Quick, name the current hippest neighborhood in San Francisco. If you said Dogpatch, you’d be in good company.
That’s where the Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) is opening its long-awaited new home. Now housed in the American Industrial Center on Third Street between 22nd and 23rd, the Museum existed in various incarnations across the city after losing its downtown location in 2010.
“Dogpatch is teeming with creativity and camaraderie,” noted Executive Director JoAnn Edwards, “and we’re thrilled to be part of the continued transformation of the district into a thriving enclave for arts, culture, dining and entertainment.”
The 8,500 square foot space, designed by Gary Hutton Design and McCall Design Group, includes 4,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 450 square foot program space for workshops and education, and a flexible museum shop that can morph as exhibition requirements change.
A non-collecting institution, the Museum’s initial exhibits include Michael Cooper’s A Sculptural Odyssey 1968-2011, Arline Fisch’s Creatures From the Deep, and Rebecca Hutchinson’s Accommodation. The museum shop contains a host of craft and design gifts, books, and tchotchkes, not the least of which is the new craft design journal Handful of Salt.
MCD has taken a bold step in relocating to Dogpatch; since the completion of the Third Street light rail, the district has experienced a restaurant, retail, and artistic renaissance. Whether MCD can capitalize on that rebirth remains to be seen. Surely if Tower of Power asked “what is hip?” they'd answer the Museum of Craft and Design.
The Museum of Craft and Design opens to the public on Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 11 AM.
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