statistics.) more ›

Last Thursday, the Independent Arts & Media launched the San Francisco Arts Market, an open-air marketplace for local artists and businesses to sell their hand-crafted wares, including ceramics, clothing, jewelry, literature, music, paintings, photography, and wood-carvings. more ›

SFist's inbox is always full of great deals from Groupon and other such daily deal emails, and so far we've only bought a coupon from Cole Hardware. (Hey, we're practical). more ›

All Weekend: Go rogue at the Renegade Craft Fair. more ›

The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery (SFAC Gallery) and PhotoAlliance are inviting photographers to submit work for their upcoming Art at City Hall exhibition, Night/Light: Bay Area Photographers Take Aim After Dark. more ›

Tonight's the opening of the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery’s 40th anniversary show, Now & When, in which several Bay Area cultural producers, including the Bureau of Urban Secrets, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Taro Hattori, Packard Jennings, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Ken Lo, Gay Outlaw & Bob Schmitz, Joseph del Pesco, Paul Schiek, and Margaret Tedesco & Matt Borruso, were asked to create projects based on the concept of time capsules "as a means to critically confront the value, meaning and methodologies of marking time." more ›

The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery (SFAC) is partnering with the International Museum of Women (IMOW) for an upcoming exhibition at City Hall, Picturing Power and Potential, a photography show conveying themes about women's relationships with the global economy. The exhibit is part of IMOW's online exhibition, Economica: Women and the Global Economy. more ›

The 2010 San Francisco International Film Festival starts April 22, and the line-up includes the usual daunting amount of films -- fifteen days worth! Here are a few titles/events that stood out to us, and check out SF Appeal for a more in-depth round-up. more ›

The Erika Chong Shuch Performance Project will be celebrating the six-year anniversary of same-sex marriage with Love Everywhere, a free and interactive dance performance intended to bring strangers together, which will take place at various sites this weekend. [Update: Check out a great profile of Erika Chong Shuch over at SF Appeal!] The first performance, which will include approximately 60 dancers and 15 musicians (and you!), happens tomorrow at Noon where it all started -- at the City Hall Rotunda. more ›

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art began its 75th anniversary celebration this weekend. Each department mined its archives and scoured through new work to present shows that would represent the museum’s impact... more ›

Artists: Do you find it hard to get your pieces done? Then let San Francisco Art Institute MFA student and Immediate Future exhibiting artist, Daniel Yovino guide you through a crash course on productivity methods in his lecture A Year of Getting Things Done. Yovino will also speculate on the possibility of increasingly productive artists and reflect on his foray into art without a final product. more ›

This heads-up comes to SFist directly via Johnny Funcheap himself. Seventy-four artists have collaborated to create sixteen site-specific art installations throughout the Tenderloin District (from Geary to Market, Larkin to Mason) in the month-long Wonderland exhibition. more ›

Thee people from the Bay Area, two from Berkeley and one from San Francisco, were named MacArthur fellows last night. The "genius award," one that allows its members to work on their craft full-time, comes with heaps prestige and a whopping $500,000 booty. San Francisco artist Camille Utterback, Berkeley computer nerd Maneesh Agrawala, and Berkeley molecular biologist Lin He were among this year's 24 recipients. more ›

San Francisco photographer Joe Budd is debuting a new collection of photographs from his travels across the world as a commercial photographer, featuring people and landscapes in exotic locales such as Brazil, Thailand, and Africa in En Route. more ›

Muni Metro riders might encounter some extra special entertainment on their commutes tomorrow. The traveling Cut and Run tour will be projecting films on the N, L, and J lines randomly throughout the day, with the accompaniment of Silicon Valley-based band Dusty Organ. If you encounter the show, let us know how it was! more ›

Attention art-lovers with free time on their hands throughout July: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is looking for volunteers for their upcoming Wallworks exhibition to be launched at the end of July. Paintings, wall reliefs, and collages by Makoto Aida, Edgar Arceneaux, Chris Finley, Tillman Kaiser, Odili Donald Odita, Amanda Ross-Ho, Yehudit Sasportas, and Leslie Shows will fill the wall surfaces of YBCA's galleries and public spaces. more ›

DIY, fashion, cheese, and pride -- who could ask for anything more?! Here are just a few events going on this weekend: more ›