schmindigo

Cypress Lawn

I promised I would tell you how I spent Day of the Dead, & here I am, only a month late! Without further ado, then, Best Kept Secrets, Colma edition:

At Cypress Lawn Cemetery, if you leave your ID at the front desk, they will hand you a key to the mausoleum, which features spectacular stained glass. That key unlocks three doors. Go in all of them, because the stained glass is different behind each one. No, this is not a ghost story & nothing spooky happens. Unless you have a phobia of spectacular stained glass.

Turn in the key, get your ID back, & then go across the street to wander amongst the lovely statuary. Weeping angels! All kinds of good stuff!

Funny thing is, my grandparents were buried here, so I’ve been a fairly regular visitor for most of my life, but I might never have gotten clued into the stained glass if I hadn’t gone investigating with the Witch & her annual graveyard-traipsing posse. I’d long admired the weeping angel, but had never done the hours of sauntering that this place truly merits. Cheap (actually, free) thrills! You can even take BART to Colma & walk there!

Janet Cardiff

SF Bay Area folks, I shoulda said something about this earlier, because you only have through the 8th of February to check out Janet Cardiff’s cool video walk, The Telephone Call at SFMOMA. It’s easy to miss because you have to know to ask for it at the information desk. So I’m telling you: go ask for it at the information desk!

I’ve only ever experienced one other of Cardiff’s walks, her 1999 MOMA walk, but it made a huge impression upon me. Wonderful to experience another museum walk ten years later! The Telephone Call was commissioned in 2001 by SFMOMA & has actually been “on display” there twice before already, but I didn’t know about it the first time, & the second time… well… my dog ate it. Don’t let the same thing happen to you; who knows when there may be a fourth chance?

Crochet Coral Reef

Remember Irene? My pal who famously played sidekick for me in Wisconsin? She’s over there in the sidebar. Over there >>>

One of Irene’s many many talents is always finding the coolest shit going on anywhere, & the latest thing she’s turned me on to is the Crochet Coral Reef, which is blowing my mind with its crafty-geeky hyperbolic fabulosity.

As it happens, I was calling her to cancel our plans for tonight because, well, I fought the cold & the cold won. I was resigned to schlumping around the house all bored, but now I think I’ll crochet some coral instead! Thank you Irene!

If you’re in the Bay Area, check out Activist Imagination. That clever Donna Ozawa is 1 of 3 artists showing new work. I forgot to say before, it was her idea to use “Indigo Schmindigo” as my new blog title. Go Donna!

I’m finally feeling better. About fucking time. It really is a wonderful thing to sleep through the night without waking up to cough!

Freddy Chandra

The Mills MFA show as a whole definitely kicks ass (have you ever heard me say that about any MFA show before?), but the reason why you should drop everything & go see it, multiple times if possible, is Freddy Chandra's installation. Talk about sublime... this work is an act of profound generosity. The craftsmanship alone is reason to be grateful, but then there's the beauty, the way it transcends its own concepts of architecture, time & light. I'm thankful for all of it.