tour about 5000 people a year to our facility, adults and children. we talk about recycling and conservation. they can meet the artists. >> fantastic. let's go meet some of your current artists. here we are with lauren. can you tell us how long have been here so far and what you're working on? >> we started our residency on june 1, so we came into the studio then and spent most of the first couple weeks just digging around in the trash. i am continuing my body of work, kind of making these hand- embroidered objects from our day-to-day life. >> can you describe some of the things you have been making here? this is amazing. >> i think i started a lot of my work about the qualities of light is in the weight. i have been thinking a lot about things floating through the air. it is also very windy down here.

there is a piece of sheet music up there that i have embroidered third. there is a pamphlet about hearing dea -- nearing death. this is a dead rabbit. this is what i am working on now. this is a greeting card that i found, making it embroidered. it is for a very special friend. >> while we were looking at this, i glanced down and this is amazing, and it is on top of a book, it is ridiculous and amazing. >> i am interested in the serendipity of these still life compositions. when he got to the garbage and to see the arrangement of objects that is completely spontaneous. it is probably one of the least thought of compositions. people are getting rid of this stuff. it holds no real value to them, because they're disposing of it. >> we're here in another

recology studio with abel. what attracted you to apply for this special program? >> who would not want to come to the dump? but is the first question. for me, being in a situation that you're not comfortable in has always been the best. >> what materials were you immediately attracted to when you started and so what was available here? >> there are a lot of books. that is one of the thing that hits me the most. books are good for understanding, language, and art in general. also being a graphic designer, going straight to the magazines and seeing all this printed material being discarded has also been part of my work. of course, always wood or any kind of plastic form or anything like that. >> job mr. some of the pieces you have made while you have been here. -- taught me through some of the pieces you have made while you have been here. >> the first thing that

attracted me to this was the printed surface. it was actually a poster. it was a silk screen watercolor, about 8 feet long. in terms of the flatwork, i work with a lot of cloddish. so being able to cut into it come at into it, removed parts, it is part of the process of negotiating the final form. >> how do you jump from the two dimensional work that you create to the three-dimensional? maybe going back from the 3f to 2d. >> everything is in the process of becoming. things are never said or settled. the sculptures are being made while i am doing the collages, and vice versa. it becomes a part of something else. there's always this figuring out of where things belong or where they could parapets something else.

at the end goal is to possibly see one of these collage plans be built out and create a structure that reflects back into the flat work. >> thank you so much for allowing "culturewire" to visit this amazing facility and to learn more about the artists in residence program. is there anything you like our viewers to know? >> we have art exhibitions every four months, and a win by the public to come out. everybody is welcome to come out. we have food. sometimes we have gains and bands. it is great time. from june to september, we accept applications from bay area artists. we encouraged artists from all mediums to apply. we want as many artists from the bay area out here so they can have the same experience. >> how many artists to do your host here? >> 6 artist a year, and we receive about 108 applications. very competitive. >> but everyone should be encouraged to apply. thank you again for hosting us.

>> thank you for including us in "culturewire." ♪ >> hello. welcome to "culturewire." we are here today with bay area artist jody chanel, and we are here to see the plaza where your piece has just been installed. >> i have been doing large-scale paintings in the galleries and museums, and the idea that in the future, i could do something that would hang out a little bit longer than the duration of the installation the kind of appeal to me. i quickly found out about the san francisco arts commission school and realized there was a pre-qualified school you had to apply to, so i applied to the. >> how long did it take you to

develop this work for the plaza? >> this was a fast track project. design development was about a month. >> let's look at the beautiful mural. i have never seen a mural created on asphalt. >> the heat of the asphalt, a new layer of asphalt. then, these wire rope templates that were fabricated for the line work get laid down and literally stamped into the asphalt, and then everything was hand-painted. >> maybe you could talk about some of the symbolism, maybe starting in the middle and working out. >> [inaudible] the flower of industry. >> it is like a compass. there's an arrow pointing north. >> within the great bear

consolation, there are two pointed stars here. they typically lead one to the northstar, otherwise known as polaris. so i thought it has a layer of theme. >> let's talk about some of the other elements in the peace. we are walking along, and there is a weather vane. there's a sweet little bird hanging on the side. what kind of bird is that? >> [inaudible] the smallest of the gulf species, and it lives around the bay area. >> you want to talk about the types of flour patterns that you send? >> [inaudible] around 1926 or so by the dahlia society. >> what is this bird here? >> that is the california quail.

