More than a dozen galleries, studios in San Francisco’s Lower Polk and Tenderloin neighborhoods stay open late for the Lower Polk Art Walk, a self-guided tour sponsored by the Lower Polk Community Benefit District. Also known as the SF First Thursday Art Walk, it runs from 6 to 10 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month and features exhibitions, artist showcases and community events.
Participating businesses in and around Polk, Larkin, Geary and Olive streets change each month for the walks, which began in 2014 to support local artists and bring visitors into the neighborhood.
On July 2, Smart Gallery and Studio at 1045 Sutter St., which offers pottery classes, memberships and gallery space for all experience levels, served fruit, pretzels and wine in handmade cups made by members of the studio. The space also featured oil paintings by Lauren Jade Szabo: “Mom Building a Scale Model of the Presidio,” a blue-toned family scene, and “Pacific Coast Highway,” a half-lit Shell gas station sign.
The Bob Mizer Museum and Photographic Archives at 920 Larkin St. is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving work by photographer and filmmaker Bob Mizer, who documented the male physique in the homoerotic magazine Physique Pictorial from 1951-1990. The museum’s collection covers the history of physique photography as well as Mizer’s career. Its current exhibition “Analog Human Studies: 25 Years of Photography by Slava Mogutin,” includes portraits by Mogutin, a New York-based, Siberian-born multimedia artist and activist who was exiled from Russia at 21 for outspoken queer journalism. Mogutin’s images of a partially nude man complement framed Physique Pictorial images, and other works including Mizer’s 1951 Los Angeles ink drawing of a nude figure on horseback.
The artist-run Rosebud Gallery at 839 Larkin St. features contemporary work from emerging photography, sculpture and mixed media artists. Its show “Still, We Gather” includes works focused on community and resilience. Other notable pieces are Anna Lippert’s “To Cling or Do I Let Go,” an oil and acrylic painting; and Stela Apostolova’s “Baby Teeth,” a ceramic and mixed-media sculpture.
Artists and entrepreneurs Bradley Platz and Kim Larson founded Modern Eden Gallery at 1100 Sutter St. in 2010. Hosting local and international artists, the gallery’s current exhibition “The Portrait Show 14: Masquerade” explores identity and imaginative interpretations of the human figure. During the art walk, painter and performance artist Stephanie Law filled the gallery with live handpan drum music, while works on display included Laura Color’s “Small Spirit Keeper” and Roos van der Vliet’s “Sub Velum.”
The art walk’s name, funding and future have been the subject of debate. Some organizers have raised concerns that the Downtown First Thursdays Street Festival has drawn attention away from the Lower Polk event, while others opposed accepting funding from the Larkin Street Revival, a revitalization initiative of the Lower Polk Community Benefit District, arguing it could shift the grassroots event toward a broad redevelopment effort. But despite the disagreements, galleries and creative spaces in Lower Polk and Tenderloin continue to participate each month.