On-site, Online, and Right on Time: The Fine Arts Museums Announce Public Programming for the Fall / Winter Seasons

Oct 18, 2021

Advertisement featuring five smiling, fashionable people

Patrick Kelly’s Spring/Summer 1989 advertising campaign. Photograph by Oliviero Toscani. Courtesy of the Estate of Patrick Kelly. Scan by Randy Dodson / Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO—The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (the “Museums”) are excited to announce a selection of forthcoming programming through the fall and winter seasons. With a focus on our special exhibitions, the Museums are proud to present a variety of programs back on-site at the de Young and Legion of Honor museums through our Free Saturdays initiative, while continuing to offer our successful digital Virtual Wednesdays programs.

We’re thrilled to honor the life and legacy of Black fashion designer Patrick Kelly with an opening-day celebration at the de Young museum. This program will include free admission to Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love, and feature live music by Swagger Like Us, food trucks in partnership with Off the Grid, wheel-of-fun prizes, and more.

To further celebrate Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love, the Museums will offer a variety of on-site and virtual programs that delve into Kelly’s legacy, Ballroom culture, and the use of racist memorabilia in his work. The programs feature the voices of fashion icons, including Audrey Smaltz, Sharon “Magic” Jordan-Roach, Pat Cleveland, and André Leon Talley; scholars such as David Pilgrim, madison moore, and Sequoia Barnes; and artist Rashaad Newsome.

To expound upon the artist Judy Chicago’s first career retrospective, the Museums will debut two films that dig into the artist and her work. Judy Chicago: Making Change gives viewers insight into the life and work of one of art’s great trailblazers. In addition, watch a recording of Chicago’s Atmospheres performance Forever de Young as the artist transforms Golden Gate Park in clouds of color.

At the Legion of Honor museum, upcoming programs will center around the special exhibition Color into Line: Pastels from the Renaissance to the Present. Deputy director and chief curator of the Frick Collection Xavier F. Salomon discusses the important contributions of artist Rosalba Carriera, who paved the way for women artists of the following generations. In December, Alex Warren, owner of Sinopia Pigments & Materials, shares a demonstration in a digital program on how pastels are made from scratch.

Please read below for more details on these exciting programs. Our teams are confirming new programming weekly, so for the most up-to-date list of events, please visit our Calendar.

Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love Exhibition Programs

October 23, 2021 \ Patrick Kelly Opening-Day Celebration at de Young (Free Saturdays)
Join us as we celebrate the life and legacy of Black fashion designer Patrick Kelly. This daylong celebration coincides with the Museums’ presentation of Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love.

  • Attend a panel conversation honoring the legacy of Patrick Kelly’s fashion career with exhibition curators Laura L. Camerlengo, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and Dilys E. Blum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Bjorn Guil Amelan, former business and life partner of Patrick Kelly.
  • Enjoy delicious food from Bay Area food trucks, in partnership with Off the Grid.
  • Listen to live music from Swagger Like Us, DJ Charles Hawthorne, davOmakesbeats, Mahawam, Lady Ryan, and hosted by Sir JoQ.
     
  • Shop a trunk show featuring artisans Marcus Lewis of M-Lew Clothing and Pam Wiston of Cute as a Button.
  • Win a prize by playing the wheel-of-fun, a free game filled with exhibition-related prizes such as Patrick Kelly–inspired clothing from local vintage store ReLove.
  • Families are invited to participate in an exhibition-related art-making activity.

October 27, 2021 \ Working It: Supermodels and Superstars Remember Patrick Kelly (Virtual Wednesdays)
This conversation explores Kelly’s unique runway presentations, with insights from Audrey Smaltz, legendary fashion-show producer and Patrick Kelly runway-show coordinator; Sharon “Magic” Jordan-Roach, model and Patrick Kelly fit model and muse, and Pat Cleveland, superstar, moderated by André Leon Talley, a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and former creative director at Vogue magazine.

November 3, 2021 \ Patrick Kelly: Reclaiming Racist Memorabilia (Virtual Wednesdays)
David Pilgrim, founder and director of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia; madison moore, artist-scholar, DJ, and assistant professor of gender, sexuality, and women’s studies at Virginia Commonwealth University; and moderator Sequoia Barnes, artist and advising scholar for Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love, explore how Kelly reappropriated racist memorabilia to confront white supremacy and challenged its anti-Black ideology in the United States and Europe.

April 23, 2022 \ Ballroom Culture (Free Saturdays)
Natasha Becker, curator of African art, in conversation with artist Rashaad Newsome, whose work celebrates and abstracts Black and queer contributions to the art canon.

Color into Line: Pastels from the Renaissance to the Present Exhibition Programs

November 6, 2021 \ Behind Carriera’s Pastels at Legion of Honor (Free Saturdays)
Illustrating artist Rosalba Carriera’s story, exhibition curator Furio Rinaldi is in conversation with Xavier F. Salomon, deputy director and chief curator the Frick Collection, whose discovery of small religious tokens hidden behind Carriera’s pastels provides insight into the artist’s personal world and working practice. Carriera’s success, and exceptional admission in the Académie Royal of Paris in 1720 paved the way for women artists of subsequent generations.

December 1, 2021 \ Making Pastels with Alex Warren (Virtual Wednesdays)
Through a demonstration, Alex Warren, owner of Sinopia Pigments & Materials, shares how pastels are made from scratch and gives an introduction to types of glues, pigments, and chalks that can be used.

Other Public Programs

November 10, 2021 \ Ohlone Land Talk (Virtual Wednesdays)
Join Kanyon Sayers-Roods for a film screening and discussion of In the Land of My Ancestors, a documentary that celebrates the legacy of beloved Ohlone elder Ann-Marie Sayers, who has devoted her life to preserving the stories and culture of her Indigenous ancestors. This program is the final installation of a three-part virtual series about Ohlone history, culture, and land.

December 11, 2021 \ Jenny Sorkin: Art in California and Book Signing at de Young (Free Saturdays)
Jennifer Sorkin, associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Judy Chicago: In the Making catalogue contributor, presents Art in California, an illustrated history of modern and contemporary art from the early twentieth century to the present day. This talk will be followed by a book signing. 

Judy Chicago Films

Forever de Young Performance
Tap in to see Judy Chicago’s multicolored, site-specific Atmospheres performance: Forever de Young, the artist’s largest public performance to date. This open-air performance is in celebration of the artist’s exhibition Judy Chicago: A Retrospective, now on view at the de Young museum. The performance employs nontoxic pigments that mix with the wind and the light to create spectacular color effects.

Judy Chicago: Making Change
The Museums present Judy Chicago: Making Change, a short documentary on the making of the artist’s very first retrospective exhibition, Judy Chicago: A Retrospective. Through the voices of friends, collaborators, and creatives operating in various industries—as well as the artist herself—this film highlights the depth, variety, rigor, and consistent radicality of Chicago’s artistic practice spanning 60 years. Shot in three distinct locations by an all-women production crew, the film includes footage of Chicago’s home and workspace in Belen, New Mexico, and the newly installed exhibition at the de Young museum. It features interviews with author Kevin Kwan, fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, art historian Jenni Sorkin, exhibition curator Claudia Schmuckli, lifelong friend and collaborator Diane Gelon, and Judy Chicago herself.

*In this time of COVID-19, dates and programs listed above may change due to ever-shifting circumstances. For complete updates, please visit deyoungmuseum.org.

Press Contact:
Shaquille Heath, Manager of Communications \ sheath@famsf.org