Category Archives: Blog

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Some of you may have already heard the news that Fr. Blaettler, Director of the Manresa Gallery, has been given a new assignment at the Santa Clara University beginning this September. Nevertheless, Fr. Blaettler will continue to direct the Manresa Gallery and be closely involved with its programming and operations. You will also continue see him at the opening receptions, lectures and special events, and on occasion you might even see him on campus, planning for the next exhibition, and wave hello to him.

We hope that you will continue to visit us and look forward to seeing you in the Gallery again!

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The Wierix exhibition has been extended! Catalogs are on sale at a reduced price of $10 – come and get them while they last!

Visit us on Sundays from 2-5pm or by appointment during the week. Please contact us at info@manresagallery.or or (415) 422-6639 to make an appointment.

We look forward to seeing you in the Gallery soon!

9/11 Public Projection by Local Artist Ben Wood

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Remembering 9/11 at St. Ignatius Church, University of San Francisco

ARTIST’S VIDEO PROJECTION  Beginning at sundown
A new commissioned video piece by artist Ben Wood will be projected onto the façade of St. Ignatius Church before and after the service. During the service a special program of LED lighting will be on view inside the Church.

INTERFAITH SERVICE  8pm
An interfaith service commemorating the anniversary with local leaders of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths.

PUBLIC RECEPTION  Following the service
Join us for a reception hosted by University Ministry following the service in the Fromm Building behind St. Ignatius Church for refreshments and fellowship.

ABOUT THE COMMEMORATION
St. Ignatius Church and Manresa Gallery are pleased to announce a special interfaith service with an accompanying artist’s project on Sunday, September 11 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the September 11th World Trade Center Attacks. The University of San Francisco’s University Ministry hosts a service led by Rabbi Allen B. Bennett (Temple Israel), Sister Bhawana Kamil, (Muslim American Society) and Father John A. Coleman, S.J. (St. Ignatius Church). In conjunction, Manresa Gallery presents new work by San Francisco based, British artist Ben Wood, whose commissioned video work commemorates the lives lost in 2001. Wood’s video will be presented on the façade of St. Ignatius Church beginning at sundown, continuing into the evening after the service. A special program of LED lighting illuminating the interior of the Church will also be on view during the service. Please join us for a public reception following the service hosted by University Ministry.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ben Wood is a British visual artist based in San Francisco who is deeply committed to improving community relations through art that is both engaging and accessible to the public. Wood received his BFA in Digital Media from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Master’s Degree in Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the recipient of the California Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation for his work to preserve the Mission Dolores mural in 2004 and the 0-1 Visa for Artists of Extraordinary Ability. Since 2004, he has carried out over 5 large-scale video projections onto Coit Tower in San Francisco. Wood’s work has been shown at the Museo Nacional de Arte in México City, the London Jewish Museum, and the East West Center in Honolulu.

PHOTOS
View more photos of the event here.

PRESS
San Francisco Sentinel
SF Weekly
San Francisco Chronicle
Office of the Mayor: Remembering 9/11

For more information please contact Tamara Loewenstein at tamara@manresagallery.org or call 415.422.6639

Photos by Madeline Brown 

9/11 Ten Years Later

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MANRESA GALLERY PRESENTS A VIDEO PROJECTION BY ARTIST BEN WOOD
COMMEMORATING THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11

Manresa Gallery is pleased to present new work by San Francisco based, British born artist Ben Wood, commissioned on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the September 11 World Trade Center Attacks. Projected onto the east façade of St. Igantius Church on the evening of the anniversary, Wood’s video pays tribute to the lives lost in 2001. Using the existing architecture of the landmark San Francisco Church as a starting point, Wood’s video is cut to match the building’s window like arches, weaving together imagery of individuals of myriad faith backgrounds in prayerful action. The result is the illusion of looking into the Church as though the boundary of interior and exterior has dissolved. On this solemn day of reflection and contemplation, Wood’s work reminds us of the power of community and faith, extending an invitation to join one another in remembering those fallen and those they left behind, together marking this passage of time.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ben Wood is a British visual artist based in San Francisco who is deeply committed to improving community relations through art that is both engaging and accessible to the public. Wood received his BFA in Digital Media from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Master’s Degree in Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the recipient of the California Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation for his work to preserve the Mission Dolores mural in 2004 and the 0-1 Visa for Artists of Extraordinary Ability. Since 2004, he has carried out over 5 large-scale video projections onto Coit Tower in San Francisco. Wood’s work has been shown at the Museo Nacional de Arte in México City, the London Jewish Museum, and the East West Center in Honolulu.

For more information please email info@manresagallery.org

From Kino to Serra Opening Reception

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Manresa Gallery celebrated the opening reception of the exhibition From Kino to Serra: Jesuit & Franciscan Missions on Sunday, April 10. The exhibition, co-curated by Dr. Julianne Burton-Carvajal and Rev. James Blaettler, S.J., includes contemporary and period photographs documenting the architectural and artistic legacy of pioneering missionaries Father Eusebio Kino and Fray Junípero Serra.

On display are recent color photographs by Jeffrey Becom, Edward McCain, Edward Vernon, and period images from the California Views Archive. These photographs evidence the efforts of the many who labored to build and maintain the missions that stretch from the desert sands of Sonora to the metropolis of our own San Francisco. In celebration of the 300th anniversary of Kino’s death and the 300th anniversary in 2013 of Serra’s birth, this exhibition is the first to juxtapose these two transformative careers.

