Thoughts on the Power of the Graduation Ritual & June Breakfast @ Tiffany's Newsletter
Now on Substack.
Ken’s and my eldest daughter, Odessa, just graduated from college. What a kvellapalooza! What struck me was how graduations are different from a wedding or b’nai mitzvah, where all the joy ripples around one couple or a young adult and their family. With a graduation ceremony, it’s such communal joy: every graduate and family floating around in such elation it felt like the entire city was levitating as we went from ritual to ritual. This was their 324th commencement ceremony so there were a lot of rituals! I’m sure what also added to the exuberance of it all, was that these graduates experienced their high school graduation ceremony during Covid with masks and 6 feet apart. This was smushed-together massive joint happiness. Odessa received her Bachelor of Science in Cognitive Science from Yale. Can’t wait to see what Odessa and all the college graduates of 2025 do in this world!
I’ll be participating in another kind of mass group experience on Saturday for the No Kings protest. We are living in such intense times. All the joy I’ve been experiencing is intermixed with worry about so many things: a very close friend with a very scary health situation, the multiple wars, the National Guard, ICE, reproductive rights being so threatened, and the violence against Jewish Americans. I highly recommend listening to Van Jones clearly explain the recent anti-semitic attacks in America right now. So much life happening—the good, the fear, the hope, the essential worry, the beauty, all at once, all the time. As you get older, it all speeds up exponentially.
I work through all that is happening in the world and my life through my artwork and films. Those of you in New York, Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring is currently installed at the Women’s Art Center of the Hamptons. I will be giving an artist talk Saturday, June 21st at 4pm with a reception following. RSVP here.
Also, there will be an exciting announcement coming shortly on where this moveable monument is headed next.
Those of you in San Francisco, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art is having their annual Expressions Ball on Saturday, June 28th at their new stunning SF location. Highly recommend. Tickets here with more details below. Ken and I are very much looking forward to having our Getty PST Art exhibition Ancient Wisdom for a Future Ecology: Trees, Time & Technology, which originated at the Skirball in LA, travel here to di Rosa SF, opening on Jan 20.
Those of you in Paris, I’m heading there very soon, so any recommendations welcome (art, food, anything) and there are also four art shows in here there that I’m excited to see.
In this month’s newsletter: di Rosa Expression Ball; art from Lynn McCarty, Amanda Ba, Masako Miki, Maggie O’Neill, Charlie Tweddle, Anthony Meier Gallery, Winged Wonders at Sonoma Botanical Garden, BAMPFA, David Hockney, Niki de Saint Phalle & Jean Tinguely, Institute Giacometti, Rick Owens, Hilma af Klimt, Rashid Johnson, and Andrea Bowers; films including Bad Shabbos, Tobin Mitnick’s Make Like a Tree, Thirsty, Dying for Sex, Lolla, Tribeca Film Festival, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and PXL THIS; music from Jane Boudreaux; read YOKE’s 10th anniversary issue; events including Forever Fearless fundraiser, Scott Snibbe at the Commonwealth Club, and Endwell; Harold Rheingold’s happy place; No Kings protest; “Forever 31”; resources from Tim Snyder; support the Roxie Theater; and a reminder to unplug from Norman Blair.
More details on all below.
xo
Tiffany
ps. In honor of Allen Ginsberg’s birthday in June, I’ve put Ken’s and my 2011 Sundance short 3-min film Yelp: With Apologies to Allen Ginsberg’s Howl at the bottom of this newsletter. We reworked Allen Ginsberg's classic 1956 poem Howl to lampoon our untenable addition to to our phone and internet 24/7. I turned it into a film and Peter Coyote narrated. We just watched it again, and its plea to remember to unplug from technology regularly is as relevant as ever.
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Details on di Rosa Expression Ball in SF June 28
di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art has the foremost collection of Northern California art. The evening will celebrate San Francisco in the ‘60s where counterculture thrived, freedom of expression ruled and Rene di Rosa dared to collect the offbeat and unforgettable. Tickets here. Even if you can’t make it, we hope you can support di Rosa in their new chapter with a new location in SF. di Rosa SF is part of the art Renaissance currently happening in SF. With all the meshugass happening in the world, the SF art community gives me hope.
