Museum of Craft and Design Opens in the Dogpatch, SF
Author:Dara Kerr“This location gives us an opportunity to broaden our creativity and design in an area already buzzing with activity,” JoAnn Edwards, co-founder and executive director of the museum, said during a press preview of the new space.
The 8,500-square-foot museum has a clean modern esthetic with high vaulted ceilings, concrete floors, and a massive front window. It’s moveable walls allow for changeable show space and rotating exhibits.
Kicking off its inaugural weekend on April 6 and 7, the museum is now featuring a major retrospective of noted contemporary sculptor Michael Cooper and work by ceramic installation artist Rebecca Hutchinson and jewelry designer Arline Fisch.
Cooper’s unique, thought-provoking, and fantastical sculptures – many of which explore kinetic motion – use a variety of materials, from smooth shiny steel to rare varietals of wood. The museum’s retrospective of his work covers more than 40 years of his creations and includes 17 sculptures. These sculptures range from a big black burnished aluminum gun that doubles as an old-style movie camera to a life-sized wooden hot-rod that uses 65 types of wood.
“It’s very involved to make. I’ve done five series in my career of 45 years or so,” Cooper said during the press preview. “I love wheels, I love movement, I love mechanical movement.”
Besides Cooper’s retrospective, there are two other exhibits on display at the museum. One is a room-sized installation by Fisch featuring dozens of vibrantly colored, crocheted, copper wire jellyfish that hang from the ceiling and gently sway back and forth. The other includes several whitewashed clay and paper sculptures by Hutchinson shaped into delicate and ghostly dried tree branches.
The Museum of Craft and Design is located on 2569 Third Street in San Francisco. Michael Cooper: A Sculptural Odyssey, 1968-2011, Rebecca Hutchinson: Affinity, and Arline Fisch: Creatures From the Deep will be on display through June 30.
