About the Box: The Giving Park

Genius Loci: Washington Park, Burlingame
By: Tina Mizukami

Washington Park, just two blocks away from my house, is a place that keeps giving.

We've celebrated birthdays there, we've meet our friends and family there for an afternoon of fun, and most often, you'll find us there throwing tennis balls to our dog, Cali.


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It's also one of her favorite places in our neighborhood.

About the Box: Summerized

Genius Loci: Coral Reefs
By: Summer Powell, San Francisco

My genius loci is coral reefs. I feel so at home drifting around the swaying, colorful animals and plants.

When making this little diorama I was thinking of diving off Kauai, and the shimmering schools of fish undulating around Flintstonian reef formations. At one point a turtle swam above us, and the sunlight glinted at the edges of its silhouette.

About the box: Headquarters?

Genius Loci: Headquarters
By: Susanne Pierce Maddux

I've chosen my design office in San Francisco for my company Hero Bags. This room is a special place in my house on the second floor, an old sun room with windows on all 3 sides.

The room looks out on my south facing garden and all of the gardens and lush trees of my neighbors.

It's quiet, sunny and peaceful.

I love it.
Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit. This is our one and only contributor who cited their office as their Genius Loci.

About the box: Stealing Print

Genius Loci: Baker neighborhood,Denver, CO
By: Kim Owens

I’ve always dreamed of visiting an old, vacant house and discovering something magical.

Then it happened.

While house hunting, I visited a 1800s house in Denver’s Baker ‘hood and below the vintage linoleum were newspapers dating back to 1925. There was Denver’s history preserved. It was fascinating to see an ad for the new Charlie Chaplin movie; that a cab driver was resisting the fad of new fangled automobiles. I couldn’t resist taking a piece.

Don’t tell anyone.


Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit. We want to know... have you ever stolen anything at an open house?

About the box: Flipbook Dogwalk

Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit. If you'd like to read about the making of this piece, go here (including a movie).

Genius Loci: Berkeley Park, Denver
By: Angela Schwab

My Genius Loci is an area in Berkeley Park Neighborhood, located a few miles NW of downtown Denver.

I filmed an hour-long evening walk with the dog to share our route and some favorite points along the way: Berkeley Dog Park, Tenn Street Coffee & Books, and Tennyson True Value Hardware Store.

I consider these spaces to be essential resources and energizing gathering places in the community, and I love that these spots would not exist without the participation and contribution from residents in this charming neighborhood.

About the Box: Outdoor Safety; a thing of the past?

Genius Loci: Denver Foothills
By: Alicia Bailey

I was conceived in Tiny Town, in the foothills outside of Denver, child of a Denver native. Treks through the western suburbs and foothills of Denver, although they have changed much since the 60’s and 70’s, never fail to bring on pangs of nostalgia.

Outdoors was where I could be found; in yards, vacant lots or horse farms; on porches or picnic benches.

There was safety in my outdoor haunts; unlike today’s suburbs where fear has stilled the noises that filled my childhood from dusk to dawn, no matter the season.

Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit.

About the box: Livin' a Mod Dream

Genius Loci: 5327 E. Colfax Ave., Denver, CO
By: Jill Warner

We opened Mod Livin’ almost ten years ago in an an old pharmacy building on the famous Colfax Ave.

This is a place that we dreamed about...a place that we could satisfy our love for design! When the concept of Mod Livin' began it was a dream - a place where we could sit back and think about what if we opened our own business and did it in a way that sustained our life.

You always hear "Do what you are passionate about and you will never work a day in your life" Well maybe that is not true...but what we have created is a place where people can come and share the love of modern design. Not a day goes by that we don't meet someone that truly has made our utopia a reality!


Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit. Mod Livin' was a proud supporter of the Denver Community Museum, our collaborator on Loci. Above is a mini Verner Panton.

About the box: DCM curator's garden

Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit. Looking for Loci co-curator Jaime shares:


Genius Loci: My Garden, Denver
By: Jaime Kopke

I live in a tiny white house that used to be home to the carousel horses over 100 years ago. Set back from the street, hidden by a row of unkempt hedges, sits my magic garden. An enormous century-old rose bush guards the decrepit gate. The vines and the weeds are constantly creeping in, though I battle them only half-heartedly because I love the wildness of this place. Rose bushes of every color and scent fill one side, while the other hosts my overgrown plot of vegetables and flowers. It’s a place where potted plants rest next to wooden saints and candles hang from the trees. This old house is filled with history and secrets and the garden is where they are hidden.

About the box: Predominanty about birds

Genius Loci: The Bird Room, Loveland, CO
By: Marielle Butters

In my youth my father bred birds – watching these magnificent creatures from my height of two feet I began to obtain the uncanny notion that they were not only imprisoned physically by a metal cage but they were, like people, mentally caged by schemas and perceptions strong as steel that may never be forsaken.

As a child I pitied the birds for living in such a small space, but in truth, that space is no smaller than that set aside for each person who can see only so far in a society plagued by hegemony.

Curator's note: Marielle is the niece of Looking for Loci contributor Alan Disparte.

About the box: Performance art as tribute to the WPA

Curator's note: again, this is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit post-run. The story of this box is complex, but it's sweet history once you get into it.

Genius Loci: The Magafan Walkathon Performance
By: Anne Thulson, Denver

Posing as two WPA artists, Jenne and Ethel Magafan, we placed ourselves at two public buildings that house their murals. Anne started at Jenne Magafan’s mural “Women Settlers” at West High School, 951 Elati Street. Alli started at Ethel Magafan’s mural “The Horse Coral” at the post office at 225 South Broadway.


