Dual Views: Labor Landmarks show to open April 2015

Landmarks photography by Wendy Crittenden (color, top) and
Tom Griscom (B&W, below)

Dual Views: Labor Landmarks of San Francisco will be exhibited at SFSU from April 2, 2015 through mid-July (details below). Taken in 2008 in the recovery from the 1999-2000 tech boom/bust cycle, Griscom’s black and white panoramas and Crittenden’s askew color c-prints celebrate the resilience of the ever-changing Waterfront, South of Market,Glen Park, Dogpatch, and North Beach areas while searching for echoes of their turbulent history.

The two photographers separately visited sites both iconic and “under the radar,” in an effort to capture the rebuilding period between economic cycles and to draw attention to the underlying history of militant labor struggles that helped shape the physical and political landscape of the city. While sifting through archival materials for this show, I continue to be amazed both by the dramatic changes in the city from one period to the next, and at the sacrifices people made to fight off companies that were exploiting their work.

The Dual Views show will be exhibited in the Special Collections Gallery on the 4th floor of the newly remodeled J. Paul Leonard Library at San Francisco State University, opening April 2nd and going through mid-July. An opening event/reception on April 2 and a closing event to coincide with Laborfest are being planned. As alumni, Tom, Wendy and I are all looking forward to finally showing this body of work at SFSU, and have been happy to continue our relationship with the Labor Archives and LARC director Catherine Powell.

The show will feature 11 photos each from Crittenden and Griscom, plus contextual material pulled from LARC's deep collection of historical artifacts. I have been developing a catalog, and hope to announce how it can be accessed soon. You can preview some of the pieces that will be featured in the show in the slideshow below. If you are a publisher and are interested in seeing a proposal, please contact me at kim_munson AT yahoo.com and I will be happy to send you one.

San Francisco Labor Landmark Photography from Kim Munson

Laborfest - Art & Labor Today

The opening reception for the exhibition Art and Labor Today had a great turnout last night. I was impressed by the range of work on display. The show was curated by David Duckworth, around the theme of "the effects of capitalism and the state of labor today." Artists include Skylaar Amann, Philippe Barnoud, Joe Blum, Paul Bouchard, Lenny Bové, Sherri Cavan, Michael Chomick, Mike Connor, Slobodan Dimitrov, Chris Dunker, Tom Griscom (pictured at left, discussing his Copra Crane panorama with 2 guests), Trudi Hauptman, Véronique Held, Mike Kimball, Anthony Lazorko, Jr., Kyle Levinger and Holley Coley, Doug McGoldrick, Douglas Minkler, Mimi Plumb, Aubrey Rhodes, John Robinson, Rachel Schreiber, Elizabeth Sibilia, elin o’Hara slavick, Angela Franks Wells, Marcia Weisbrot, Steve Zeltzer and Holly Wong. Margot Smith’s documentary film, WPA Murals in San Francisco / The WPA Murals of Bernard Zakheim / New Deal Public Art: The Works Progress Administration, will be screened throughout the run of the show.

The exhibition is free, and will be on display through July 25th at SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan St. at 8th St. SF. I will update with links to reviews as they come out. For the calendar of this and other Laborfest events, click here. You can see more photography of San Francisco's labor landmarks by Tom Griscom and Wendy Crittenden by scrolling to the bottom of this page and clicking on Labor Landmarks on the slideviewer widget.

Unfortunately, I've seen no reviews yet of this thought provoking exhibition. Here's a general write-up about Laborfest in the SF Examiner and a good piece from the SF Chronicle about the 75th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. If any reviews appear, the Laborfest site usually posts links at the bottom of the home page.

Upcoming Speaking Gigs

Forgive me for a moment of self promotion, but there are some events coming up worth checking out:

July 19 (Sunday), 1:00. Labor Archives and Research Center at SFSU. I will be talking about the Evolution of the Arm & Hammer logo as part of Laborfest. Tom Griscom's labor landmarks photography will be included in the Laborfest Art Show opening July 9 at SOMArts. This year Laborfest includes many panels of interest to artists trying to make a living, so be sure to check out the event schedule on their site.

July 26 (Sunday), 1:00. San Diego Comic Con. Comic Art and Museums panel. I will be speaking about my new research about The Comic Art Show (1983) and a recent interview I did with John Carlin, Michael Dooley will be talking about High & Low (1990) and Masters of American Comics (2005). Mega-publisher/collector Denis Kitchen will be talking about new exhibitions and trends. We are expecting a lively discussion, so check it out. Husband Marc is also speaking on Thursday morning about CBLDF and the Superman copyright case.

I've just confirmed that I will be speaking about the history of the union label at the AFL-CIO Union Label and Service Trades Department's 100th anniversary convention which will be held in Pittsburgh on September 12th. More later.

Kim Speaking at Laborfest

Evolution of an Emblem: The Arm & Hammer at LARC, Sunday, 7/19/09 at 1:00.

How did the arm & hammer end up on all those baking soda boxes? Art Historian Kim Munson shares her investigation of the origins of the arm & hammer from Greco-Roman myth and its role as an early union label to its current usage as the Socialist Labor Party emblem and as the baking soda trademark. Hosted by the Labor Archives and Research Center, SFSU, 480 Winston Drive, San Francisco, CA 94132. Contact: larc@sfsu.edu Phone: 415-564-4010.

BTW, A while ago I designed an on-line exhibit of union labels for LARC. Some of the graphics in the "promoting the label" section, especially the posters, are really interesting.