creating elaborate unique court or by embracing technology and trying to share a beautiful creations with as many people as possible. >> william morris was in a difficult position, because he wanted the middle-class to be able to acquire really beautifully made objects. but the piece is that he actually made, you know, took so much handcrafting that there were quite expensive. i think he would have been pleased to know that there are things like restoration hardware anne craig and bare all that tried to make available to the middle-class -- and crate and barrel that tried to make these things available to the middle class. >> over 60 lenders contributed art and craft to the exhibition. one of the partners is london's victoria and albert museum, which has been collecting the finest examples of victorian craft since queen victoria herself attended the

groundbreaking ceremony. the artist of the victorian avant-garde believe that every object could contain an expression of beauty. the attention given when creating a towering sculpture should be the same as when creating a simple cottage gate. they embraced arts for arts own sake. whether in the curl of a flower or a stray lot of unpin hair. surprisingly, sensuality returned to public view during the victorian era. albert moore and others were inspired by ancient greek sculptures and found new uses in modern times. >> many of these paintings are large. when you get close to them, they seem to wrap you in this luscious colors. there's a great sensuality to the paintings, even though there's nothing sexual going on in the pictures. the artists just took delight in luxurious fabrics and colors and

beautiful women. >> symphony in white is a life- size portrait of the immense stress of james wisler. it is featured prominently in the exhibition. harmony in gray and green was an of socially judged as a disagreeable presentation of a disagreeable young lady. the first public reaction of this series was so divisive that led to court proceedings. today, they hang in london's tate gallery. walking to the exhibition, you might be distracted by objects that seem to modern war appeared to be at least art deco era. forward thinking victorian artists emerged the economical ambitions of 18th-century cottage's style furniture with the asymmetrical design elements of japanese art that was introduced to london in 1862. >> so you come out with these

very beautiful and sleek design worms that the artist combined -- a design forms. very modern. our visitors are really surprised that so many of the works at a very modern feel to them. >> they believe that no object needed to be considered worthless or low class. each thing, existing in its own place, was the best thing for its place. and what first seems to be idle showiness, shows the richness of today and yesterday. >> it is exciting to have a project you have worked on for so long coming in know, come to your own museum. and museum curators are among the luckiest professionals, because we get to share with tens of thousands of people the things that give us enjoy and

the things that explain to our visitors the relationship between art and society. art is not just a frivolous, you know, sidebar. it is a very important expression of culture and morals. this particular moment, the artists were interested in community. >> san francisco is the exclusive american host for the cult of beauty exhibition. the legion of honor is website has more information about the artists and tips for planning your visit. learn more at the website. thank you for watching >> there are kids and families ever were. it is really an extraordinary playground. it has got a little something

for everyone. it is aesthetically billion. it is completely accessible. you can see how excited people are for this playground. it is very special. >> on opening day in the brand- new helen diller playground at north park, children can be seen swinging, gliding, swinging, exploring, digging, hanging, jumping, and even making drumming sounds. this major renovation was possible with the generous donation of more than $1.5 million from the mercer fund in honor of san francisco bay area philanthropist helen diller. together with the clean and safe neighborhood parks fund and the city's general fund. >> 4. 3. 2. 1. [applause] >> the playground is broken into three general areas. one for the preschool set, another for older children, and

a sand area designed for kids of all ages. unlike the old playground, the new one is accessible to people with disabilities. this brand-new playground has several unique and exciting features. two slides, including one 45- foot super slide with an elevation change of nearly 30 feet. climbing ropes and walls, including one made of granite. 88 suspension bridge. recycling, traditional swing, plus a therapeutics win for children with disabilities, and even a sand garden with chines and drums. >> it is a visionary $3.5 million world class playground in the heart of san francisco. this is just really a big, community win and a celebration for us all. >> to learn more about the helen diller playground in dolores park, go to sfrecpark.org.

and the good morning, everyone is. welcome to san francisco. -- >> good morning, everyone. welcome to san francisco. i wanted to express my appreciation at being here at autodesk. not only do you have a great company here, but pretty soon, one of those models out there will be something like a three- dimensional arena for basketball or something like that. that might happen very fast. i wanted to come here and start by thanking the u.s. high-speed rail association for their good work, their collaborative work for so many years in building a forum and getting so many players together to develop coalitions and consortiums for

building a high-speed rail system in america, and thank you very much, the association, for hosting this conference in san francisco. when our city's economy is going again, and most importantly, we are adding jobs, and we are ready. for those of you that are new to san francisco, you should know that we are building the very first high-speed rail project in the united states. our transbay transit center, which will be completed in 2017. tomorrow, we move forward improving the transit center's district plan. it is not just a multi modal transit center, but a comprehensive plan for the transit center to become part of our new downtown. san francisco is no longer a city that is afraid of growth. we have had those debates in the