ART
Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring at Women’s Art Center of the Hamptons, June 20-22
Very much looking forward to seeing Dendrofemonology installed at the Women’s Art Center of the Hamptons. I loved working with Wendy Van Deusen who is behind this great art space and big appreciation to Piraye Yurttas Beim for supporting the installation at the Hamptons. I’ll be there to give an artist talk on Saturday, June 21, 3-4 pm. RSVP for artist talk here. This work is my urgent call to look to the past to see the greater context of history and remind us that what we do today will determine what’s on there next.
Lynn McCarty: Color Stir at Nancy Hoffman Gallery in NYC through June 28
I find this artwork by Lynn McCarty at my NYC gallery, Nancy Hoffman Gallery, sensual and exciting. The tree element here is strong to me. If you’re in NYC, definitely check out the show.
Amanda Ba: For Sport at Micki Meng Gallery in SF through June 27
Ba’s thrilling figurative paintings challenge stereotypes and delight the eye in this great new show at Micki Meng Gallery.
Masako Miki: Midnight March at ICA SF through Dec 7
I love Masako Miki’s work and her energy as a person. Highly recommend this surreal and and joyful show at ICA SF.
Charlie Tweddle: Better Than Normal at Et al. in SF through July 12
This show curated by Zully Adler features the late musician Charlie Tweddle’s whimsical, inventive paintings and sculpture. I always love when someone helps me discover an unusual and quirky artist. His work reminded me of the Unknown Museum in Mill Valley in the 70s.
Consider the Oyster at Anthony Meier Gallery through Aug 5
This group exhibition of work by women artists resonating with the legacy of canonical American food writer M.F.K Fisher, and includes Ruth Asawa, Yayoi Kusama, Libby Black, Terri Friedman (love her long hanging textile piece!) and more. And it’s in my hometown of Mill Valley . . . and they served delicious oysters at the opening!
To Be Seen at Jonathan Carver Moore through Aug 16
This is a powerful group exhibition with all Black queer artists opening the month of Pride at Jonathan Carver Moore in SF. This artwork above by April Bey. Yes that is fur behind it. Check it out!
Winged Wonders by the Myth Makers, Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein, at Sonoma Botanical Garden through Oct 31
Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein’s larger-than-life bamboo sculptures at Sonoma Botanical garden highlight the beauty and diversity of California’s native birds and the ecosystems that support them.
Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California at BAMPFA, June 8-Nov 30
This exhibit of African America quilts made in the context of the Second Great Migration are meaningful and beautiful. This is a great show at BAMPFA that just opened and I cannot wait to experience it.
Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Pontus Hulten at the Grand Palais, June 20-Jan 4
Really looking forward to this show by the iconic artist couple Nicki de Saint Phalle & Jean Tinguely at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Beauvoir, Sartre, Giacometti. Vertiginousness of the Absolute at Institut Giacometti, June 19-Oct 12 Paris
Also on my Paris agenda: this show about the intellectual and artistic friendship of Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre and Alberto Giacometti.
David Hockney 25 at Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris through Aug 31
This looks like a phenomenal show. I am so excited we will be in Paris to see it.
Rick Owens: Temple of Love at Palais Galliera, June 28-Apr 1
This exhibit about avant-garde California designer Rick Owens is another show I’m looking forward to seeing in Paris. Love that I will be in Paris to see a California artist.
Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers at MoMA through Sept 27
Hilma af Klint work is visionary, and this new show of botanical sketches showcases a whole different side to her work. If you’re in NYC, don’t miss.
Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers at the Guggenheim through Jan 18
Love this wide-ranging show of Johnson’s work filling the Guggenheim rotunda.
Andrea Bowers: Hope Is Never Silent at Jessica Silverman Gallery in SF through July 19
Love this stunning show from Andrea Bowers combining text and image.
WATCH & LISTEN
Bad Shabbos
Can’t wait to see this dark comedy. The film recently opened in New York, with a wider release in LA and select theaters nationwide starting June 6.
Tobin Mitnick’s Make Like a Tree
Tobin Mitnick’s mock-doc short in the spirit of Best in Show is hilarious. Watch on Vimeo.
