cisco and oakland. >> it is enormously exciting for me personally and for the institution. the poster with up right after new year's, and i remember very vividly -- i am a regular rider, and i went into the station and saw the first poster i had seen, it was incredibly exciting. it is satisfying to know that through the campaign, we are reaching a broader audience. >> for more information about >> welcome to "culturewire." since december 2005, the museum

of the african diaspora, known locally,moad, has presented programs that celebrate and explore the culture, history, and art of people with african descent throughout the and added states and throughout the world. the director of cultural affairs recently met with the museum director. to learn more about the current expedition, textural rhythms, constructing the jazz tradition, contemporary african american quilts. >> welcome to "culturewire." today, we are at the museum of the african diaspora, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary occupying one of the premier cultural district in the world, the yerba buena cultural

arts center in san francisco. joining me is the cultural art director. tell us what moad's mission is. what does it do? >> the museum of the african diaspora showcases the history, art, and cultural richness that resulted from the dispersal of africans throughout the world. we do that through compelling and innovative exhibitions, public programs, and education programs. our goal is to celebrate and present for appreciation to our broad and diverse public the controversial energy contributions of people of african descent to world culture in all aspects in all areas, including politics, culture, economics, education, just in all aspects of cultural forms of expression. >> one of the fascinating things since 2005 when the museum was established, is that it has become clear from science that all of humanity originates

in africa. how does that influence the education programs or presentation here at moad? >> obviously, being able to attenuate that, and there is a sign at the door that says, "when did you know that you were african?" our point is that we share a common dna, and it connects us on a number of different levels. this institution is an institution available to everyone, a resourced for everyone. >> you have both permanent and temporary exhibitions, right? >> we do. our temporary exhibition program is one that we are restructuring. i have been here now for about a year and a few months, and as a former curator, i'm very interested in this aspect of developing the visual arts program. part of what we are looking at is using the four core seems

that define our program -- origins, migration and movement, transformation, an adaptation -- as a framework for our thinking about the kinds of exhibits we present. >> we want everybody to come and see the permanent exhibition. there might be a special opportunity to visit with the current show that you currently have, which is constructing the jazz tradition, which is a very striking exhibition of quilts. >> it is a compelling exhibit on a number of different levels. visually, it is compelling. in terms of the subject matter, in terms of the approach to materials, it is so rich and diverse. it is a colorful show, a show that is deep in content, and we know something of the history of the "'s tradition within the african-american community. it is a tradition that came from africa, has its roots in africa, but during slavery, this was a

combination of things. one was a way to be able to communicate with each other, a way to create beautiful objects, and a way to create functional, utilitarian objects for the family and community. the other part that makes it so interesting is the focus on jazz. there are two attritions being celebrated here. certainly, the tradition as we know it -- these are not traditional quilts. they have their roots in traditional aspects, but what you will find in this exhibition are works that include materials on the surface, new processes, copying, and putting photographic images on the surface. you will find packets sewn onto the surface, so the methodology from traditional " making has changed from how traditional quilt makers use the medium. >> our visitors can visit the web site, which we will be

showing on the segment, so follow the link to the website, and get all of the latest information about all these events related to this exhibition, and, of course, you guys are very active. throughout the year, with all kinds of special programs. >> yes, we are. this is what i'm so excited about. >> this may take us off track a little bit, but a couple of things i wanted to highlight is that the creation of moad is one of the flagship creations of the redevelopment of san francisco. it is housed inside -- what is the building? the regency, right? >> the st. regis museum tower. >> the st. regis museum tower, which is one of the development projects that was promoted by the redevelopment agency is what allows the city to -- and the development agency to give form and establish moad in the yerba

buena cultural district. now, we are looking at governor brown oppose a proposal, which means that in the future, it he is successful, they would not have had the rebel the agency to promote these economic and cultural projects. it is something that has relevance today in terms of public policy today, what is going to happen in the future if we do not have a redevelopment agency to promote this development. >> yes. moad is the result or culmination of a public/private partnership that included the redevelopment agency and former mayor brown, and included the developer of this area. we had an opportunity to develop, create important cultural components of this

public/private partnership. i understand the concern. i'm delighted they are here and will continue to be here and will continue to do the good work we are doing. >> absolutely. thank you so much for being part of "culturewire." >> thank you for having me. >> for more information about the museum of the african the museum of the african diaspora, visit moadsf.org. >> i'm your host of "culturewire," and today, here

at electric works in san francisco. nice to see you today. thanks for inviting us in and showing us your amazing facility today. >> my pleasure. >> how long has electric works been around? >> electric works has been in san francisco since the beginning of 2007. we moved here from brisbane from our old innovation. we do printmaking, gallery shows, and we have a fabulous retail store where there are lots of fun things to find. >> we will look at all of that as we walk around. it is incredible to me how many different things you do. how is it you identify that san francisco was in need of all these different services? >> it came from stepping out of graduate school in 1972. i wrote a little thing about how this is an idea, how our world should work. it should have printmaking, archiving, a gallery. it should have a retail store.