past, and we have gone through them, but we have embraced smart growth in the right places. around our voter-mandated terminus of high-speed rail is the right place for development. we spent years planning the extension of the california -- caltrain an extension of california real, and many of you in this room have been part of that, and now, it is time not only to get it done, but to get it done right because we have a lot to do. growth, all over the country, but particularly for me, growth must have been and must be done and must be done in a balanced and equitable manner to achieve regional, environmental, economic goals. great land use and transportation together. the transit district plan we have, for example, will add 11 acres of new open space to the

center of our city, including a five-acre elevated part. 4000 units of housing. 1400 of those units affordable. in addition to acting as the grand central of our west. the how of bringing high-speed rail to california is as important as the why. to provide economic vitality to california and to our cities. i would like to again thank the association for organizing this event. i would like to thank governor brown and the california high speed rail authority for bringing forth a new business plan that really response to the earlier criticisms and sets us on the right track. in closing, i would like to thank president obama, leader

pelosi, secretaries boxer and feinstein, as well as leader lahood for the commitment to public transit, creating jobs, and investing in san francisco. again, thank you this morning for being here, and let's get it done. appreciate it. [applause] >> we came to seven straight about 10 years ago. -- 7th street about 10 years ago. the environment is huge. it is stronger than willpower.

surrounding yourself with artists, being in a culture where artists are driving, and where a huge amount of them is a healthy environment. >> you are making it safer. push, push. that is better. when i start thinking, i see it actually -- sometimes, i do not see it, but when i do, it is usually from the inside out. it is like watching something being spawned. you go in, and you begin to work, excavate, play with the dancers, and then things began to emerge. you may have a plan that this is what i want to create. here are the ideas i want to play with, but then, you go into the room, and there maybe some

fertile ideas that are becoming manifest that are more interesting than the idea you had initially set out to plan. so there has to be this openness for spontaneity. also, a sense that regardless of the deadline, that you have tons of time so the you can keep your creativity alive and not cut it off and just go into old habits. it is a lot like listening. really listening to watch what is going to emerge. i like this thing where you put your foot on his back. let's keep it. were your mind is is how you build your life. if you put it in steel or in failure, it works. that works. it is a commitment. for most artists, it is a vacation and a life that they have committed themselves to.

there is this notion that artists continue to do their work because of some kind of the external financial support. if that was taken away, artists would still do their art. it is not like there is a prerequisite for these things to happen or i will not do it. how could that be? it is the relationship that you have committed to. it is the vocation. no matter how difficult it gets, you are going to need to produce your art. whether it is a large scale or very small scale. the need to create is going to happen, and you are going to have to fulfill it because that is your life.

♪ ♪ [applause] >> ok. that was really beautiful. we would like to welcome you to the third annual statewide celebration and recognition of asian-pacific islander american heritage month. this event is hosted by the mayor. i will tell you a little bit more. it is a non-profit, non- partisan. since 2001, our focus has been on educating the public on public policy. and fostering the future leaders from our minority

communities to serve at federal, state, and local levels. the mission is to empower patients and pacific islander americans in civic and public affairs to education, active participation, and leadership development. >> civic engagement, leadership development, and community servthe theme of tonight's evens a celebration of the achievements and accomplishments of asian-americans in the state of california and our nation. >> ok'ing. -- ok. i would like to introduce our host for this evening. very well known as the first

asian-american mayor in san francisco history. mayor lee championed balancing the budget to keep san francisco safe, solvents, and successful. he reformed city pensions. his focus is on economic development, job creation, and building san francisco's future. a great job, especially for helping out families. we want to keep families here. i also wanted to mention a little bit of his past. he was born in 1952 in the beacon hill neighborhood of seattle, washington. his parents immigrated to the u.s. from china and the 1930's. his father fought in world war ii and worked as a cook. he passed away when the mayor was 15.

his mother was a seamstress and a waitress. mayor lee has five siblings, he graduated from college in maine, he also went to uc- berkeley law school and finished in 1978. he and his wife have two daughters. i also want to mention, prior to becoming mayor, one of the key points in his contributions to the community is after he completed law school, he worked as a managing attorney for the san francisco asian law caucus, where he was an advocate for affordable housing and the rights of immigrants and renters. mayor lee -- [applause]