Thirsty
Excited about this new film by Emily Abt following the campaign of a tenacious attorney striving to unseat the incumbent mayor of Oakland. Watch the trailer here.
Dying for Sex
I’m loving this funny, moving series. Watch on FX.
Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza
Gen Xers, this one’s for us. Watch on Paramount.
SLY LIVES!
This documentary about the recently-deceased Sly Stone is a must-see. Sly was a genius and Questlove’s documentary will make you see his music in a new way. Watch on Hulu.
Tribeca Film Festival, June 4-15
So many great films at this year’s festival!
SF Jewish Film Festival, July 17-Aug 3
The SFJFF is always amazing, and this year’s lineup looks great.
PXL THIS Film Festival
Remember that old kid's camera, the PXL-2000? Gerry Fialka still runs a non-competitive film fest for this toy. From Venice Beach, California, PXL THIS film fest celebrates its 35th year this fall. You can also check out Fialka’s film collection here.
Jane Boudreaux
This band from Tel Aviv is so good. They play American folk-country . . . in Hebrew.
READ
YOKE 10th Anniversary Issue
Love YOKE magazine and I was honored to have the interview they did with me a while back updated to be a part of their 10th anniversary issue. I want to be that woman in pink in my 80s.
EVENTS
Forever Fearless Fundraiser Finale, June 17 in DC
My activist friend in DC Maggie O’Neill is behind the great work Vote for Your Daughter. The empowering installation brings together work by fourteen different artists offering their own interpretation of what it means to stand boldly in a world that too often asks girls to shrink. They are having a finale fundraiser in DC on June 17. Get tickets here.
“The Confluence of Technology, Traditional Painting, and Interactive Art” at the Commonwealth Club in SF, June 25
This conversation with author, new media artist, and longtime friend, Scott Snibbe at SF’s Commonwealth Club will be fascinating. He’ll be discussing his work which explores the intersections of digital media and ancient techniques like Tibetan thangka painting. Tickets here.
End Well in LA, Nov 20
Founded by Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, End Well is a one-of-a-kind gathering of clinicians, caregivers, creatives, and changemakers who believe that end of life should be a part of life. This year’s event will be at the Skirball Center in LA on Nov. 20.
JOY
Howard Rheingold’s Happy Place
I adore Howard Rheingold and this video of his happy place makes me happy too. We need more Howard Rheingolds in the world. He was good friends with my father, a brilliant thinker writer and has always been there for me. Be sure to check out his Patreon too.
LAUGH / FOREVER 31
This recent SNL short sent by one of my best friends made me laugh out loud.
No Kings Protest on This Saturday June 14th
“In America, We Don’t Do Kings. They’ve defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed our services. The corruption has gone too. far. No thrones. No crowns. No kings.” More from their site and how to sign up and get resources.
On Tyranny Free Resources
Remember I said the joy mixed with the angst. Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny is a vital handbook for our times. He’s also made printable posters and postcards with useful points available for free. Highly recommend. Hope you all will be joining me and many others for the No Kings protests.
“Giving Ourselves a Break” by Norman Blair
Writing my book 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week has had so many unexpected moments. I love the different ways readers have reached out to me since it was published in 2019, sharing how implementing a screen-free day each week has changed them or a piece of writing about it. Definitely check out this well articulated essay by Norman Blair, “Giving Ourselves a Break”; read it here.
GIVE
Support the Roxie Theater
As a filmmaker and filmgoer, I have had so many powerful experiences with screenings at the Roxie Theater. Please join Ken and me in securing the future of the Roxie! Support the Forever Roxie capital campaign and help preserve the bold, creative, community-driven spirit that makes this cinema a vital San Francisco institution. Donate here.
WATCH 3 min film: YELP: With Apologies to Allen Ginsberg’s Howl
Remember, it was made in 2011 so the technology and references are from that era;)
This newsletter is my main way to communicate but I am on Instagram and LinkedIn (occasionally). Until next time. xox, Tiffany
Congrats to your family on your daughter's graduation! (Her name Odessa is the city my grandmother lived in before coming to the US many years ago!)