in 1972, i wanted to have art sales, point-of-sale at the grocery store. >> so you go through the manifesto. with the bay area should have. you are making art incredibly accessible in so many different ways, so that is a good segue. let's take a walk around the facilities. here we are in your gallery space. can you tell me about the current show? >> the current show is jeff chadsey. he is working on mylar velum, a smooth, beautiful drawing surface. i do not know anyone that draws as well as he does. it is perfect, following the contours and making the shape of the body. >> your gallery represents artists from all over, not just the bay area, an artist that work in a lot of different

media. how to use some of what you look for in artists you represent? >> it is dependent on people are confident with their materials. that is a really important thing. there is enough stuff in the world already. >> you also have in his current show an artist who makes sculpture out of some really interesting types of materials. let's go over and take a look at that. here we are in a smaller space. project gallery. >> artists used the parameters of this space to find relationships between the work that is not out in the big gallery. >> i noticed a lot of artists doing really site-specific work. >> this is a pile of balloons, something that is so familiar, like a child's balloon. in this proportion, suddenly, it becomes something out of a dream. >> or a nightmare.

>> may be a nightmare. >> this one over here is even harder to figure out what the initial material is. >> this is made out of puffy paint. often, kids use it to decorate their clothes. she has made all these lines of paint. >> for the pieces we are looking at, is there a core of foam or something in the middle of these pieces that she built on top of? >> i'm not telling. >> ah, a secret. >> this silver is aluminum foil, crumbled of aluminum foil. her aesthetic is very much that quiet, japanese spatial thing that i really admire. their attention to the materiality of the things of the world. >> this is a nice juxtaposition you have going on right now. you have a more established artists alongside and emerging artists.

is that something important to you as well? >> very important in this space, to have artists who really have not shown much. now let's look at other aspects of electric works operation. let's go to the bookstore. >> ok. >> in all seriousness, here we are in your store. this is the first space you encounter when you come in off the street. it has evolved since you open here into the most amazingly curious selection of things. >> this was the project for the berkeley art museum. it was -- this is from william wiley's retrospective, when he got up onstage to sing a song, 270 people put on the cat. >> it is not just a bookstore. it is a store. can you talk us through some of your favorites? >> these are made in china, but they are made out of cattails.

>> these pieces of here, you have a whale head and various animals and their health over there, and they are jewelry. >> we do fund raisers for nonprofits, so we are doing a project for the magic theater, so there are some pretty funny cartoons. they are probably not for prime time. >> you sort of have a kind of holistic relationship where you might do merchandise in the store that promotes their work and practice, and also, prince for them. maybe we should go back and look at the print operation now. >> let's go. >> before we go into the print shop, i noticed some incredible items you have talked back here. what are we standing in front of? >> this is william wiley, only

one earth. this is a print edition. there are only eight total, and what we wanted to do was expand the idea of printmaking. this is really an art object. there we go. >> besides the punball machine, what do you produce in limited edition? >> there is the slot machine. if you win the super jackpot, you have saved the world. >> what about work? >> the right design, it was three volumes with lithographs in each volume. the cab of count dracula with 20 lithographs inside and lined with beaver fur. really special. >> let's move on to the print

shop. >> ok. the core of what we do is making things. this is an example. this is a print project that will be a fund-raiser for the contemporary music players. we decided to put it in the portfolio so you could either frame at or have it on your bookshelf. >> so nonprofits can come to you, not just visual are nonprofits, but just nonprofits can come to you, and you will produce prints for them to sell, and the profits, they can keep. >> the return on investment is usually four times to 10 times the amount of investment. this is for the bio reserve in mexico, and this is one of the artists we represent. >> you also make prints for the artists that you represent. over here are some large prints by a phenomenal artist. >> he writes these beautiful things.

anyone who has told you paradise is a book of rules is -- has only appeared through the windows. this is from all over coffee. we are contract printers for all kinds of organizations all across the country. >> thank you very much for showing us around today. i really appreciate you taking the time to let me get better acquainted with the operation and also to share with our "culturewire" team.