>> thank you. welcome to city hall. the people's city hall, san francisco. i want you all to note that that was such a wonderful rendition of our national anthem. please give another applause to the millennium -- melanie and her daughter. i am so excited about all of you and seen so many of you from all over our state. come to city hall anin san francisco, welcome. i would like to welcome the former secretary of transportation. [applause]

thank you for being here. thank you, john, thank you. our board of supervisors comment david chiu, thank you very much. david campos, thank you for being here. he is our adopted asian brother. we have so many of our state representatives here. so many of you are here. i have spent all night announcing your names, but they did not give me the full list. i will say thank you on behalf of our city. from sacramento, los angeles, from all the communities in between, thank you for coming to our fantastic city to celebrate

our asian-pacific heritage month. it is my pleasure to also provide you with a warm welcome and thank you for somebody who worked on this idea to bring everybody here to san francisco, my very good friend. thank you. where are you? when we first talked about this, we said there had to be the place where everybody felt comfortable. there had to be a place where we could feel the excitement of all very different asian american groups. we had to have a place where something wonderful had been accomplished. a leadership change, one that we never thought in our lifetimes. by the way, as you know, i never thought in our lifetimes we would see an african-american

president of the united states. what a wonderful location, that is something to celebrate. he has been here many times, president obama. the very surprised we had of being able to celebrate the first asian mayor of san francisco. it was not my doing, it was all of the people of san francisco saying it is about time we celebrate. thank you to the people of san [applause] i have a very short message. what did i have felt very strongly in my first elected year, but also during my tenure as interim mayor. we have a great deal of celebrate. we also have a great challenge in front of us. there are so many of our asian american friends, iranian friends, friends from the philippines, friends from our japanese-american community, are

chinese-american community, waiting for the opportunity to come together to celebrate our diversity, but also to signal to our european friends, our latino france, we are ready to help lead this state. and helped change the conversation and not only celebrate diversity, but use diversity for our strength. that is our strength. i want to signal to you, let's come together, let's use this opportunity to make sure we can celebrate our strength throughout the state. i also want to welcome carmen chu. thank you for joining us. we can really celebrate and we can bring this state for because i know -- he does not want to be

alone in san francisco suggesting change. nobody wants to be alone. all of us can contribute to a more positive outlook on life. guess what -- when we look at where we came from, when we look at the parents that brought us here, the generations before us, we learned a great lesson. we learned lessons they faced, there were struggling to get past the barriers of discrimination. past the barriers of economic privilege, past the barriers of the new immigrants to this country. they forged ahead. some of us aren't new generations, the generation of kids i want to -- some of us are new generations. make sure they have a big opportunity in san francisco. we hope you do not have those

barriers that our parents did. we hope that you do not run into the road blocks that we had to struggle for. we hope that our lawsuits, are street advocacy, -- our street advocacy, and all the places we struggled with in our generations, that you never have to go through. the only way we can do that is to make sure the door is always open to everybody else. that is our promise, we have to keep that, we have to keep our education strong, we have to keep our economic foundation strong, we have to keep our opportunities strong. thank you. i am honored. let us celebrate. on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, i officially declare this to be asian pacific heritage month in san francisco

and the state of california. welcome. [applause] >> i am going to make one correction. he said president obama is the first african-american president. president obama crew up in hawaii. -- grew up in hawaii. it makes him an honorary asian- american. he is the first asian-american president as well. tonight's events would not be possible without our community partners. a group that helped make all this happened, i am going to read them all. the asian business alliance, asian law alliance, the asian pacific american leadership

institute, chinese-american cultural association, chinese american political association, citizens for better community, culture to culture, why in the chamber of commerce of northern care of -- kawai and chamber of commerce of northern california, northern california chinese athletic association, national association of american professionals, national federation of independent business, national federation of filipino americans, the filipino chamber of commerce, around of applause for all of our community partners, please. that was a lot. [applause]

>> i am so glad he had to do that. our next speaker is u.s. congressmen. he is representing the 15th congressional district of california in the u.s. house of representatives. in congress, he is a member of the powerful house appropriations and budget committee. share of the democratic caucuses, new media working group, house democratic senior went, and the original author of the equity and excellence commission now housed in the u.s. department of education. his district includes silicon valley, the birthplace of technology. mike has dedicated his life to public service and is lauded for his work on education, civil- rights national service,

immigration, transportation, the environment, and high-tech issues. >> he is also the greatest karaoke sing their -- singer and all of congress. -- in all of congress. [applause] >> he just told me i had five minutes. what do you think of this program? [applause] it is about time. i want to thank francis and fong. i think this is the very first statewide heritage month held with the mayor of san francisco.