>> coming up here, we had a little blustery theme. what is this area here? >> this is supposed to be the side view, the expense of the golden gate bridge. >> there it is. >> there are really beautiful elements of architecture still around, i would say that it gives that feeling over to the work. >> what are your hopes for it? >> that in a way it just becomes part of the area. i think it is starting to have that feeling. people utilize it. they sit and, and have their lunch and play on -- they sit and, and have their lunch and play on that -- they sit and come and have their lunch and play on it. just for it to be part of the

neighborhood. that is my hope. >> is such a beautiful addition to our public art in san francisco. thank you for joining us. it was nice to meet you. and thank you for telling us about your beautiful mural. thanks for watching "culturewire." >> this is one of the museum's longest art interest groups. it was founded by art lovers who wanted the museum to reflect new directions in contemporary art. it has been focused on artists in this region with an eye toward emerging artists. ♪

it is often at the early stage of their career, often the first major presentation of their work in a museum. it is very competitive. only a few artists per year receive the award. it is to showcase their work to have a gallery and publication dedicated to their work. ♪ i have been working with them on the last two years on the award and the exhibitions. the book looks at the full scope of the awards they have sponsored. ♪ it has been important to understand the different shifts within the award program and how that is nearing what else is

going on in the bay area. -- how that is mirror beiing wht else is going on in the bay area. ♪ there are artists from different generations sometimes approaching the same theme or subject matter in different ways. they're artists looking at the history of landscape and later artists that are unsettling the history and looking at the history of conquests of nature. ♪ artists speak of what it means to have their work scene. often you are in the studio and do not have a sense of who is really seeing your work. seeing your own work at the institution have gone to for many years and has an international audience is

getting the word out to a much larger community. ♪ >> you can see that it is amazing. you can hear that it is refreshing. you reach for it because it is irresistible. and the taste. simply delicious. san francisco tap water. it engages the senses. 311 is an important resource for all san franciscans. shouldld

>> hello. welcome to "meet your district supervisor." we are here with supervisor mar, who was elected in 2008 and is about halfway through his first term. we will get to know them and talk about the toughest issues they have been facing. welcome, supervisor. thank you for joining us. let's start by talking about your background, where you grew up. >> i grew up in sacramento, california, in the south area. went to public schools. ended up in uc-davis. made my way out to san francisco when i was a college student, and i sat in the class is in san francisco state as well, and i remember growing up

at that time around clement street. we call the richmond district the new chinatown in the 1980's at that time. just being around the tremendous unique neighborhood, and discovering san francisco in the 1980's as i grew up, but i also have been very active as a community organizer. i worked in chinatown, and some first jobs also at the mental health center in the richmond area multi services in the 1980's, and i was also a staff are at the chinatown youth center -- i was also a staffer. a lot of my work has been supporting community empowerment, especially in an immigrant and people of color communities. most recently, i have been teaching at san francisco state. i ran the immigrant rights coalition in the city in the 1990's for several years.

i'm also an immigration attorney, and a lot of my passion is supporting in power met for immigrant communities in the city as well. >> why did you choose to live in san francisco? supervisor mar: a lot of people bring this up, but is one of the most exciting, culturally diverse places in the world. learning about new cultures and people from different parts of the world, like a gateway neighborhood. not just for the new chinatown, as it was called in the 1980's, but for russian-speaking immigrants, people from the caribbean. there are so many different mixtures of people, and i guess my district, like many other neighborhoods in the city, is kind of what draws me to it. and just the political life of people very passionate about their own communities and their life, but also interacting with others from around the world. it has been wonderful. i also am really a supporter of the arts, especially community

arts, and just learning about other people's experience from artistic needs. we are lucky to have golden gate park. the museum and the academy of sciences and so many other institutions. but also, a lot of community arts centers. there is all these community arts space is that i just love, and it makes our neighborhoods a much more colorful and livable as well. >> what motivated your interest in politics? >> i guess i have always been passionate about civil rights and equality for everyone, and i have a 10-year-old daughter, so having a girl has made me much more sensitive to gender equality and other issues, but i guess i have always been someone that is vocal about my politics, but as a supervisor, and having to listen to many perspectives before making key decisions. as an activist in chinatown, i have always felt that working