>> welcome to the department of

building inspections monthly brown bag show. this is the old building department. love and care for your old san francisco belling. this is a topic of interest to us who care about our city and the way it looks. it's the reason we came here was the image of the city. we have wonderful guests chris who does architectural restoration contracts around the city and my good buddy tools. and james, they do a lot of high epd construction and restoration work. we will talk about the various issues that effect preservation holder buildings and what you can do to make renovation work friendly. it fits into the quality and

character of the original work in san francisco. i thought we might start about talking about what are our goals when we try to pay attention to older buildings in san francisco. we can generally discuss it. there are issueses weing talk about. one focuses on sustainability of resources and green building. reusing older materials allows us not to fill the waste stream up with old valuable materials and news older materials that have a life cycle cost that's higher than the repair of the old materials. and that's particularly true about windows and some of the wood products with you simply expect they will have to be replaced after awhile and they don't have the life cycle of older materials. there is also some issues

regarding preservation of our neighborhood character. preservation of your asset. we have seen people trying to do upgrades to improve the quality of their building in past years they have done things like put asbestos siding up. that's an improvement on my building 40 years ago. thinking it was an improvement. stone. something to make it lower maintenance or last longer. many of the things have the collateral damage because the building was not designed for that system. >> we are seeing where people improve their values to their building but in the long run, we see a large number of premise to remove the improvements and

restore what was there originally. >> why do we love san francisco buildings? >> the character. absolute character. >> we go to areas of the city where you have 70's architect where they have gravel for the siding. as opposed to a building that has a victorian character. my preference is to live in something that has more character. let's talk a little bit about some of the challenges in dog repairs in older buildings. >> in san francisco we are lucky woo have a special shops. over in the eastbay we have true mat that do stock reproductions of the older material. >> so, that kind of material is available. you have to go out of your way to get it.

people are recognizing the value of preserving older materials. just a side note the diameter of environment in san francisco passed an ordinance into their code that requires the recycling reclaimation of old materials. it doesn't say you have to use them but they have to be separated out to be recycled at the waste disposal areas. >> when we do projects with my company we will sort out any wonderful timber there and clean it up. get the paint off and save it and put it back to use. as pertained to old growth red wood, which is our primary siding material you can't purchase it anymore. this is a piece of modern growth red wood siding they are one to the inch.

they are light as cotton. doesn't seem like it will resist rot. this is old growth that has 35 growth rings to the inch. if you look the the ingrown it's more than that this is heavy and dense. i met a lot of people who never knew red wood was like this this the stock sidings that come off of most of victorians. to take this stuff off and throw it away is a sin. when it come off we put it back to use. >> piece of trirm. you can identify where it might have been used. which has older paint on it. the building department has regulations for tanning or cleaning or painting if you do exterior work in a building where the building is pre1978, there's a presumption if you haven't tested the presumption

there is lead in the paint on the building. >> we have an aggressive lead paint enforcement program. it was the year before last there was adopted legislation that say where you do interior painting or refurbishment where there is lead paint you have to encapsulate and protect and clean it up to meet high standards especially in multi family residential buildings. >> before you start a project it's a good idea to check out and see what's there. we went so far as to do an analysis in the soil. every where around the house we were practicing a hundred percent containment. we found that the soil around the house before the project began had a high toxic level 800 parts her million and most of the soil was 2500 for years of

people scraping and painting this house. the mentioned asbestos and a lot of this old siding put on to improve homes has asbestos in it the transite siding, which is a problem to remove it. do you need to take that to a waste disposal site. >> we hire that out. because you need to be licensed by the state. the square footage amount we as general contract ors can touch before we need to hire someone that has a lead or asbestos certification. many general contract ors don't have the lead certification to remove the work. that's something you need to talk to your general contractor or architect or the building department to see the numbers before you attack those problems. >> let's look at more of the samples of wood you have a

phenomenonal sample. you can tell us where you got it. >> this i was offered an opportunity to salvage 85, 2 by 10 joisfs holding up awe anyoning in a school belling in crockets. >> this was free lumbar. i took them. had no nails. they were perfectly clear and every one of them is flawless, no nuts. vertical grain. old growth red wood and this has about 60, 65 growth rings to the ifrj. weighs as much as i pieceef green douglas fir. it's dense. and quite hard.