I rolled underneath the Rice A Roni cable car, dodged security at the Transamerica Pyramid, ricocheted down the curves of Lombard. Passing the Cliff House, I waved at the ocean, but all too soon I'm back by the dragons of Chinatown, still spinning. Oh hey, there's the Palace of Fine Arts, enclosing the heart Tony Bennett left behind (there it is!). My tour ricocheted me by the windmills near Ocean Beach, and then I'm somersaulting (rapidly! picking up speed!) til I hit the Golden Gate Bridge, where Humphrey the Whale flipped me an appreciative hey-ho with his tail. Nearing the end of the journey, I hit Alcatraz en route to my resting place in Fleishhacker Pool.
Oh, to be a ping pong ball in the thrall of Scott Weaver's universe.
Weaver is the father of "Rolling Through the Bay," a towering testament to the romance of San Francisco now on view at the Exploratorium that has taken Weaver approximately 3,000 hours to complete. The epic video in which Weaver -- a long time Bay resident whose great-grandpappy owned a vineyard a block from where the Transamerican Pyramid now stands -- genially describes his work of art has scored the discovery museum big points with media outlets throughout the city (seriously, this video -- this video is blog GOLD).
The video proved so popular, in fact, that it spawned a follow-up focusing on the charismatic Weaver and the tricks of his trade themselves. Spoiler: his preferred toothpick brand to work with is Diamond.
The sculpture, Weaver estimates, is the third or fourth largest in the world, but the other guys don't have the finely tuned kinetic features of his creation. Or, one imagines, the intricately worked personal references to the artist himself: Tony Bennett's heart is made from toothpicks thrown at Weaver's wedding. Golden Gate Park's shubbery is partially composed of toothpicks Weaver has collected from around the world, including some bizarro ones from Morocco. Weaver's built sculptures of his face into the wooden, pointy metropolis, and the toll booth on the Golden Gate Bridge proudly displays the time his son was born.
Anyways, major claps to the Exploratorium for putting the whole shebang on display. Kudos also to toothpicks for impeling me to revisit the Exploratorium website, which is totally chockful of ridiculously scientifical content like this.
Click here to see a large-size image of the sculpture and revel in its majesty.
Scott Weaver's “Rolling Through the Bay”
Through June 18
Exploratorium
3601 Lyon, SF
(415) 561-0363