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We walked towards each other until we met. This happened to be at the 7 Eleven at Broadway and Third Avenue. Here we made a shrine to the Magafan sisters.

This walk mirrors the way in which the Magafan twins pieced together a living from one WPA mural commission to the next, all the way through the Great Depression with uncanny synchronicity and symmetry. It also acknowledges local work by local artists, especially the artwork done in Denver under the Treasury Department during the New Deal.

Note: From the NYT obit on Ethel:

"Ms. Magafan was born in Chicago and grew up in Colorado Springs, Colo. She and her twin sister, Jenne, an artist who died in 1952, studied with Boardman Robinson and the muralist Frank Mechau at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. In the late 1930's and the 40's, she painted Government-sponsored murals in post offices in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado and Arkansas, as well as in two Federal office buildings in Washington and the chamber of the United States Senate."

About the box: Confluence

Genius Loci: Denver
By: Charles (39), Annnika (10),Elise(8), and Mia (6)

Our Loci is the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. This meeting of waters is the birthplace of our city, Denver, the place we call home.

Children's laughter can be heard, dogs park, and couples walk as the city erupts around the force of nature carving its way through the urban landscape as it has done for thousands of years. Humanity and nature form their own confluence in this Loci of Denver.

Curator's note: While the exhibit has stopped running, the pieces exist online. What I love about this family project is the detail, craft and coordination. Notice the materials and implicit thought in the image above.

About the box: let's get this party started

Curator's note: thought that it would be fun to start the new year with what I think of as the party box. Short on text, long on fun. What I love is that the execution of the box is detailed and lavish.


Genius Loci: Denver By: Leigh Bush

Denver - outside she’s one thing, but inside she’s a whole different beast.

"Looking for Loci" Closes in the Park

Looking for Loci had its last showing in a San Mateo park last weekend. It was a brisk NorCal day but there were lots of folks out enjoying the exhibit.

While the crowd in SF tended to take the Museum a bit for granted, the San Mateo audience tended to be more surprised to find it in their park- and were excited to have it come to them. It was interesting to show it in both an urban and suburban environment- especially since many of the pieces came from both "worlds".

We'll be posting the rest of the boxes, as well as some of the notes that visitors wrote on our map while we retool the platform ...and enjoy the holidays.

Come shine, coming to Cole Valley

Weather permitting*, the Mobile Museum is going to the dogs this Saturday afternoon. We'll be at the Cole Valley Dog Park, right by the N-Judah stop near Carl and Cole from 1 - 4pm. One of our last "Looking for Loci" stops. Come say hello!

"Cole Valley grew up around the streetcar stop at the entrance to the Sunset Tunnel at the intersection of Carl and Cole Streets. That intersection is still the center of the neighborhood's small business district, and the N Judah light rail line still stops there." -Wikipedia

*We'll brave the beasts but not the elements. Check back here or follow us on twitter, @sfmobilemuseum if things look questionable.

About the box: Bonsai & Power Lines

Genius Loci: Various locations around Denver
By: Jesse Howard

In any urban environment, there often exists conflict between natural and built environments. Perhaps the most fascinating is the unintended macro-bonsai trees created by groups of linesmen with the highly coveted job of trimming tree branches away from power lines.


Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them online. This curator is now intrigued to look at the relationship between trees and power lines in through the lens of high craft.

About the box: Lawyer's Take (3)

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them online. In our initial request, we asked all participants to design their boxes in landscape format. Rebecca, being a lawyer of course broke the rules... with style.

Genius Loci: Fridge, Bernal Heights, SF
By: Rebecca Grey

Its the fridge. It contains life's greatest joys.


PS: Rebecca is the Mom of Dinah, wife of Chris.

About the Box: Chris' brain (2)

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them online. In addition to being a talented product designer, he is also the Dad of Dinah, and wrote about their family's "making of" on his blog.

Genius Loci: My Head By Chris Luomanen

Sadly, my Genius Loci is in my head, which is like a big cluttered workshop with partially finished projects lying around all over the place. I go there to relax, pick up one of those dusty projects and putter. Sometimes things get done, sometimes I just make a bigger mess. I should probably get out more.

About the Box: Sleeping on a bunny's tale (1)

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them online. Dinah was one of our youngest, yet most magical participants. Her entire family participated- Mom and Dad will be featured next. Dad (Chris Luomanen) wrote about the "making of" on his blog.

Genius Loci: Rabbit Hutch
By Dinah Grey, Age 6

If I could go anywhere I would get shrunk down really small and live in a rabbit hutch. I would ride the bunnies all day long. And at night I would sleep with my head on their fluffy tails.

That or go to sushi.

About the Box: A special little alley in Chinatown

Genius Loci: Ross Alley, SF
By Marcia Stuermer

This genius loci is Ross Alley located in Chinatown in San Francisco. The alley has always to me possessed a strange presence, seeming like some type of movie set with various layers of hidden meaning, history and everyday life.

Although now somewhat 'famous' with the tourist set, because of the proliferation of travel guide books, it still holds a charming mystique.

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them online. This Loci is iconic for San Francisco, and Marcia did it justice.

About the Box: Cat Lady's House

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them with their stories, adding to them where possible. Since it's almost Halloween, this box seemed appropriate to post.
Genius Loci: 39 46’33.94” N 105 02’29.85” W 1644 m.
By Nikki Raschbacher, Denver

I lived next door to this house from age 8-13. I think of it now as “The Cat House” because the woman who lived there had at least 20 cats. At one time, the interior of the house must’ve been elegant. But, when the cat woman lived there, all the furniture was covered with sheets and cats draped themselves on the fireplace mantel, the stairs and the furniture. And, yet it seems sort of mystical. Oh yeah, I’m allergic to cats.