families and people who work in our neighborhoods need to have much more support. it is always about giving more voice to immigrants or the underserved and workers in the city. that is what drives my passion as a supervisor. >> tell me about the process of running for supervisor. what did you learn from the campaign process? was anything surprising? supervisor mar: i had to move from being a regular person that barely gets his kid to school on time and makes her a healthy lunch to having to go to a photo opportunities. i was on the school board for eight years, i had some training. and i was in the democratic party central committee for years before that and was one of the champions and advocates for district elections, which is the system we have now, but i learned that the richmond district has a lot of unique characteristics, but there is also many different points of view from older, russian- speaking families to small

business owners to younger, kind of art-loving hipsters in areas, but there is a bunch of different types of use. campaigning for supervisor men having to listen to a lot of those and find commonalities that unite people together around improving the richmond for working families, seniors, and everyone that lives here. >> where do you fall on the political spectrum supervisor mar: mar -- where you fall on the political spectrum? supervisor mar: definitely strong support for small businesses. some have said that in a progressive, and though i do not like the term to much because i think it always boxes in, i have always considered myself as having progressive politics because i believe in a vision where people have their needs met. i believe in equity. when people have special needs, we should be considerate of that. i also feel that working families and the lowest income populations should have a safety net. we should have human rights and equality and civil rights for

people as well. i am very proud of being a progressive. >> what do you think are some of the biggest issues facing san francisco? >> right now, there are so many people out of work the local hiring and jobs and creation of new jobs, whether it is in a high-tech economy with twitter and other types of work force issues moving forward and businesses moving forward to creation of construction that local residents have a good shot at jobs. the john avalos local hiring measure was important in making sure we get residents, but even in my district, there are pockets of poverty and many people out of work. supporting those unemployed and underemployed people, supporting struggling small businesses in a difficult economy, and i support the small businesses versus more

chain stores that seem to be coming into the store fronts, but i try to be sympathetic to local businesses because they make up the diversity of our local neighborhoods. those are some of the challenges that face our businesses. >> are there other issues specific to your district? how do you balance the needs of the issues in your district against the needs of the city as a whole? >> i know that our district has a higher proportion of seniors than some other district, and there is a brand new senior complex and wraparound community services complex called the institution on aging bridge housing complex, but it is going to concentrate a lot of the senior services and nonprofits. about 180 units of affordable senior housing in our district. i am actually a baby boomer, at the edge of the baby boomer, and i know that baby boomer era. there's this huge boom in a population of seniors in our

city that will grow. i think by 2020, 60% of the population will be seniors, and i think some people are now defining 60 and over, but i think generally, people looking at 65 and over. that is a huge population. i'm trying to look at issues of senior nutrition programs, alzheimer's research, but even housing policies that allow our buildings to become more senior- friendly. i guess we are calling it developing an aging-friendly city. we are also looking at how to support senior services and unique neighborhood by neighborhood programs called aging in place or village models that allow people who are older or seniors getting older to be able to support each other and to stay in their homes and communities longer so they can be contributed to the community as long as possible as opposed to institutionalizing them, which costs quite a bit more. so i'm looking with senior group's ideas of how to create more aging in place programs

neighborhood by neighborhood as well, but i think those are the key issues. i am also, kind of as the father of a 10-year-old -- i have anxiety like other parents right now as we apply for a middle schools for my daughter. as a member of the school board for eight years, i know that a strong school system and strong schools in the richmond is key. but also, i serve on the first five commission. each county has a commission that oversees money that supports children, and toddlers, and infants to pre- kindergarten kids, so i'm trying to insure that at the state level, we have a case for strong support for young children and their families and good parenting support as well, so that is another key focus, in addition to continuing my work to improve schools and make a more equitable and socially just as well. >> again, the city is faced with tough budget decisions, including word and make cuts and

