A Mission to Freeport, Maine

I made it a point to visit Freeport on my trip downstate Maine because it was one of the few Starbucks in the State and I haven't had a cup in over a week. While there I had to check out the L.L. Bean flagship 24 hour store which is really more of a mall. The large "Bean Boot" outside the entrance represents Leon Leonwood Bean's first product which he created which the store was built on. The store itself was pretty interesting- it had a live trout pond in the center with large glass aquarium walls and the stairs rising above it- pretty entertaining, I now think every store should have live trout. After a quick look through the store I headed out because a major storm was overhead and I wanted to check out some of the art scene down in Portland.

A downpour with Howard Stern

I'm finally back in New York for a while and chose to recover from my jet-lag by heading out to the Hamptons. Unfortunately I missed the annual Jack Kerouac softball game that I was going to participate in (a local artists vs. writers game) so I went out to Southampton for lunch. I passed Howard Stern and his fiancee Beth Ostrosky in town and said hello- I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that the XM- Sirius radio merger has finally been approved. I've loved Sirius since it came out and I'm a big Stern fan but I've been aching for the MLB baseball as well and it's finally here.

I didn't photograph the couple because they had their bikes and helmets on and it felt intrusive but shortly after I saw them the skies opened up and it proceeded to downpour. My girlfriend and I ran into the Parrish Museum for a while which has an interesting show on artists that incorporate sand into their work. It was a pretty lofty show with work from artists such as: Picasso, Dennis Oppenheim, and Jackson Pollock (talk about diverse). One of my favorite pieces was Spencer Tunick's nude desert landscape- sure it's easy to like with all the nudity but I found that it's sense of design and location was alluring because the nude figure became more of a design element. On the way out we saw one of my girlfriend's favorite fashion designers Austin Scarlett of Project Runway in the museum waiting out the rain with us. I feel a bit weird even knowing who Austin is but I'm as an artist I find the show really interesting and I've become a big fan.

San Francisco Culture

While attending Adobe's Education Leaders Bootcamp this week I had an opportunity to spend a few hours checking out the city's art and music scene and it blew me away. The city has always had an enormous amount of creative elements but the amount of cutting edge art and music has grown a great deal in the last year. I'm a huge fan of SF based graffiti and art magazine Juxtapoz so it's not too surprising that the graffiti scene has grown in town but there are also a growing number of local shops and mags like Kid Robot and Giant Robot (which are totally unrelated) reflect the art scene. In addition to graffiti art the city has a huge number of fine art galleries for both contemporary and classic art and photography.

In the music scene there are some great small venues around town which showcase local performers and Haight Street also has Amoeba Records, the largest independently owned music shop in the world where a music fan can get lost for hours. The SF Gate has a great online guide to all the shows going on if you're in town and it seems like you never have to travel too far for some cool music. The biggest regret I have is that I didn't have more time to explore the art and music so next year I'll be coming in early with my sketchbook.

The Golden Gate

Adobe was nice enough to bring the Education Leaders out on another dinner cruise under the Golden Gate bridge. The trip is always one of the highlights and doesn't disappoint. It great smelling the ocean air as you sail under the bridge with the sun setting over the mountains in Sausalito.

Adobe Education Leaders Bootcamp

I've had a pretty terrific week so far at Adobe San Francisco. The Education Leaders are a diverse and fun group and we've been introduced to some cool new things in development. We are lucky enough to stay at an awesome old hotel, the Westin St.Francis, which has a storied past and opens up onto Union Square. Earlier tonight we had dinner and drinks at a great restaurant in the Mission district called Medjool with a rooftop view of the city. My roommate and I missed the Adobe bus and learned all about some very sketchy areas in the mission district before the open bar.