Straw Gallery

The Straw Gallery was designed for HEDGE Gallery for the 4th annual sf20/21 San Francisco Art and Design Show held at the Festival Pavillion, Fort Mason Center. The temporary gallery was on display from September 15th through 18th opening with a benefit for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s educational programs.

The Straw Gallery. Photo: Matthew Millman

The Straw Gallery. Photo: Matthew Millman

Entrance to the Straw Gallery. Photo: Matthew Millman

Entrance to the Straw Gallery. Photo: Matthew Millman

The gallery is an aromatic, enveloping, and raw space in contrast to the refined and modern elements that are displayed within. The gallery consists of three unfinished, blackened steel display niches interwoven within the walls of straw bales. Each niche is an excavation that is filled with HEDGE’s highly edited visions of 20th and 21st century design, art and craft, presented at different levels relative to the eye and the hand of the visitor.

Stacking diagrams

Stacking diagrams

Interior. Photo: Matthew Millman

Interior. Photo: Matthew Millman

Folded metal shelves

Folded metal shelves

The juxtaposition of the two materials, steel and straw—one industrial and the other representing a storied agrarian history—heightens the tactile sensibilities as one navigates between the richness of the hay and the clean surfaces of the steel compartments. Straw is an incredibly effective acoustic buffer and the walls are in most places two bales thick and placed strategically to block views to the exterior as you enter the space. The experience within Straw Gallery is one of quiet, calm and focused observation in contrast to a busy exterior.

Elevation in context of SF20/21. Photo: Matthew Millman

Elevation in context of SF20/21. Photo: Matthew Millman

The several hundred wheat straw bales, an agricultural by-product used for bedding, roughage and fuel, used to construct the gallery were returned to the feed store. The steel shelves were recycled and will be used to construct furniture and shelving in San Francisco.

Detail. Photography: Matthew Millman

Detail. Photography: Matthew Millman


 
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