INTERNATIONAL ORANGE: The Bridge Re-imagined (2012)

May 14-August 4, 2012

Presented by the San Francisco Arts Education Project in cooperation with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

A curated visual arts exhibition created by students from San Francisco public schools to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge

Part of the “75 Tributes” program involving civic, cultural and educational organizations celebrating the legendary span across the Golden Gate Strait, INTERNATIONAL ORANGE: The Bridge Re-­imagined allows San Francisco children, working with 10 of SFArtsED’s professional artists-­‐in-­‐residence in their public school classrooms, to creatively explore and re-­‐imagine the national landmark in their own backyard.

Students from 100 classes in 13 participating elementary, middle and high schools around the city will display paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, collages, multimedia creations and more honoring the bridge as architecture, as art, as icon, as history, as metaphor, as gateway to imagination.

In collaboration with Artsource Consulting, the exhibit will feature as many visions of the Golden Gate Bridge as there are artists thinking about it in new and wildly creative ways. You think you’ve seen this famous span, but you should think again.

INTERNATIONAL ORANGE is one of the 75 official “community tributes” selected to participate in the celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge 75th anniversary.

Bridge Galleries

The historic Mills Building will serve as headquarters for the INTERNATIONAL ORANGE exhibit, but there will be 75 related pop-­‐up “Bridge Galleries” in every neighborhood in. Here are just a few of our collaborating bridge gallery partners: The Walt Disney Family Museum, the San Francisco Art Institute, the Mission Cultural Center, San Francisco Film Centre, Flax, SFMOMA Galleries in Fort Mason, the Rena Bransten Gallery, the San Francisco Art Commission Gallery and all the schools where students are making art for the show. Each Bridge Gallery will lead viewers to another, with all routes leading back to the Mills Building. Guides to the Bridge Galleries will be available online, at each site and at the Mills Building.

Support for INTERNATIONAL ORANGE: The Bridge Re-­‐imagined has been provided by Art4Moore, Fund for Tides Foundation, Austin Memorial Foundation, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, The Walter and Elise Haas Fund and Macy’s. Additionally, Karen Fullerton has provided a matching grant challenge in the amount of $10,000 to support the SFArtsED programs in public schools. If the SFArtsED community is able to raise $10,000, Ms. Fullerton will match it dollar for dollar, making it an extraordinary $20,000 gift.

Curator Richard Olsen

“A bridge is a physical structure,” says celebrated San Francisco artist Richard Olsen, curator of INTERNATIONAL ORANGE: The Bridge Re-­imagined.  “But even more it’s a conceptual and creative one. The bridge is there, but there is no end to what can cross it.” Olsen is an artist, writer and art educator. He served as head of the art department at Gateway High School, where he continues to teach, has been an artist-­‐in-­‐residence for SFArtsED since 1993 and has taught art education at the San Francisco Art Institute. Mr. Olsen has curated many shows with SFArtsED including at Rena Bransten Gallery, Southern Exposure Gallery, the SF Arts Commission Gallery and the SF Museum of Modern Art. At SFArtsED, his students’ work has won a number of awards including the Cooper-­‐Hewitt National Design Museum’s “Best of Design” award with a subsequent exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC. He has lectured on art and education at UC Berkeley, SF State, the College of Notre Dame, the SF Museum of Modern Art and other institutions.

 

The San Francisco Arts Education Project (SFArtsED)

Created in 1965 by celebrated artist Ruth Asawa, SFArtsED engages in education through participation in all aspects of the arts, including painting, drawing, acting, dancing, sculpting, cartooning, drumming and singing. Career artists work directly with kids in every corner of San Francisco, helping them ignite personal confidence and growth. As children enter a world of lifelong investigation, SFArtsED seeks to leave them with skills that not only embrace their childhood curiosity but also captivate their imaginations over decades and give them a creative and intuitive edge in meeting the cultural, professional, political and artistic challenges of our modern world.

Artsource

Artsource Consulting is a multidisciplinary art advisory company founded in 1994, with offices in San Francisco’s Financial District. The
clientele includes private and corporate collectors and public institutions worldwide. Since 1994, Artsource Consulting has been curating a rotating exhibition program that brings the arts into the Mills Building’s business environment.

The Mills Building

The Mills Building, located at 220 Montgomery Street in San Francisco, is a historical landmark. Today, the building provides both small and large business with a first-­class, full-­service business environment in a prestigious address in the heart of the San Francisco financial district. The building is in the process of finalizing its LEED certification, and it receives, on average, about 2,000 visitors a day.

The Golden Gate Bridge

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the world’s most recognizable bridge, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, with the cooperation of the National Park Service and the Presidio Trust, are organizing a community-­wide 75th anniversary celebration. The centerpiece of the celebration will be a series of activities over the Memorial Day weekend, May 25‐28, 2012. Visit the official website of the Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary: http://www.goldengatebridge75.org/

FOR MORE INFORMATION, DIGITAL PHOTOS or TO SCHEDULE INTERVIEWS
Please contact Chad Jones, SFArtsED Development and Communications Director, at 415.551.7990, chad.j@sfartsed.org

An official “tribute” of the Golden Gate Bridge 75th anniversary celebration, INTERNATIONAL ORANGE features the artwork of students in nearly two dozen San Francisco public schools working with SFArtsEd Master Artist and exhibition curator Richard Olsen. INTERNATIONAL ORANGE is a work in progress — the finished exhibition runs May 14-Aug. 4 at the Mills Building in downtown San Francisco and in 75 bridge galleries around the city. This gallery contains photos of works in progress, detail shots and classroom shots to convey the variety of ages and approaches involved in the exhibition.