Varda ♥ Varda — a still from the film Uncle Yanco [R] directed by Agnès Varda [L] — USA 1967
Join us Sunday May 21 for the celebration—Varda and the Summer of Love—from noon to 4 p.m. in Marinship Park—music, food, beer and wine. Dress as a flower child, form a human peace sign (at 12:15) and for one afternoon immerse yourself in the brightly-hued round-petaled flowers and psychedelic graphics of the 60s.
This is a fund-raising event to support the restoration of Jean Varda’s colorful mosaic in Marinship Park.
Radio Sausalito founder, Jonathon Westerling, will be playing West Coast hits from the Summer of Love, with live entertainment by Joe Tate and the Hippie Voices.
You bring the food. We will sell the drinks (and food too, if you don’t want to bring your own). Pack your picnic basket and join in the fun! Turn back the clock for 4 hours. There will be prizes for the best looks from the Summer of Love.
Antenna Theater’s Magic Bus will be on site, with a multi-media 60’s show. The event is co-hosted by the Sausalito Foundation and Antenna Theatre.
More Volunteers are needed for this event! To volunteer please email: Varda.volunteer@gmail.com.
One way or another we are circling back to the summer of 1967—50 years ago—when an estimated 100,000 people descended upon the Haight-Ashbury, in what came to be known as the Summer of Love. With origins in the East Bay (flower power—Alan Ginsberg, protests against the Vietnam War) and here in Marin (see the recent post: Celebration of Jean Varda and the Summer of Love) it was also the year the (Belgium-born) French film director Agnès Varda would connect with her cousin, Jean Varda, and produce the acclaimed documentary: Uncle Yanco. That same year Shel Silverstein and Larry Moyer would arrive in Sausalito to settle into the floating homes community, having been drawn to the West Coast to cover the Summer of Love for Playboy magazine. Or as Larry was fond of saying, “the Summer of Love before the Winter of Discontent.” Things really had taken a turn for the worse by 1968.
As for the mosaic, in 1960 Varda was commissioned to design a mural for the entrance of the new Villa Roma Motor Hotel in Fisherman’s Wharf. Mosaic artist Alfonso Pardiñas—whose work can still be seen in various BART stations—produced the finished work of art.
In 1982, when the Villa Roma was demolished, Victor di Suvero—along with several of Varda’s other Sausalito friends—raised funds to save the mosaic from demolition, and transport it to Sausalito.
On Sept 18, 1982, the 23-ton mosaic was trucked across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marinship Park, and given to the City. Varda’s friends had hoped it would be installed at the Ferry Landing or Dunphy Park. Instead, it lay on its back in Marinship Park for 6 years, with remnants of Christo’s Running Fence providing protection.
Over the past 28 years the mosaic has suffered damage, in part due to the aging rebar and concrete. Pippa Murray, a Sausalito mosaic artist with a studio at Sausalito’s MLK property, has agreed to oversee the much-needed restoration. The Foundation has set a $45,000 fundraising goal to cover restoration costs.
Come see the Varda mosaic up close; see why we want to save it.