where to increase taxes and fees. how are you going to approach these different choices? >> those are really tough choices. i think often, the economy in san francisco is not in a vacuum, and we are impacted by the state and federal government, so we need be advocating with our legislative delegation to prioritize health and human services job development and work force development and important projects as much as we can. at the state level, as we face this huge budget deficit as well to make sure there is flexibility in spending at the local level. but i absolutely think that we need revenue measures that come on the ballot, and voters have to be thinking about ensuring that we have enough revenue so that we maintain infrastructure, the building and maintenance of the streets and buildings and even a kind of parts of the coat -- coast. the need to make sure infrastructure is there and also that we have money that -- to protect the critical safety net

for seniors and young children and families and the most vulnerable in our communities as well, but i think those are key questions as the difficult budget for our city comes forward. i will be working with a coalition of family-based and community-based groups and seniors to ensure we protect our community-based services for seniors. >> what are your ideas on dealing with the issue of homelessness? >> i think homelessness has been this structural problem, not just in our city but other metropolitan areas, and i think, at least at the short term level, we have made some progress ensuring there is cleaner and safer shelters so people have somewhat of a transition to transition from homelessness to a stable housing, but when we look at the numbers of affordable housing units that might allow people to get more on their feet or even work force development or educational opportunities to help a mother who is homeless, for example, to get on their feet, we need much more of

that, and we cannot cut programs that will increase the roles of the homeless. i believe that the project homeless connect and some of the projects created by previous administrations are not enough. we need to look at transitional housing but also continuing the type of support to help people get back on their feet. the job training and other types of programs that the mayor's office of economic and workforce of all men are working on are really important to ensure that unemployed people and potentially homeless people can be trained in the new green economy and green jobs. there is also a lot of other types of work force development being done, but i think it has to be targeted at some of the lowest income, highest vulnerability populations in our city, and that would help prevent homelessness from growing. but i hope that as we look at homeless policy, we take a man approached that does not blame homeless people for their own predicament but looks at how we

can improve the economy, jobs, and educational opportunities for many people who are currently homeless. >> you started to touch on this a little bit as the city's housing needs. what do you think the board of supervisors should be doing to address some of those needs? supervisor mar: even as we will be holding a hearing on senior housing needs in a few weeks, we did a study with the budget analyst office that shows that there is a huge need for housing, especially for affordable housing for the lowest income population, but even for our middle-income, aging population, there is nowhere near enough housing that is affordable for people, so it may mean an exodus of more working families, or seniors that are middle or lower income from the city, we must build more housing that is affordable. there is also the danger that san francisco becomes a city that loses families because it may be cheaper or more affordable to live in daly city or down the peninsula or across to the east bay, so i think creating the will neighborhoods

that are accessible and friendly to families, so the number of units that are built or the number of bedrooms and the types of units that are built. parking is going to be one of the other issues. i, of course, support san francisco being a leader, but i also see at times that people may need that car, especially if you have a family, to get your kids from treasure island, one of the developments in san francisco, instead of being isolated by being on the island. we have to look at trends and policies from a perspective also of the needs of families as well. >> let's talk a little bit more about transportation, specifically in your district. how is muni service? what about parking, traffic? >> san francisco's transportation system i believe has a lot of great qualities. we have good bustlines in our richmond district.

i'm always looking at creating more efficiencies and finding where the needs are. there have been some cuts over the years, so -- to bus lines, like along the outer richmond district area that have led many seniors without a bus route to get up the hill or to get down the hill to go either grocery shopping -- so we are looking at how the system might not be closely enough based on the needs of people like, especially seniors, or disabled people. there's also some bustlines that are less used in the richmond district that we are now working with the muni system to think about continuing but maybe reduce its frequency, but continue its access for many people that live in isolated parts of the city. i strongly support stronger youth discount passes and supporting the bus system so that younger people have strong access.

we are trying to work with the school district right now and city agencies to ensure that young people get more support. we want them to be lifelong transit riders as well, so we are trying to look at different issues of transit equity for younger people in our population as well. >> what is happening with crime in your district, and how do you think our police department is doing? supervisor mar: we are extremely lucky to have a great police captain with great officers within our police department on six and geary -- sixth and geary. a lot of issues in our neighborhood tend to be graffiti, carbos thing. sometimes, there are robberies, and on occasion the occasional killing happens. but it is nowhere near the other problems that other districts have. i often what the district with the police captain and look at the data that comes out to look at where crimes happen