For more information on hours and making an appointment please visit us here.

We hope to see you in the gallery soon!

The Space Between

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Last night we had yet another amazing dharma talk – this time led by Zen Buddhist priest Cynthia Kear. In the final night of our four-part series The Art of Meditation, we sat in the round before Tobi Kahn’s LHYAD, a large, abstract painting of silver and pearl. Before and after meditating, Kear called us to intimately engage with Kahn’s art and then jot down our thoughts on a sheet of paper. Interestingly enough, we all found something new in the painting upon our return. Our attitudes, our mindsets, shifted. What happened within those 10 to 15 minutes of meditation? Kear said that was when our minds encountered “the space between.”

In our daily lives, we are continually at the mercy of our habitual mind, says Kear. When we meditate, however, we can find rest in the tranquility of an empty mind; we can begin to curb stress; we can make a place for true creativity; and we can become aware of our most elemental selves. A daily meditation practice can bring us closer to ourselves and more engaged and connected with the subtlety and beauty of the spaces between.

To learn more about meditation please visit Cynthia Kear’s website.

white crane flys over mountain

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Last night at Manresa Gallery we had the second meeting of our four-part series The Art of Meditation. Led by local San Francisco Zen Buddhist Priest Tova Green the meeting focused on Tobi Kahn’s large-scale painting VYHTI. We began the evening with a 15 minute sitting meditation followed by a short walking meditation. Tova then led us into an activity which generated beautiful collaborative haiku poetry.

With a blank piece of paper and pencil in hand, Tova asked participants to write down several words in response to three questions: 1) What do you see in the painting? 2) What emotions does the painting bring out in you and  3) What message do you recieve from the painting? After writing down each line, Tova instructed us to fold the paper over and pass it on two people over so that no one could see what the previous person had written. What unfolded were poems that captured the essence of each viewer’s experience of VYHTI. Each poem, participants remarked, read as though they had been written by a singular author. Some beautiful examples follow below.

Tova’s dharma talk  spoke to  notions of stillness and flow in ones meditation practice and the impermanence in our daily lives as it related to the imagery in Kahn’s VYHTI. In our ever changing lives, Tova explained that meditation is a tool which when practiced can slow us down, help us to pay attention and be mindful, kinder to ourselves and others, and be more present for our own and others pain.

Jisan Tova Green is Zen priest and a hospice social worker. She was ordained by Eijun Linda Cutts in 2003 and has been a resident of San Francisco Zen Center for the last twelve years. Tova has played cello since the age of 10 and writes, photographs and paints water colors.

NEXT WEEK in The Art of Meditation:

Seeing Nothing by Julia Ten Eyck
February 3 / 6-7:30pm

Wallace Stevens’ poem “The Snow Man” describes someone who “beholds nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.” How do we truly perceive something without adding what is not there?  Practicing meditation is a way to train ourselves to cut through the illusion that we need something more in order to feel secure and complete and, instead, to see that things are perfect and whole and complete just as they are. In the words of Suzuki Roshi, we see “things as it is.”

The Art of Meditation: Zen Buddhist Meditation and Dharma Talks at Manresa Gallery Begins Tonight

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Join us tonight at Manresa Gallery for The Art of Meditation, a four-part series of meditations and dharma talks that seek to explore the art of meditation and the intersection between art and meditation. Using the exhibition Sacred Synergies: Works by Tobi Kahn as a platform, each meeting will consist of a brief meditation instruction, meditation and a talk followed by open discussion. Meetings will be held in a different alcove of the gallery each week, using Kahn’s artwork and the gallery environment as a portal of entry into dharma talks. No previous experience is required. Donations will be accepted. Detail can be found below.

THE ART OF MEDITATION:
ZEN BUDDHIST MEDITATION AND DHARMA TALKS

A Four Part Series of Zen Buddhist Meditation Sittings
Thursdays / 6-7:30pm at Manresa Gallery

January 20 / Introduction to Series and Meditation

The first meeting of this four part series will set the stage for the following weeks talks with Cynthia Kear, Tova Green, and Julia Ten Eyck giving an overview of the program and meditation instructions. There will be a sitting for 15 minutes followed by a short talk by each weeks leader. Participants will have an opportunity for Q & A.

January 27 / Tova Green

Jisan Tova Green is Zen priest and a hospice social worker. She was ordained by Eijun Linda Cutts in 2003 and has been a resident of San Francisco Zen Center for the last twelve years. Tova has played cello since the age of 10 and writes, photographs and paints water colors.

February 3 / Julia Ten Eyck

Gyoji Julia Ten Eyck is a Zen priest in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki-roshi. She has had a meditation practice for many years, and was ordained by her Zen teacher, Rev. Darlene Cohen, in 2010. She is president of the Board of Directors of Hartford Street Zen Center, is active in Dharma Lawyers, and is currently a student in the Shogaku Zen Institute on-going priest training program.A published writer and poet, she has played piano since the age of 8. She is an attorney and mediator in solo practice in San Francisco.

February 10 / Cynthia Kear

Cynthia Kear (Horyu Ryotan) is a Zen priest and Dharma Heir of Darlene Cohen. In addition to leading several sanghas, she regularly gives talks and workshops throughout the Bay Area. Cynthia is a published novelist and poet and deeply
enjoys photography. She is Senior Vice President of the California Academy of Family Physicians and is drawn to “marketplace” practice.

Please click here to view a PDF of information about the series